The real possibilities open up when it doesn't cost a bundle to pursue your muse
by Tom Hull
ANTHONY BRAXTON *20 Standards (Quartet) 2003* Leo Four more CDs from the same tour that yielded last year's 4-CD *23 Standards (Quartet) 2003*. The bounty comes from Braxton picking fresh songs each show -- jazz pieces more often than the usual chestnuts, with old favorites Brubeck and Desmond most prominent. The pieces stretch out leisurely, with Kevin O'Neil's deft guitarwork often the highlight, and Braxton's saxes favoring the high registers. Smart and cool, the most accessible and simply pleasurable set he's done. A PARAPHRASE *Pre-Emptive Denial* Screwgun The group pits saxophonist Tim Berne with longtime collaborators Drew Gress and Tom Rainey for long, freewheeling improvs. They released two records from 1996-98, then nothing until this set from The Stone in May 2005. I doubt that they were planning on releasing this one either, but rarely has spontaneous invention meshed so perfectly. Gress delivers the fat bottom you want in a bass, but the real star is Rainey, whose drums are exceptionally loud and precise, shifting the time so adroitly he constructs a labrynthine cage for the sax. Berne paces, tests his limits, but ultimately plays within himself. He's never sounded so cogent. A
FRED ANDERSON/HAMID DRAKE/WILLIAM PARKER *Blue Winter* Eremite The five minutes of solo sax opening the second disc lays bare Anderson's toolkit. He can't get out of second gear until the rhythm section joins in, but when they do, Parker and Drake sound huge, filling the soundscape with shifting grooves and potent rumble. Anderson has plenty to say then, until Parker picks up his nagaswaram (an Indian oboe) for a snake-charming duet. A MINUS TOM CHRISTENSEN *New York School* Playscape Christensen says his compositions draw inspiration from the circle of poets and painters around Frank O'Hara, but that tells you nothing about the music. He writes for pairs of reed instruments, mostly matching timbres rather than looking for contrasts. He's joined here by Walt Weiskopf and a bass/drums combo that keeps things moving as he and Weiskopf work their way up and down the equipment rack. The tenor sax duel is the liveliest, but the interplay fascinates even when they draw flutes. A MINUS ANAT COHEN *Place & Time* Anzic An Israeli in New York who works most often in Latin bands, Cohen has a light touch with her saxophones and a dollop of klezmer in her clarinet. Her first record syncretizes a world of influences, with none dominating, except perhaps the bebop that never met a music it couldn't incorporate. More surprising is how well behaved her syntheses are, leaving us with an album that is impossible to pigeonhole beyond noting its surpassing gracefulness. A MINUS GERRY HEMINGWAY QUARTET *The Whimbler* Clean Feed This is a very potent group. The horns -- Ellery Eskelin's tenor sax and Herb Robertson's trumpet -- can deploy in myriad ways, notably Eskelin's crafty solo constructs and Robertson's rapid fire brass. But the rhythm section is evenly balanced and tightly engaged. With all due respect to the leader and his songbook, the MVP here is Mark Helias, whose rumbling pulse, on electric as well as acoustic bass, sets everyone else up. A MINUS GEORGE RUSSELL AND THE LIVING TIME ORCHESTRA *The 80th Birthday Concert* Concept Publishing In theory at least Russell was the guy who moved jazz from bebop to postbop, although in practice Miles Davis and John Coltrane are more likely to get the credit. His early records, from *Jazz Workshop* in 1956 until he moved to Europe in 1963, were progressive seeds that still bear fruit. His influence especially in Scandinavia was profound. On returning to the US in 1969, he settled into academia, working on his Lydian Chromatic Concept and writing sweeping orchestral works like "Electronic Sonata for Souls Loved By Nature" and "The African Game" -- the two centerpieces reprised for his big band birthday bash. At 80 you'd think he's slowed down enough we might catch up, but even when he's just having fun, like here, he's still several steps ahead of the game. A MINUS JENNY SCHEINMAN *12 Songs* Cryptogramophone She has quickly established herself as a versatile violinist working everywhere from ROVA to the Hot Club of San Francisco, but she flashes little virtuosity here. Instead she makes her mark elaborating folk tunes into luminous harmonic textures, shaping the melodies with her violin but leaving it to others to buff up the highlights--Ron Miles's cornet, Doug Wieselman's clarinets, Rachelle Garniez's accordion and piano, and most of all Bill Frisell's never more shimmering guitar. A MINUS MARY STALLINGS *Remember Love* Half Note Two versions of "What a Difference a Day Makes" -- one with the band, the other a duet with Frank Wess -- mark her for this year's