Rolling Jazz Thread 2024

This is coming in April, and as a huuuuuge fan of their first record, the sample bit just got me totally pumped

https://astralahmed.bandcamp.com/album/wood-blues

There's also a 5CD [Ahmed] box set coming out in April on the Swedish label Fönstret. I haven't heard it, but the label head tells me it's coming, so...

All I can see is this:

https://ahmedquartet.bandcamp.com/album/super-majnoon

which is also deeply exciting to me

lol sorry, I got stoned— that last record came out this year! I had no idea because the group has several different Bandcamp pages.

Yeah, the 5CD set hasn't been announced yet, as the band haven't even signed off on the masters. But it's in process.

Cool!!

Jimmy Cobb on this Great Jazz Trio record has the greatest jazz bass drum sound I've ever heard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLXieFOtKUM

Gig at LPR was really good, particularly JBL/Messthetics and Irreversible Entanglements. Shabaka was a bit of a snooze though. Really not sure about this wafty new age direction he's going in. Too much of this tasteful ambient jazz about - it has none of the beauty or intensity of the spiritual jazz tradition it claims to be extending.

Lol, I must have been looking at a Discogs page for the wrong album because I kept listening to this going "how the fuck does Jimmy Cobb suddenly sound like Elvin", but of course it's Elvin Jones & Richard Davis on that Great Jazz Trio album. I was pretty blown away by "Eddie Gomez" too, makes much more sense now. What a record.

https://ahmedquartet.bandcamp.com/album/super-majnoon

Just a note that this is an insanely good record, bought it last night.

So I heard a song on the radio last night that I liked and Shazamed it and it was Joey Alexander — who I vaguely remember as the child prodigy who popped up on TV and elsewhere some years back. Didn't realize he had a going adult career. No idea what his critical standing is like, but I liked the vibe of the song. Anyway, this was the track (the studio version).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQM2a350TF4

Got tix to see the Blue Note Quintet on Fri, in addition to Kendrick Scott I'm most looking forward to hearing Joel Ross again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYJMflZEjJo

(some insane playing on this session, first time seeing video of Kush Abadey, I wasn't familiar with him until that new Ethan Iverson record)

James Brandon Lewis has two albums coming out this winter/spring: a new quartet disc on Intakt with pianist Aruán Ortiz, bassist Brad Jones, and drummer Chad Taylor (I think it's their third album together), and a collaboration with the Messthetics (guitarist Anthony Pirog and bassist Joe Lally and drummer Brendan Canty, both formerly of Fugazi) on Impulse.

That quartet is absolutely superb - saw them in London in November. Ortiz is such a fantastic pianist - managed to get a seat a foot away from him. Just a marvel too watch. Rest of the band not too shabby either, ha! Chad Taylor is one of the greatest drummers alive, deserves all the flowers.

Yeah, the quartet is great, and Lewis's duo project with Taylor is fantastic, too.

The Blue Note Quintet show was stunning, highly recommend catching the tour if you can. It's hard to imagine a better drummer than Kendrick Scott, he can play anything but has a Brian Blade level of musicality & restraint. Joel Ross delivered too (especially his dancing when he lays out and goes to the back of the stage). They really sounded like a band too, mostly originals until the last tune, which was a Monk tune smashed up with a Charlie Parker blues worked into the form.

Gerald Clayton kept triggering clips of jazz musicians being interviewed (Wayne Shorter was the only one I really recognized by voice), sometimes it was just a bridge between tunes and sometimes one person would play under the audio. Didn't always work imo, but it was a good way of not having any dead air or having to address the audience until the end. Wonder if they'll make a record.

Have we talked about this record here?

https://billorcutt.bandcamp.com/album/a-mouth-at-both-ends

Friend of mine just played the trio on the radio and it blew my top off.

hmm, will peep

Fuck yeah

(brings back seeing Herlin play this tune from a few inches away a few summers ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI4M7qzOTHo

Really enjoyed this Vinnie Sperazza post featuring legendary jazz drummers on early r&b singles. Heard Billy Hart talking about the same thing recently, how his first gigs were in r&b bands, which led to playing with singers, which led to all of the modern jazz gigs (and how the jazz bandleaders all hired him for his r&b and pop background).

The new Iyer/Oh/Sorey album is predictably great. What a fantastic trio.

Haven’t listened but can imagine.

Yeah, it's good. I've got an interview with Iyer running in my next Stereogum column, which will probably go live next week.

