Jazz Recommendations – 2013 Releases
Recommended: Nicola Perfetti and Federico Gerini – "La Forma dei Ricordi"
La Forma dei Ricordi is a spectrum of tranquil expressions. Nicola Perfetti and Federico Gerini and their quintet bring this about by building upon a foundation of Mediterranean folk, then adding modern jazz, tango, and blues as needed. The guitarist and pianist attain a tunefulness that makes it simple to connect with, but it's often an ephemeral quality and the emergence of a melodic statement quickly detours into new directions. That state of melodic flux is a cause of enchantment, and creates a sense of anticipation that carries throughout their 2013 recording.
Those tracks where it's just Perfetti and Gerini in a duet bring a solemn tone to the affair, as if the method of dialog is something far more contemplative than the extroverted nature of the quintet at play. And when Gerini switches over to Fender Rhodes on "Death Valley No. 5," it's remarkable how the peaceful ambiance doesn't stir the slightest and how he manipulates his keyboard to simply become a different kind of ripple on the surface of the water. "Tram 28" lets the jazz presence emerge at its strongest, and it's persistent tempo and edgy melody is a nice counterbalance to the album's prevalent tranquility.
A beautiful recording.
Your album personnel: Nicola Perfetti (acoustic & classical guitars), Federico Gerini (piano, rhodes), Stefano Guazzo (soprano sax, clarinet), Massimiliano Rolff (double bass) and Massimiliano Furia (drums).
Released in 2013 on Dodicilune Records.
Listen to more of the album at the artist's Soundcloud page.
Music from Firenze, Italy.
Recommended: Aaakash Mittal Quartet + Ron Miles – "Ocean"
The transformations from one form of imagery to the next, and what they reveal about this album's spirit is profoundly stunning on this 2013 release from saxophonist Aakash Mittal. Oceans starts out with sufficient intrigue. The opening tracks begin with an in-your-face drone, like a command to meditate, then shift into the motion of throwing punches inside the heart of the hurricane. The ferocity continues with expressions that range from an angry groove to a breathless joyride to some straight-ahead action with a little swing mixed in with edgy post-bop. And all of this is well and good and worthy of a fair surplus of esteem. But it's at the midway point of the album that Mittal reveals that it's as much about the transformations between images as it is the imagery itself.
Trumpeter Ron Miles joins Mittal's quartet of guitarist Matt Fuller, bassist Jean-Luc Davis and drummer Josh Moore, and he's an excellent choice for this kind of voicing. Even when dealing in dissonance, Miles weaves notes out of moonlight, and it's why even at his most abrasive his music has the warmest attributes. But with something like the title-track "Oceans," a song that doesn't possess form so much as it does a presence, and where the cries and squalls of melody float out across a surface of electronic effects and susurrant harmonies, that's when that Miles moonlight effect shines its strongest. And in the context of this excellent recording, that change from permutations of ferocity and cheerfulness, to suddenly break forth with an entirely new form of expressionism, and to make it logically fit into the framework of the album even if it's difficult to exactly describe how it fell into place, it's a jarring transformation. It also marks the album for its best qualities.
"Without a Name" begins another transformation, utilizing a gorgeous melody for its launching point. A couple of introspective improvisations delve into a nifty rhythmic dialog, and these lead into the next shift, where the melodic gentleness of "Without a Name" gives way to the fiery demeanor of "Insideout." The song traces sharp lines back to its predecessors while simultaneously pointing out the changes on the road ahead.
A remarkable album.
Your album personnel: Aakash Mittal (saxophone, clarinet), Ron Miles (trumpet), Matt Fuller (guitar, effects), Jean-Luc Davis (bass) and Josh Moore (drums).
This album is Self-Produced.
Jazz from the Boulder, Colorado scene.
Available at: Amazon | CDBaby | eMusic
Recommended: Le Tigre des Platanes – "Disappearing"
The track "Disappearing/Keep the Sharks from your Heart" might be the best example of what the quartet Le Tigre des Platanes is capable of. The groove is thick and heavy and could conceivably be used as a weapon for blunt force trauma, but damn, that melody is made for dancing and leaping off a stage and the soundtrack for high-speed car chases. Catchy and ferocious, both. And that, actually, is the best way to sum up their 2013 release Disappearing.