Dinah Washington sweepstakes, where she's less consistent but more interesting than Diana Reeves in *Good Night, and Good Luck*. No idea how old she is -- she's got Louis Jordan on her resume, and a 1961 album with Cal Tjader, but other than that she's only been recording since 1990. One key to this one is the Geri Allen-led band, whose perfectly measured support never intrudes. A MINUS RALPH SUTTON & DICK CARY *Rendezvous at Sunnie's 1969* Arbors Sutton was the postwar era's nonpareil stride pianist, so he offers little here that hasn't already been demonstrated many times. So focus on Cary, who cut his teeth on piano with Louis Armstrong and trumpet with Eddie Condon. Here he sticks to trumpet and alto horn -- looks like a miniature tuba -- adding a wizened, soulful voice to Sutton's flashy little trio. A MINUS THE VANDERMARK 5 *Alchemia* Not Two Of course, this is over the top, even for an artist as exhaustively documented as Ken Vandermark: five nights in Krakow, two sets each, plus a couple of jam sessions bring the total to twelve discs. Serious students can plot variations in the repeated songs, note how three new songs compare to the later studio versions on *The Color of Memory*, and see how the band works classics by Rollins, Kirk, and others. The rest of us will just pick discs at random. The surprises seem endless. A MINUS THE VANDERMARK 5 *The Color of Memory* Atavistic Clocking in at just over eighty minutes, it wouldn't have been hard to squeeze this down to a single disc. Some pieces, such as the one that jams dedications to Ray Charles, Elvin Jones and Steve Lacy into one "Suitcase," feel underdeveloped. And the recent albums' spin-on-a-dime arrangements have turned loosey-goosey. Makes one wonder if eight albums dropping one per year isn't getting to be a rut. But the loose stuff on the second disc overcomes my doubts, mostly by showing how powerfully the band has developed around the overworked leader. A MINUS
HERBIE HANCOCK *Possibilities* Hear Music In the movie *'Round Midnight* Hancock played the one musician who had food and preferred it over drink. Can't begrudge him that, nor the fame he built up with and without Miles in the '60s. But even if you credit his headhunting '70s, he's been coasting a long time, and in this joint venture with Starbucks he finally cashes out. Ten songs, a dozen singers plus Santana, a little cocktail piano. It's not awful -- not all of it, anyway -- but the business plan has got to be a lot more interesting. In particular, I wonder how much these has-beens and wannabes -- Christina Aguilera singing Leon Russell counts as both -- had to pay to get their names on the cover. With nine thousand stores peddling a couple dozen titles to millions of caffeine-addled impulse buyers, the rent's gotta be steep. But how long can they keep product this mediocre before some accountant figures the space is better invested in chocolate? C
Honorable Mention
DIANNE REEVES *Good Night, and Good Luck* Concord She haunts the movie, her role expanded here for a superbly professional primer, reminding us that the soundtrack to the separate and unequal '50s was its shadow. DAVID HAZELTINE *Modern Standards* Sharp Nine They don't write them like they used to, but Hazeltine's fogey enough he doesn't try to push mod past the Bee Gees anyway. MIKE LADD *Negrophilia [The Album]* Thirsty Ear Perhaps the book would help clear a few things up, but Ladd's words fascinate while his friends kibbitz. WILL CALHOUN *Native Lands* Half Note Worldly beats, guests who could've stayed longer -- especially Pharoah Sanders. ENRICO RAVA *Full of Life* CAM Jazz My fave among four or five recent records by the trumpet legend -- working steadily but slower, taking time to smell the roses. MARC COPLAND/JOHN ABERCROMBIE/KENNY WHEELER *Brand New* Challenge No bass, no drums, nothing to hurry three masters from their luxury. ERNEST DAWKINS' CHICAGO 12 *Misconceptions of a Delusion Shades of a Charade* Dawk As the mayor says, "We're not here to create disorder; we're here to preserve disorder." HANK JONES *For My Father* Justin Time The Great Jazz Trio leader, in one of his more reflective moods, settling for a real good jazz trio. JOE LOVANO *Joyous Encounter* Blue Note Lovano's ballad sense is suspect, but they disposed of the evidence last time. THE DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET *London Flat London Sharp* Telarc Bobby Militello doesn't make you forget Desmond, but he helps Brubeck remember. GERRY HEMINGWAY QUINTET *Double Blues Crossing* Between the Lines New players, same odd mix -- clarinets, trombone, cello, bass, drums -- as his old avant-chamber group. SUNNY MURRAY *Perles Noires Vol. I* Eremite Free ranging drums, Sabir Mateen's struggling sax, guests -- Dave Burrell gives *Vol. I* a slight edge, but *Vol. 2* is comparable.
