Marilyn Crispell - Labyrinths Recording Date: 1987
Release Date: 1988
Style or Subgenre: Avant Garde, Piano Jazz
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I think this is the first time I've sat down and listened to a Marilyn Crispell album.
I know it won't be my last.
If Labyrinths is any indication, this is one amazing artist.
At the onset of a couple songs, I felt as if I was listening to the perfectly balanced gene splicing of Cecil Taylor and McCoy Tyner as Crispell pounded out percussive rhythms on the piano with avant garde stylings. But each time, she would evolve the song into her own thing, and it was magnificent. She could also play the most delicate and intricate of passages without losing that avant garde edge, and her use of space is exemplary. Everything felt both logical and heartfelt; quite an achievement. Yet another pianist with whom I'm completely smitten.
Nduduzo Makhathini - iKhambi Year: 2017
Style or Subgenre: World Jazz
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This random find turned out to be a wondurfully varied and highly enjoyable listen. Makhathini himself is a pianist, but leads quite an array of musicians across 13 tracks steeped in his native South Africa, but yet highly diverse, employing a huge breadth of jazz influences in his sound and mood.
The album kicks off with Amathambo, a solid nod to spiritual jazz; a sort of Alice-Coltrane-lite fused with the Soweto sound. From there, we have Ithemba, a most delightful hybrid. It is very pastoral in mood and almost new agey in sound, yet very vibrant and full of life, full of elegant beauty. It also has some captivating solos, most namely from Dennis Rollins on trombone flowing seamlessly to James Mainwaring on alto and then Eddie Parker on flute.
The album contains two separate three-movement suites, both of which manage to evolve from European avant garde sounding early movements to purely African final movements. If you have any taste at all for both modern jazz and African chant, you'll love these.
Other songs feature traditional mainstream or big band swing moods and are beautifully executed. Being a lover of the flute, it's prominent employment in some of these songs, especially Innocent Child, really hit me in my sweet spot.
According to Discogs, Makhathini has eight albums under his name. Based on this first listen, I shall be pleased to explore them.
John Scofield - Works for Me Year: 2001
Style or Subgenre: Fusion, Neo Bop, Contemporary Jazz, Guitar Jazz
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John Scofield can be truly amazing reimagining straight ahead jazz. This album eschews some of his earlier funk blend and plays it more in a neo bop vein, but his playing is all still totally and undeniably Sco'. That blend does wonders.
Oh, and with a lineup like this, you can not go wrong:
Kenny Garret on sax
Billy Higgins on drums
Christian McBride on bass
Brad Mehldau on piano
Chris Cheek - Vine Year: 2001
Style or Subgenre: Fusion, Neo Bop, Contemporary Jazz, Guitar Jazz
I grabbed this random selection as an accompaniment to my morning breakfast preparation, and it proved to be a fine choice. That said, this is far more than mere background music despite being easy going and highly melodic. This sort of contemporary neo-cool is delivered with such ease that it's easy to miss the subtle sophistication that underlies these compositions. In addition to Cheek's very fine soprano and tenor, we also get such luminaries as Kurt Rosenwinkel giving some fantastic solos on guitar and Brad Mehldau on piano and Fender Rhodes providing some very welcome gentle curves. There's eight tunes, all totally solid, but I think the one that grabbed me the most was the slow and super sultry blues ballad "Reno."
Valery Ponomarev - Beyond the Obvious Year: 2006
Style or Subgenre: Post Bop
Russian-born, American trumpeter Valery Ponomarev leads a post-bop-with-a-retro-swing-feel date here that put a smile on my face at many points throughout its 65+ minutes. While Ponomarev wisely brings in Don Braden on sax to share front line duties, it still really helps if you really like trumpet (which I do). While both Braden and Ponomarev solo well, some of the best moments come when they alternate between doubling and weaving counterpoint between them.
Tony Roberts - Days Like These Year: 2019
Style or Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
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Sax shredder Tony Roberts leads a couple organ trios through lively and entertaining sets of mostly mainstream but creative music here. I really enjoyed the quartet including a sax and organ. A very fine listen for a Saturday morning.
This is as free, and cacophonous, as it gets here. I usually couldn't tell if I was settling into the musical message or just hopelessly lost. This definitely isn't music you want to meet in a dark alley at night. Takayanagi's guitar is heavily distorted, which is no problem for someone like me who grew up with thrash metal, but the sheer chaos in which it's presented, along with the relentlessly pounding drums and screeching reed makes for an entirely different experience. It was, however, strangely compelling and I do think I'll be listening to this again.
Live Independence does relent quite a bit relative to Call in Question, which by then is a good thing.
Gov't Mule featuring John Scofield - Sco-Mule Recording Date: 1999
Release Date: 2015
Style or Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
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Gov't Mule are not a jazz band. But fusion master John Scofield proves to be a perfect fit for their brand of southern fried jam band rabble rousing. In a single jam, the group rips through Return to Forever style fusion before dropping into pure swamp boogie rock. Others, we get a sort of Allman Brothers jam meets Mahavishnu Orchestra vibe. Much of the time we get the kind of dirty fusion improvisation guitar solos that are instantly recognizable as only Sco' himself could produce.
Upon original purchase when this first came out in 2015, it was a little much for me. Two whole discs of what is essentially a jam band with some fusion flavor seemed a bit excessive. But upon today's listen, I enjoyed every note from end to end, really honing in on the variety that I hadn't previously noticed. I also learned that, while released in 2015, the shows taped here took place in 1999. That baffles me a little, that it would take 16 years to release this as it seems it would appeal to both Gov't Mule and Scofield fans. This fusion ended up really hitting a sweet spot for me.
Larry Carlton - Fire Wire Year: 2006
Style or Subgenre: Crossover Jazz, Jaz Pop, Fusion
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As I listened to this today, I had two thoughts. First there were times I thought I was listening to a hybrid gene splice of Joe Satriani and Danny Gatton. This was itself a bit of a shame since I love it when I can tell that Larry Carlton is Larry Carlton, even if he isn't doing hard core jazz. Second, was that overall, I couldn't help but think of this as a Joe Satriani album:
- There was brilliant guitar playing
- The underlying compositions were mostly middle of the road
- The rhythm section was decidedly uninspiring
This is not bad music, but it's far from Carlton's best, and not subject to repeated listenings.
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