The unison of the brass-reeds front line often sounds like a single, diversified instrument, yet their presence gives the impression of twice their number. And when they add keyboards and synths to the mix, the rhythm section of acoustic bass and drums latches right onto that and takes the quartet for a spin.
Even when they slow things down on "Spooning" and let the groove sway more than charge, there's always gonna be one instrument (in this instance, baritone sax) that leaps forward and clears the path ahead. The exception that proves the rule is the formless "Without Warning, His Heart Stopped Beating," which is the rare time the quartet discards its focused forward momentum for individual wandering from the song's center. And while it's nice to have that track for a little differentiation, the spirit of the album is found in tracks like opener "From the Top of the Mountain," which should play from alarm clocks everywhere to get the world out of bed every morning.
A very fun and exciting album.
Your album personnel: Piéro Pépin (trumpet, bugle, keyboards, voice), Marc Démereau (baritone & alto saxophones, synthesizer, voice), Mathieu Sourisseau (acoustic bass) and Fabien Duscombs (drums).
Disappearing by Le Tigre des Platanes
Released in 2013 on the Mr Morezon label.
Listen to more album tracks at the label's Bandcamp page.
Jazz from the Toulouse, France scene.
By davesumner • Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2013 Releases • 0 • Tags: Le Tigre des Platanes, Mr. Morezon, Toulouse (France)
A rundown of some good stuff on the For Tune label (Part One)
Today we're going to feature a recording label that documents the music scene in Poland. Much of what For Tune releases is experimental, avant-garde or just plain beyond classification. But, too, much of it is right at home getting slotted in the Jazz category, and it has been a constant source of interest for me over the last handful of years since I first discovered them.
For Tune recently set up shop on the Bandcamp site, which really opens up their catalog from a retail perspective for many of you, and so to celebrate, I'm going to be pointing out many of the recordings that have grabbed my ear over the years… including one, at the very end of this column, that's from an ensemble that allegedly was the inspiration to start the For Tune label in the first place.
Pulsarus – Bee Itch
A bit on the stranger side this one is. This septet treats its melodies roughly, and often attacks them with a zeal to see how great a mess they can make out of their original concept. It creates an appealing bit of chaos and confusion, with an added bonus of the moments of satisfying clarity when they suddenly return to that original melody clear out of the blue. Bursts of electronics & effects find a home on this album alongside non-traditional instruments like blockflutes and Balkan horn. A couple tracks dial back the craziness a bit (including a nifty cover of "Imagine"), and that provides a welcome respite, as well as some necessary context and contrast for their chaotic approach to things. The personnel are trumpeter Tomasz Dąbrowski, alto saxophonist Aleksander Papierz, tenor saxophonist Ray Dickaty, electric pianist Stefan Orins, double bassist Jacek Mazurkiewicz, drummer Jakub Rutkowski and Dominik Strycharski on blockflutes.
Released in 2014 on For Tune.
Dominik Wania Trio – Ravel
Hell of a debut for pianist Wania. The most impressive characteristic of this straight-ahead trio session with double bassist Max Mucha and drummer Dawid Fortuna is how highly fluent he remains while delivering a series of thrilling fireworks. There's a streamlined concision present during each and every moment that counterbalances the rhythmic flurries and the wind sprint tempos, and that's why the trio is able to deliver an emotional punch that never seems melodramatic or superfluous. And, yes, the album title does refer to composer Maurice Ravel, but this sounds nothing like your typical jazz-classical crossover action.
Mary Halvorson Trio – Ghost Loop
This music is an old rowboat. The sound of ancient wood straining against the tide, the pained creaks and groans meshing into the comforting wash of waves lapping up against its prow and the soothing hush of them breaking apart and becoming one with the ocean's surface… all of that combines into music that perpetually sounds like it could come apart at any moment, yet continues rolling along, rocking back and forth with an uneasy lullaby motion. That's what you get from this live performance recording from the trio of guitarist Mary Halvorson, bassist John Hébert and drummer Ches Smith. Strangely captivating.
