Jacintha - Lush Life Year: 2002
Style or Subgenre: Vocal Jazz
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After a month hiatus, Saturday Night Vocals is back. Last night: Jacintha's 2002 release, Lush Life. A superb Saturday Night selection! The Singaporean singer brings an airy, seductive, breathy but not overly affected voice to this set of standards with a few obscurities mixed in. She has truly astonishing control on the low and slow that allows her to wring maximum effect on those smoky, sultry pieces. Her rather unique take on "Summertime" is most special, largely due to the piano of Bill Cunliffe (who actually shines throughout the album) and the flugelhorn of Dmitry Matheny (who also elevates three additional pieces. That said, the album is a little heavy on the understated pieces for my overall taste. Still most worth it though, for those exceptional slow burners.
Mary Halvorson - Cloudward Year: 2024
Style or Subgenre: Post Bop, Modal Jazz, Modern Jazz
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My first jazz listen of 2024 comes as the result of a heads up from @Repo. Of course, being a big Mary Halvorson fan, it took zero encouragement for me to slip this into the queue. Also unsurprising is how much I like this album. As always, Halvorson's compositions are thoroughly thoughtful, and she gets the most out of her ensemble in bringing them to life. The opening "The Gate" is prime Halvorson in this regard. I personally seem to have a particular affinity for when Halvorson goes all gritty fusion, and the very intense fifth cut "Desiderata" confirms that, being my favorite piece on the album. Even there, with her Sonny Sharrock-like distortion and flexible use of tonality, she lets her ensemblemates really shine. Trumpeter Adam O'Farrill gets his licks in, as he does throughout the album. Also shining here is vibraphonist Patricia Brennan (I'm definitely going to have to seek out at least one of her albums as leader). In fact, I love the instrumentation of this album; vibes and trumpet together, sympathetically resonating with each other on multiple cuts makes the jazz neurons in my brain happy. Toss in wonderfully weaving lines from trombonist Jacob Garchik and stellar modern jazz drumming from Tomas Fujiwara whose best moments come in the seventh cut "Tailhead," and this is an all around great album, which should come as a surprise to no one who has heard any of Halvorson's output.
I've got one more jazz rec from 2024 - Compassion by Vijay Iyar - for you when u want it. But the album, I'd LOVE to hear your thoughts on is Glass Beach's Plastic Death from Jan. 2024. It's prog-adjacent BUT it definitely has great prog elements along the lines of bands like Mars Volta. Takes a few spins, but it's one of my faves of 2024.
Junior Mance - Junior's Blues Year: 1962
Style or Subgenre: Soul Jazz, Jazz Blues
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Does jazz blues get any more fun than this? I think not. Great stuff here. In full disclosure, there was a point about 3/4 of the way through the album where an overreliance on very standard 12 bar blues form got a little tiresome, but it didn't last long and things quickly lifted back up out of the rut. Overall, a really soulful and massively enjoyable album.
Wes Montgomery - Live in '65 (DVD)
Recording Year: 1965
Release Year: 2007
Style or Subgenre: Cool Jazz, Guitar Jazz, Hard Bop
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I have a decent collection of rock DVDs, but none I love so much as this collection of dates from the wonderful Wes Montgomery. I enjoy some of the chatter as the musicians discuss what they're going to do. But what I like best is Wes's face. While one could get plenty of enjoyment just listening to this without the video, it's being able to see the man constantly radiate the joy of music making. It seems like it wouldn't matter if he was in a 20,000 seat arena, a smaller venue, a tiny club, or even in a basement studio with a tiny amp, you can see his love of what he's doing, and you can see how that love comes out in his music, making it extra special. This is moving stuff.
Carmen Lundy - Changes Year: 2012
Style or Subgenre: Vocal Jazz
I'm a little late making my Saturday Night Vocals entry today. Last night I had my first date with Ms. Carmen Lundy. A great time was had! I love her voice. The music is gorgeous. This album is comprised of but one standard and 8 Lundy originals. She is a fine songwriter, both in terms of lyrics and music. The music is both reverent to jazz tradition and freshly contemporary. Really, I could happily listen to a lot more of this.
Vijay Iyer - Compassion Year: 2024
Style or Subgenre: Piano Jazz
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I still have soooooo very much older jazz to catch up on. Still, this year I'm trying to keep up with a little more new music as it's released than I have in the past. Being a big Vijay Iyer fan (and getting a rec from @Repo), it was an easy decision to pull the trigger on this 2024 release sight unseen. Upon acquisition, it becomes even more exciting as we have Iyer's trio rounded out by a couple of my favorite musicians, including the always interesting Tyshawn Sorey ond drums and the most marvelous Linda May Han Oh on bass. That sets expectations high. The album delivers! On the surface, one might detect a new agey vibe on this ECM release, but if you listen, the music is highly intricate. It is delivered with both obvious technical proficiency and an equally impressive level of emotional expressiveness. Tons for me to love here. I would recommend this to anyone who fancies piano jazz or trio music.
Vijay Iyer - Compassion Year: 2024
Style or Subgenre: Piano Jazz
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I still have soooooo very much older jazz to catch up on. Still, this year I'm trying to keep up with a little more new music as it's released than I have in the past. Being a big Vijay Iyer fan (and getting a rec from @Repo), it was an easy decision to pull the trigger on this 2024 release sight unseen. Upon acquisition, it becomes even more exciting as we have Iyer's trio rounded out by a couple of my favorite musicians, including the always interesting Tyshawn Sorey ond drums and the most marvelous Linda May Han Oh on bass. That sets expectations high. The album delivers! On the surface, one might detect a new agey vibe on this ECM release, but if you listen, the music is highly intricate. It is delivered with both obvious technical proficiency and an equally impressive level of emotional expressiveness. Tons for me to love here. I would recommend this to anyone who fancies piano jazz or trio music.
Lonnie Plaxico - Live At the Zinc Bar NYC Year: 2007
Style or Subgenre: Hard Bop, Jazz Funk
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This live date is a fun bit of modern hard bop meets jazz funk. Come here if you're more interested in tapping your toe than being challenged; still "real" jazz, but not really stretching any boundaries, and in this case, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Nancy Harrow - Wild Women Don't Have the Blues Year: 1961
Style or Subgenre: Vocal Jazz
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Nancy Harrow - You Never Know Year: 1963
Style or Subgenre: Vocal Jazz
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For Saturday Night Vocals last night, I introduced myself to Nancy Harrow. Given time period and anticipated style, I had very high hopes. In practice, if found her vocal delivery on Wild Women Don't Have the Blues to be just a shade to brassy for my taste. Perfectly appropriate to the material though, do I'm going to say this was more a function of my mood and expectations than any fault in her artistry. Despite a little difficulty with the earlier album, I moved on to her second, and found that to be a little more to my personal liking. All that said, I can certainly see why both of these seem to be highly acclaimed albums, and I'll definitely be visiting them both again in the near future.
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