Been going in on some Al Foster records after being inspired by this Dan Weiss clip:
https://www.instagram.com/p/C3LYW6kAwbk/

I went back to Joe Henderson's "So Near, So Far" Miles tribute record with Foster and John Scofield, and it's just as great as I remember. Foster is so creative and tight, especially with the hi-hat, I wouldn't be surprised if Bill Stewart got a lot from him.

I got to see Henderson and Foster play together, with George Mraz on bass, in 1997. It was great.

Wow

My latest Stereogum column is up; I interviewed Vijay Iyer, and reviewed new albums by James Brandon Lewis, Sullivan Fortner, and others. Lotta Scandinavians this month, so be warned.

I enjoyed your Rufus Reid interview (tried to go through that complete Monk set but wasn't feeling it for some reason, even though Billy Drummond is great)...it's really something how every musician talks about Sullivan Fortner these days, I've heard the same thing recently from Brad Mehldau, Aaron Parks, etc.

Some interesting records in there, especially that Otis Sandjo record.

The two tracks out from the upcoming Potter/Mehldau/Patitucci/Blade record are masterful, can't wait for that one.

I'm waiting to get the full album from the label. It's a hell of a lineup for sure.

https://wapo.st/49GLa8S

Washington Post interview with Iyer focusses mainly on Compassion album and recent live show with no mention of Arooj Aftab one

So the new Shabaka has dropped and... I'm really underwhelmed.

I'm all for beauty, but this current wave of chilled out ambient jazz just feels aimless and banal... over reliance on "vibes" but not much substance... I'm sure it's nice to put on while you do yoga, but Don Cherry it ain't!

Floating Points has a lot to answer for.

I like it! I've already heard the whole album (reviewed it for The Wire) and it's a whole lot better than the Andre 3000 thing, or the Vijay Iyer/Arooj Aftab/Shahzad Ismaily thing, or about half of what's come out on International Anthem in the last year. The tracks with two harp players are really beautiful, and it's got some really good guest vocalists. There's nothing aimless or haphazard about it — it's a tight record (11 tracks, 47 minutes) with a ton of guests including Jason Moran, Nduduzo Makhathini, and yeah, Andre 3000's on it but you wouldn't notice unless someone told you.

Haha. I'm feeling this more from the UK side of things, although I like a lot of it (the last Alabaster de Plume stuck with me, the previous Shabaka record didn't). The Ambrose Akinmusire LP is post-ECM ambient jazz done right (and I was gratified to see that Jakob Bro subbed for Bill Frisell on his tour, since Bro kicked off my obsession with this sort of thing and I felt like the AA record fit into that universe).

xp
How does it compare to Afrikan Culture? I never felt v compelled to listen to that a second time, but a fuller band would be more enticing

To me, the Ayer/Izmaily/Aftab thing is probably the best example of this kind of thing, especially live there was a continual bass pulse that kept if from being too floaty. Maybe I give this the benefit of the doubt cause I know that Iyer is a serious musician and not just slumming, which I think Hutchings does a bit (e.g. your interview with him where he says he wants to play “stupid sax” because he thinks playing complex music serves capitalism or something).

Yeah, aimless applies to Andre 3000's jams, but not so much the Shabaka. There's obviously intention and structure there, but it does seem to stop just as it's starting to go somewhere. Caught his set at NY Winter Jazz fest and found it pretty dull. There's no tension or bite to make the ostensibly beautiful sounds really soar.

I get why this chilled out minimalist/ambient thing is all the rage but I find it a total snooze! Can't help but feel there's a lot of reliance on spiritual jazz signifiers to give the music a sense of depth. At worst, it's some phoney new age bullshit.

Good to see I'm not the only one underwhelmed by the Iyer/Aftab/Ismaily - I like all the people involved, but I wonder how much lies behind studied ECM tastefulness. I'm also finding IA incredibly frustrating, particularly in its choice of UK acts. Doesn't seem right that a mediocrity like Alabaster DePlume, with his insufferable wide eye naif routine, gets to work with amazing Chicago musicians.

I get why this chilled out minimalist/ambient thing is all the rage but I find it a total snooze! Can't help but feel there's a lot of reliance on spiritual jazz signifiers to give the music a sense of depth. At worst, it's some phoney new age bullshit.

Moor Mother had a hilarious tweet the other day:

Just imagine if some of the folks playing spiritual jazz was actually spiritual

— poetry (@moormother) February 21, 2024

(Her new album is amazing, btw; Iyer's on it, and a bunch of other people. Not "jazz" exactly, but really, really strong stuff.)

Ha I saw that! She's OTM.