Obara International – Komeda
This is an album that prefers life in the hurricane, but vacations often in the serenity of the hurricane's eye. Alto saxophonist Maciej Obara, pianist Dominik Wania, drummer Gard Nilssen and double bassist Ole Morten Vågan take on a set of compositions from film soundtrack composer & jazz pianist Krzysztof Komeda and just run off to the horizon with them. It's appealing how the quartet opens this live performance recording with more adventurous takes on the originals and gradually scales it back with each successive composition… a satisfying way of bringing the theme home.
Waclaw Zimpel Quartet – Stone Fog
This 2013 release by clarinetist Waclaw Zimpel is one I keep coming back to, time and again. Stone Fog alternates between delicate expressions of a peaceful state and volatile bursts of unbounded motion. And it's the way in which those two polar extremes feed off one another that makes this a winning album.
I wrote a whole lot more about this album when it first came out.
Read more, listen and follow the links (LINK).
Power of the Horns – Alaman
Alaman is a live recording from the big band Power of the Horns, an outfit led by Piotr Damasiewicz. It's music that echoes the experimental big bands and large ensembles of the fertile 1960-1970's free improvisation avant-garde axis, but offered up with a new voice, sounding fresh and vibrant and no less experimental with its own sense of daring and fearlessness.
It earned the #28 slot for this site's Best of 2013 list.
And there's gonna be a couple more similar columns hitting upon the For Tune catalog coming up, so be sure to check back in often.
In the meantime, a great resource on Jazz from the Poland scene, check out Maciej Nowotny's excellent site Polish-Jazz Blogspot (LINK)
By davesumner • Jazz Recommendations - 2013 Releases, Jazz Recommendations - 2014 Releases • 0
This Wide Open Expanse, Ever-changing: The Music of Diego Barber
Aside from being one my favorite musicians on the modern jazz scene, guitarist Diego Barber signifies the starting point of my transition from the jazz of the past to that being created in the present day. Many years ago, there were a few of us on an online jazz forum that made the commitment to dive into the modern jazz scene and share news of the new releases we were discovering. Diego Barber's new (at that time) recording was one of a handful of albums that made a real impression upon our small group, and it was one of a handful of albums that signaled the start of my dedication to the new jazz releases listings (which, eventually, led to the creation of this site). Over the years, I've written columns about the musicians I discovered in those early days. Diego Barber is one.
Hailing from Lanzarote of Spain's Canary Islands and now residing in NYC, the guitarist travels the sonic territories of jazz, folk and classical with comparable ease, and much of his music reflects a perspective that he doesn't necessarily see a need to compartmentalize the music influences. In fact, Barber explains that "the common denominator is the language of my own music, which is influenced, among other things, by my classical training. This provides me with the musical and technical resources to compose, and from there, it is all adaptation and evolution based on instrumentation, knowledge acquired daily, and of course, my mood at the moment I initiate a new work." The reward of this approach is Barber's singular voice on guitar and how it informs each project in new and thrilling ways. That's what today's column is about.
Diego Barber – Calima
These are the first sounds from the discography of guitarist Diego Barber…
Calima by Diego Barber
Those opening moments of pure serenity on "Piru" carry throughout Barber's 2009 release Calima, even when the music's temperature rises a few degrees, even when the music pauses in hushed silence.
There is something refreshingly easy-going about this music… a quality that doesn't change just because the pace of the music does. "Catalpa" sees Barber's quartet of drummer Jeff Ballard, bassist Larry Grenadier and saxophonist Mark Turner maintain a quick-footed tempo, spurring the melody forward so they can get to the meat of the development and just start soloing. And "Virginia" flirts with a groove as they scoot right along, but even these flurries and bursts of activity aren't sufficient to lessen the tranquil effect of tracks like "Richi" and "Desierto," which have Barber weaving his guitar into languorous saxophone lines, twittering drum chatter and the shadows of basslines into a bundle of sunny afternoon peacefulness. There's an arresting tunefulness to this music that keeps the attention rapt.