Duds
PETER APFELBAUM & THE NEW YORK HIEROGLYPHICS *It Is Written* ACT BILL CHARLAP/SANDY STEWART *Love Is Here to Stay* Blue Note MARIAN MCPARTLAND & FRIENDS *85 Candles -- Live in New York* Concord VARIOUS ARTISTS *Mizell: The Mizell Brothers at Blue Note* [1972-77] Blue Note
ART PEPPER *Mosaic Select* [1956-57] Mosaic Jail never straightened Pepper out, but each time he got out his music burst forth with greater urgency and sadder maturity. After a year in the Fort Worth slammer, he emerged as a master, not a disciple, of Charlie Parker -- cf. his expansive "Yardbird Suite," his own wizened "Straight Life," his jousts with trumpeter Jack Sheldon. These sessions were his first career peak. A LARRY YOUNG *Of Love and Peace* [1966] Blue Note Young pushed the Hammond B-3 further than anyone as he moved from blues to new thing. He cut his 1965 masterpiece *Unity* with an all-star lineup, but the more wreckless non-stars here -- George Morgan and James Spaulding for Joe Henderson, Eddie Gale for Woody Shaw -- inspire Young's most vigorous organ. Except for the final cut, a meditation on Islam that remains timely. A MINUS ANDREW HILL *Mosaic Select* [1967-70] Mosaic After *Passing Ships*, the rest of Blue Note's unreleased Hill -- sharp Charles Tolliver, sour Sam Rivers, and strings.
Title/tag line come from Hancock review. No majors or major-minors up top (a couple among the HMs, more in the duds). Didn't select them that way, but it's not an unlikely outcome. Possible cuts up top: Halley, Scheinman. Low priority HMs (lowest first, despite order; one reason I'm reaching down to Hemingway and Murray is that they connect with main reviews): Jenkins, Seim, Jones, Motian/Lovano (a related pair of albums), Brubeck. Low priority duds: Yellowjackets (an awful album, but a lousy group under the best of circumstances), Charlap/Stewart, McPartland. Word count 1842 (1441 in grade reviews, 401 in ACN).
Holds for next time: Uri Caine, Peter Epstein, FME, Garage A Trois, Steve Lacy, Joshua Redman; HM: Bayashi, The Onus, George Colligan's Mad Science, Mark Weinstein, Peter Brotzmann, Myron Walden, Tony DeSare, Ron Blake; Duds: Debby Boone, Jamie Cullum. Hold word count is 741.
This table provides a working guide to how the JCG is shaping up. This does not include anything moved to bk-flush: these include items relegated to Surplus, reviewed in Recycled Goods, or just passed over. Entries in black are written, gray graded but not written, red ungraded but with prospect notes (all these are at the bottom of their approximate grade levels, alphabetized). A-list, B-list and Duds are alphabetical; HM lists are ranked, with breaks for three-two-one stars.
| Picks |
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| A |
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| HM [***] |
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| HM [**] |
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| Duds |
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| Drop |
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Album count: 28; Word count: 1660 (graded 14: 1357; additional 14: 303).