Very excited for her new album. She can do no wrong!

curious to hear the new shabaka album

i'm not familiar with all of his work, just sons of kemet and the comet is coming, but he has popped up on some other stuff. i like him, but there've been several times where i immediately clocked it was him because...he plays the same licks all the time? like i could hear a certain phrase and it's just immediately recognizable

Haha. I'm 100% in favor of that, my favorite horn player (Derrick "Kabuki" Shezbie) has 5 - 10 licks he deploys with the utmost sound, feel, & musicality and no one else can play those licks like him.

I think there's a conceptual divide where some musicians think true improvisation is playing something you've never played before, without a net, and others feel that's what the practice room is for and that you shouldn't try to play everything you hear if you don't know where it's going. Idk, I think licks = words and it's all in how you use them. Talk with them rather than recite a prepared speech.

yeah to be clear i'm not against it or criticizing him really, it's just SO noticeable to me compared to a lot of other horn players

i like him, but there've been several times where i immediately clocked it was him because...he plays the same licks all the time? like i could hear a certain phrase and it's just immediately recognizable

Allow me to introduce you to the work of Fred Anderson...

Ha I saw that! She's OTM.

Very excited for her new album. She can do no wrong!

(I have also had the distinct privilege of seeing her a LOT since we are both Philly jawns)

On the ambient turn... this review of Winter Jazz Fest makes some good observations. His argument - comforting music for troubled times - is solid enough, but that's the problem. If there's a time for jazz to be angry it's now. A lot of this new age ambient jazz comes across as hippy escapism. It's also not very interesting musically. I put on a Carlos Nino album and think that's cool, some nice grooves, some nice sounds, but it doesn't keep me engaged. But then that's maybe the point - it's background music to chill to. Perhaps I'm not temperamentally disposed to blissed out Californian vibes.
Of course any revolutionary movement needs collective joy, beauty, love - that's why the latest Irreversible Entanglements is so powerful. And I get that Shabaka, for example, has released plenty of politically charged music before (The third Sons Of Kemet album in particular) and has every right to follow his bliss. But still...

Sorry, didn't include the link: https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2024/02/28/jazz-ragas-for-restless-times/

I don’t really understand the fuss over Niño and am lukewarm on Hutchings’ latest efforts, but I am a little skeptical of the idea that a sound being projected onto some musicians betrays their stance on social or political issues.

That said, could it be possible that by making music that is calming, comforting, even contemplative, there is a desire for futurity being projected into the world? Why does music have to be “angry” to be read as in tune with political and social demands? And isn’t that more a problem with the subjective listener than the music itself?

To clarify, I'm not arguing that all music should be angry, noisy and political. Free jazz has always looked after the spirit - music as a healing force and all that. And it's always had space for the contemplative. By its very nature, jazz and improvised music is inherently subversive, a liberation technology as Moor Moor puts it. Or at least, any jazz and improvised music that is alive and real, and not just industry hyped pseudo spiritual jazz or sub ECM muzak.

And I'm not questioning Shabaka's political commitment - I really admire the way SOK brought anti-colonial, anti-racist politics to the edge of the mainstream. That glorious FUCK THE TORIES FUCK THE FASCISTS bit in My Queen Is Ada Eastman needs to be blasted from rooftops.

My beef is really with the wider ambient trend and the marketing of it. Again, it ties back to another recent Moor Mother tweet about flooding the market with ambient and soft indie so people remain asleep.

Yeah sorry I don’t buy that

Another major historian and curator, Michael Cuscuna, has passed away. (He was being treated for cancer for a while.) Good guy, and given the work he was doing until the end and his wealth of knowledge (much of which was gained from his own research and lifelong experiences), it feels like a major loss.

Yeah it really is a loss to jazz (as the owner of so many records he produced, reissued, etc.)

My latest Stereogum column is up. It includes an interview with Kenny Garrett and reviews of new albums by Jeremy Pelt, Matthew Shipp, Isaiah Collier, Dave Douglas, Melissa Aldana and others. Plus a gratuitous shot at Bill Frisell!

Leave Bill Frisell alone!

That Jeremy Pelt track sounds great, will have to check that one for sure. That Miles Davis interview at the bottom hits hard (the endless debate).

A little Frisell goes a long way

Could probably pick a few threads to post this in, but excited to check out the debut from Beings, There is a Garden, out on No Quarter soon:

https://beingsnyc.bandcamp.com/album/there-is-a-garden

I mean, this lineup!

Zoh Amba - saxophone, vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonium, piano
Steve Gunn - electric guitar
Shahzad Ismaily - bass, synth
Jim White - drums

wow!