It's the perfect mix of calming ease and lively activity. It's the kind of concoction that keeps the brain transfixed even as the music lulls the heart into a lazy day calm.
The album ends with the fascinating twenty-one minute piece "Air," which really drives home the point that Barber's vision incorporates just as much folk and classical as it does jazz, but even more salient, the proof that his ability to enchant extends far beyond deft melodic expressions and reaches out to horizons beyond that are no less riveting.
Your album personnel: Diego Barber (guitar), Jeff Ballard (drums), Larry Grenadier (acoustic bass) and Mark Turner (saxophones).
Calima was released on Sunnyside Records.
Diego Barber – The Choice
A few years later, Barber's 2011 release The Choice came out.
Barber worked with two different trios on this recording. Ari Hoenig replaced Jeff Ballard on drums. Both Turner and Grenadier returned for Barber's sophomore release, but about half of the album tracks had Barber switching them out for the sax-bass duo of Seamus Blake and Johannes Weidenmueller.
The Choice built on the foundation of Calima, but flexed a bit more muscle this time around. The wide-open beauty was still there, but so, too, were more compact expressions, wrapped tighter around the melody and in possession of tempos that were as often jagged and punctuated as they were susurrant.
The choppy motion of "Jose's House" has an interesting way of mixing in the gentle expressionism of Barber's guitar, presenting an appealing incongruousness, as if two competing conversations shared an equal level of interest. "Ailanto" works a similar seam, though comes stronger with an angular melody and the motion of rough seas. On the other hand, "Chicago" had a loftier presence, echoing Barber's debut on more than one occasion.
Unsurprisingly, the album tracks that featured Turner and Grenadier were far more reminiscent of Calima, while those tunes (excepting the gorgeous opening track "To Annie") that had Blake and Weidenmueller in the sax and bass positions were representative of this new direction. But even with the changes in personnel, all the tracks sound like they came from the same session… it was just a matter of how much Barber exerted his own influence on a particular song and the way he chose to do it. Barber smooths out some of the rougher edges when left to his own devices, but some tracks he allowed to display an acerbity not often encountered on his debut. And though The Choice didn't quite reach the plateau established by Calima, it was a very promising development to see that Barber wasn't going to simply be a one-sound musician.
Your album personnel: Diego Barber (guitar), Ari Hoenig (drums), plus Johannes Weidenmueller (bass) & Seamus Blake (sax) and Larry Grenadier (bass) & Mark Turner (sax).
The Choice by Diego Barber
The Choice was released on Sunnyside Records.
Diego Barber & Hugo Cipres – 411
Barber's 2013 release 411 proved he possessed a fearlessness for exploring new creative directions.
Bringing back the Blake-Weidenmueller-Hoenig trio and teaming up with desktop wizard Hugo Cipres, Barber set course for an entirely new venture. 411 is an electro-acoustic project that brings together laptop effects, thick dynamic grooves, and a fleeting melodicism into a hodgepodge of dominant and recessive qualities that changes ratios from moment to moment. The song "Poncho" illustrates the potential for genius this approach represents. The rapid pulse of electronics coalesces with the sussurus of classical guitar and the gentle patter of drums. It is a song that is both insistent and atmospheric, urgent and placid, contemporary and futuristic, and incorporates many divergent voices into one unique, captivating sound.
And continuing the pattern represented by the change from Calima to The Choice, the 411 project eschews atmospheric potential for a willful groove, choosing to pronounce its big sound within the moment, each and every one, rather than as a gradually built, all-encompassing ambiance. It was a startling change, and I personally didn't enjoy all of it, but it was a thrilling moment as a witness to Barber's evolving sound… to hear the hints and vestiges of Calima and The Choice in an album that was a completely different animal. There was a palpable sense of adventure, which is a quality that can never be too common in any creative pursuit.
