New Jazz Releases

Started by San Antone, September 14, 2012, 10:59:02 AM

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San Antone

Some good new releases from ECM worth checking out:

1. Tim Berne ~ Snakeoil

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2. Michael Formanek ~ Small Places

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3. Nik Bartsch ~ Ronin Live

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4. Arild Andersen ~ Celebration

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5. Billy Hart ~ All Our Reasons

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San Antone

John Kelman is a very good reviewer of jazz recordings for All About Jazz and has published his year end "Best of" article.  A lot of great new jazz here.

I don't think it an overstatement to say that 2012 was one of the best years ever for new jazz. 


San Antone

A new release from Wayne Shorter and his regular quartet.

Without a Net



Excellent.

Leo K.

Quote from: sanantonio on February 15, 2013, 09:23:58 AM
A new release from Wayne Shorter and his regular quartet.

Without a Net



Excellent.

I didn't know about this. Thanks!  8)

San Antone

Some noteworthy (imo) new-ish (released in the last ten years) jazz CDs

Joe Lovano - Mostly Coltrane

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2/3 same rhythm section, Steve Kuhn, Steve Swallow and Joey Barron - Wisteria

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Uri Caine Live at the Village Vanguard

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Fred Hersh Live at the Jazz Standard - this is an interesting lineup since it is without bass.

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Kurt Rosenwinkel - Deep Song

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I hate it when people say there is no good new jazz.

:)

bhodges

Quote from: sanantonio on May 09, 2013, 06:53:19 AM
I hate it when people say there is no good new jazz.

:)

Totally agree with this. As just your last post alone shows, there's plenty of new work to hear. Thanks for starting this thread, which I guess I didn't see at first. And as usual, I don't have that much time to chime in, but do read the posts with great interest.

--Bruce

San Antone

Cross Culture Joe Lovano

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Henk

#27
Harris Eisenstadt's September Trio - The Destructive Element
Harris Eisenstadt - Canada Day III
Pierluggi Balducci - Blue from Heaven

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Great music, all available on E-music. I like Mehldau's two latest recording and the Branford Marsalis as well.

Henk

*
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Good stuff.

toledobass

Anything coming up in the next quarter? 

Henk


toledobass

I saw some of the promo stuff for the Mehldau.  Sounds really good to me.

Always excited for another Metheny release, too, so thanks for making me aware!

Henk

Some more:



Samples sound good to me.

toledobass

Never heard him Henk, what's a good place to start?

A

Henk

Quote from: toledobass on January 10, 2014, 12:56:24 PM
Never heard him Henk, what's a good place to start?

A

Also new to me.

Henk

Ambrose Akinmusire - The Imagined Savior Is Far Easier To Paint March 11th

toledobass


Henk

Chris Speed - Really OK (just released)
Chris speed - Ruins (just released)
Ahmad Jamal - Saturday morning (released in 2013)
John Taylor - In Two Minds (released this year)
Snarky Puppy - We like it here (released this year)

All great albums! All available on E-music.

San Antone

An old friend, still making great music ~



Collecting pieces written over the past two decades, A Trumpet in the Morning is the first release from composer and multi-instrumentalist Marty Ehrlich dedicated solely to his orchestral music. Previous albums issued by the New York Composers Orchestra – as well as The Long View, Ehrlich's 2000 effort for Enja Records – included long-form compositions conceived for large ensembles, but none of those were designed to be interpreted by a unit quite as massive as the big bands featured here. Even more importantly, this session marks the first time Ehrlich acts as conductor rather than soloist, leading his ensemble from the podium, with only one brief foray on clarinet to his credit.

Ehrlich's interest in composing for large ensembles can be traced back through his very first tour in 1978 with Anthony Braxton's seminal Creative Orchestra to his teenage years in the early 1970s, when he studied and performed with key members of the St. Louis based collective Black Artists Group (BAG). Having maintained working relationships with many of his former mentors over the years, Ehrlich structures this date around a musical interpretation of the poem of the same name penned by BAG associate Arthur Brown, which is recited by multi-instrumentalist J.D. Parran, a friend of Brown's and one of Ehrlich's first teachers. The remainder of the program features a wide variety of styles, ranging from a rearranged version of the late 1980s ballad "M Variations (Melody for Madeleine)" to the anthemic prelude and postlude that bookend the record under the name "Agbekor Translations," a polyrhythmic fanfare conceived only a year ago.