Saw Terence Blanchard with the E-Collective, Turtle Island Quartet, & guest opera singers Justin Austin & Adrienne Danrich. The night was billed as "Fire Shut Up in My Bones: Opera Suite in Concert. The main portion of the night was pieces from the opera with backing visuals , but the concert opened and closed with Blanchard and the musicians doing other compositions. He made a reference to Wayne Shorter re the first one. Blanchard's trumpet sounded strong throughout and especially touching on the operatic suite. Blanchard's jazz and the operatic vocals ended up meshing together pretty well. I wasn't wowed by electric guitarist Charles Altura whose playing was more prominent on the non - opera suite efforts. Too '70s rock-jazz fusion for me. Longtime drummer Oscar Seaton seemed better when he was trying subtle things as opposed to just pounding hard. Would like to see the full opera version with dancers, orchestra, costumes and sets.

"Fire " the opera recently re-opened a few weeks ago at the Met in NY (after its initial 2021 run) and got a mixed review

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/09/arts/music/met-opera-fire-shut-up-in-my-bones.html?unlocked_article_code=1.nk0.6ll_.FitoGw3e1o-i&smid=url-share

I think “Fire” was filmed by the Met for its Live In HD Program so it may rerun at a movie theater near you or a DVD come out.

I would have gone but I saw Marc-Andre Hamelin play at the Library of Congress last night doing Charles Ives’ Concord Sonata, an essential trip for me.

Not particularly interested in the opera but I've enjoyed Blanchard's last couple of albums with his group.

I wrote about the new Tomeka Reid Quartet album in this week's Burning Ambulance newsletter.

"I like in and out."

me too! lol

I interviewed Kamasi Washington for Stereogum. I love the fact that the longest section of this interview is him talking about working with Gerald Wilson.

Nice.

I don't know if I've ever seen this much effort put into a video by a jazz (adjacent) group:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VABfAOXrQgQ

All my Bandcamp purchases today are old albums from the 80s on Italian jazz labels:

Hamiet Bluiett, Resolution
Baikida Carroll, Shadows And Reflections
Billy Harper, Black Saint and In Europe
Beaver Harris, Beautiful Africa
The Leaders, Unforeseen Blessings
Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, Peace And Blessings
Dannie Richmond, Dionysus
Woody Shaw, Time Is Right

not from this year but i'm digging pianist Rodney Franklin's album In the Center. i had never heard of him. sounds like he veered pretty quickly to smooth jazz, but this album, his first, is really cool and varied. most of it would fit well with late 70s soul jazz like lonnie liston smith - some disco-funk, one with vocals, a couple spiritual jams. the closer, "life moves on" is a killer

Does Tomeka Reid still live in DC? Had no idea she released something on Cuneiform.

I saw Reid a couple weeks ago doing a great composed tribute to Duke Ellington at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater.
Right now I’m in Brooklyn at the Long Play festival and saw a fantastic set by Darius Jones doing his Fluxtet music. He killed it was so great. At the end he did some Pentecostal vocalizations over a string ostinato. Very moving.

Having dinner right next to Ingrid Laubrock and Tom Rainey

!

Incredible interview with Charles Gayle from a Buffalo, NY newspaper in 1970(!). Reveals more about his early life than I ever knew before. I wonder if the tapes he talks about are still in the ESP archives?

RE: Laubrock/Rainey, I was in Brooklyn for Bang On A Can's Long Play Festival, where both were on the bill: Rainey in the DoYeon Kim Quartet and Laubrock had written a string quartet that was premiered there. Great festival, a smaller more manageable Big Ears in a cooler city (Sorry, Knoxville).

I kicked off this month's Stereogum column with a deep dive into the history of Last Exit (Bill Laswell's jazz-metal improv band featuring Peter Brötzmann, Sonny Sharrock, and Ronald Shannon Jackson), since their catalog has basically doubled in size in the last couple of years thanks to a half dozen live recordings he's put up on Bandcamp for subscribers. Lots of great albums reviewed, too.

Reid is Chicago-based but moving around a lot due to visiting professorships and touring. I'd love to hear the Ellington material and also the expanded Stringtet. 3x3 is absolutely superb.

Finally got to the new Charles Lloyd, wow it's great. Listened to it twice straight through.

Some Charles Lloyd videos available here from 1994 at the North Sea Jazz Festival. They seem to be opening up their archive. There's also a great video of Joe Henderson playing "Recorda-me" from the same year, but it's cut off when the bass solo starts. The entire playlist is being updated regularly.

First listen of Ghosted II (Ambarchi / Berthling / Werliin): long and drifting percussive pieces, pleasant reverie, Afro-jazz style bass and fuzzy keyboards, some pulse but could have more, the two pieces after the first are more peaceful and astral, the fourth is some kind of synthesis. Not particularly going anywhere but still good headphone music.