Your album personnel: Diego Barber (classical & electric guitars, bass), Hugo Cipres (desktop, effects), Seamus Blake (tenor sax, EWI), Johannes Weidenmueller (bass), and Ari Hoenig (drums).
411 was released on the Origin Arts label.
Diego Barber & Craig Taborn – Tales
When a listener digs in for the long haul and follows an artist from album #1 to album #100, as long as that artist continues to develop his or her personal voice and, thus, takes risks and follows uncertain paths, two things are certain: One, the listener isn't going to like every album the artist releases, and, two, the judgments of like and dislike are often eclipsed by the thrill of new surprises from album to album to album. 411 was proof of that for me personally. I continue to revisit the album, just because I get to re-experience the shock at hearing this new sound from Barber.
It's the kind of thing that I got to experience again with Barber's 2014 recording, Tales.
A duo collaboration with pianist Craig Taborn, it brings together two artists who typically venture into heavily cerebral territory, yet rather than anchoring them down with deeply contemplative thought, it acts as the launching point into melodic expansions unbound and free to flight.
The most arresting feature of Tales is the way the duo travels out far and wide from the opening statement of melody, giving the impression that once it disappears from the rear view mirror, it's gone for good… but then they suddenly boomerang right back to it and you find yourself staring at the melody through the front windshield. Opening track "Killian's Mountains" is the immediate proof of this approach. It opens with some gorgeous melodicism that you would hope never ends. When it does, the risk of disappointment is averted by the pursuit of trails that appear endless. And then suddenly, as if emerging from nowhere, that beautiful melody returns in the middle of the clearing.
Of particular interest about Tales are the rhythmic cross-fades with harmony, how the duo seem to treat both tempo and texture and interchangeable elements on the turn of a dime, and how feverishly they feed off one another. It's a quality not that far removed from the swirling electronic mists created on 411, and that's why it's a special treat that the two albums share a composition. "Cipres" is both soothing and urgent, switching between moments of calm and those of dissonance, both states perfectly at ease passing the baton back and forth in the flow of one long breath. On "Cipres," the duo's instruments seem always to be quietly humming fragments of the melody under their breath. Of relevance, Barber describes his process: "Before I compose a musical note, I think about the instruments that I want to use and the options of color, texture, melody, rhythm or harmony. Based on what the instruments offer me and how they inspire me, then I create the composition."
Just in the way that they flow one from the other, Tales may just as well be considered a four-part suite. Parts three and four are "Eternal 7" and the album finale "IM Park (to Diego Barber)." The former bubbles with all kinds of liveliness, the kind of thing where the poetry of the moment is just as much a result of the rhythmic patterns as it is the story being told. And the latter track concludes things on a contemplative note, siding on the side of graceful elegance and a controlled heartbeat. But both tracks accentuate how fluidly Barber and his counterpart Taborn are able to shift between classical, folk and jazz forms while subtly building up to breathless displays of beauty.
It's a big reason why Tales earned the #5 slot on this site's Best of 2014 list.
Your album personnel: Diego Barber (classical guitar) and Craig Taborn (piano).
Tales by Diego Barber
Tales was released on Sunnyside Records.
On the horizon:
Barber is currently working on a new album that features percussionist Alejandro Coello as well as a bass & drums duo. Based on posts to his Facebook page, it's looking like it's Ben Williams and Eric Harland filling those two slots.
After that album is completed, Barber has plans for a classical recording, performing twenty Scarlatti sonatas.
Listen to more album tracks by following the Retail links below to the Bandcamp site.
Retail links:
Calima: Bandcamp | eMusic | Amazon
The Choice: Bandcamp | eMusic | Amazon
411: eMusic | Amazon
Tales: Bandcamp | eMusic | Amazon
By davesumner • Artist Overviews, I Listen To All Of This, Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2009 Releases, Jazz Recommendations - 2011 Releases, Jazz Recommendations - 2013 Releases, Jazz Recommendations - 2014 Releases • 0 • Tags: Diego Barber, Origin/OA2 Records, Sunnyside Records