The common thread that unifies these expansive, multi-sectional works is their lyrical sensibility, a defining characteristic in Ehrlich's oeuvre. His knack for penning tuneful melodies has long been enriched by his keen ear for color and texture, especially in unique instrumental configurations like his Dark Woods Ensemble. In this setting, with an even broader palette available to him, Ehrlich weaves multi-layered lines of kaleidoscopic counterpoint and polyphonic harmony into lavish themes that amplify the harmonic scope of his more familiar small ensemble writing.

Such attention to timbral detail is immediately noticeable in the episodic title track, which transitions gracefully between a wide variety of moods and instrumental combinations, from introspective piano soliloquies to ecstatic horn chorales. Parran takes the lead, verbally relaying the poem's evocative text with a theatrical delivery tempered by a folksy dignity, accentuating lines like "you can bury me in the east / you can bury me in the west / I'm gonna rise up / be a trumpet in the morning" at key transitional points with sinuous soprano ruminations and bellowing bass saxophone ululations.

Named after Robert Johnson's distinctive blues guitar style, "Rundowns and Turnbacks" is the second longest offering at twenty minutes, an epic tone poem offering a metaphorical exploration of archetypal American resiliency, inspired in part by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Brimming with myriad emotional cues throughout its duration, the arrangement segues from such sanguine motifs as the rhythmically infectious "Rundowns" to the dolorous musings of "Quaker Work Song," with the roiling collective improvisation "Didn't Know the Levees Would Break" offering a strident contrast to the somber interlude "This Graceful Waltz."

Originally intended to be part of the aforementioned "Rundowns and Turnbacks," the funky "Blues for Peace" gained traction on its own as a modified blues in 9/8 that eschews typical r&b modulations. Jerome Harris' tasteful fretwork features prominently here, with blustery tailgating from Ray Anderson and muscular tenor salvos by Jason Robinson rounding out the accessible, but unconventionally structured number.

"M Variations (Melody for Madeleine)" undergoes a similarly dramatic transformation. First performed by Ehrlich's piano-less Traveler's Tales Quartet in 1989 and then adapted for the New York Composers Orchestra in 1992, its understated ballad form is further expanded into a mini-piano concerto for Uri Caine, who uses standard chord changes as the foundation for his cascading variations. Bassist Drew Gress, tenor saxophonist Adam Kolker and trumpeter Ron Horton also contribute sterling individual statements to this melodious swinger. In fact, the entire album abounds with imaginative solos from a multi-generational cross-section of some of New York's finest improvisers, ranging from Downtown stalwarts like saxophonist Andy Laster and trumpeter James Zollar to overlooked pioneers like French horn virtuoso John Clark and multi-instrumentalist Howard Johnson.

A unique and long anticipated item in his discography, A Trumpet in the Morning documents some of Ehrlich's most captivating but complex writing. Despite his absence as a soloist, Ehrlich's soulful lyricism is heard to great effect in the stellar performances of these multihued works, which are among the most compelling of his generation.
–Troy Collins

torut

Quote from: Henk on May 28, 2013, 07:19:41 AM
Harris Eisenstadt's September Trio - The Destructive Element
Harris Eisenstadt - Canada Day III
Pierluggi Balducci - Blue from Heaven

Great music, all available on E-music. I like Mehldau's two latest recording and the Branford Marsalis as well.
I like Eisenstadt's music since I heard the excellent album Woodblock Prints (2010). My favorite Canada Day album is II (2011).

Clean Feed is a good label to find new Jazz.

Basement Sessions, Vol. 2 (2014)
Espen Aalberg (d), Jonas Kullhammar (sax), Torbjörn Zetterberg (b)


I liked Vol. 1, too. Coltrane can be clearly heard here, and it sounds traditional, but it is nice playing. The label's note describes the music well, I think.

QuoteOnce more hard bop is taken out of the museum in a way you can barely listen to these days. Authe[n]ticity remains one of the strongest point on this informal session where jazz is played in a truly (a)live set.