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Jazz Consumer Guide (11):
Surplus

This is the surplus file for Jazz Consumer Guide #11. These are short reviews of records that for one reason or another have been dropped from active consideration while working on this column. These reviews will be published in the blog when the column comes out.

Arild Andersen Group: Electra (2002-03 [2005], ECM): Awfully arty, with its Greek mythology, choral voices, and clichéd synth effects like wind and thunder, but interesting as a groove record, with Andersen's Masqualero bandmate Nils Petter Molvaer helping out on the programming. Arve Henriksen's trumpet sounds hollow, but contrasts with the dense, often hypnotic undertow. An interesting record I couldn't quite get behind. B+(**)

Michael Blake: Blake Tartare (2002 [2005], Stunt): The better of two good albums -- the other one is Right Before Your Very Ears (Clean Feed) -- by the Lounge Lizards saxophonist. I've been sitting on both with very little to say about either -- my notes say "good stuff" but that hardly makes for a review. B+(***)

Theo Bleckmann/Fumio Yasuda: Las Vegas Rhapsody: The Night They Invented Champagne (2005 [2006], Winter & Winter): I always start by resisting Bleckmann's voice -- so sweet you feel faint -- but sometimes, frequently here, he wins me over. The show biz tunes and extravagant orchestrations sweep you away, but when I drift back down to earth, I recall that only foreigners can mistake Las Vegas for America, and can do so because they're being overly generous. Francis Davis wrote about this. B+(***)

Neal Caine: Backstabber's Ball (2005, Smalls): A bassist's album, with two saxes tucked behind the leader more often than not, and drums to finish. A good record that I simply lost track of. B+(***)

François Carrier: Travelling Lights (2003 [2004], Justin Time): Got this as background to the newer Happening, so that's where it remains. Carrier is an alto saxophonist from Quebec who plays a lively and exceptionally coherent freebop. Here he works in a quartet with his long-time drummer Michel Lambert and two eminences grises -- pianist Paul Bley and bassist Gary Peacock. Both make significant contributions, while Carrier and Lambert have never failed to impress me. B+(***)

George Colligan Trio: Past-Present-Future (2003 [2005], Criss Cross): A traditional piano trio -- mostly standards, mostly upbeat, quite a bit of fun, not least because of its sheer physicality -- but a record that got lost in the traffic jam, including his more immediately accessible work with electronic keyboards. His Mad Science record, Realization (Sirocco Jazz) was an Honorable Mention. This could, and probably should, have been as well. B+(***)

The Fonda/Stevens Group: Forever Real (2005, 482 Music): Joe Fonda plays bass; Michael Jefry Stevens piano. They're the ones in charge, but Herb Robertson's trumpet, free associating over mostly tethered rhythms, is what gets you paying attention. One of those minor pleasures that unaccountably got lost on my shelves. B+(***)

Billy Hart: Quartet (2005 [2006], High Note): The veteran drummer is versatile enough to play with his young stars -- Mark Turner on tenor sax, Ethan Iverson on piano, Ben Street on bass -- and writes enough to be more than an honorary leader. The young stars, in turn, advance their postbop art, albeit rather anonymously. Francis Davis, covering this in the Voice, was suitably impressed. I never could make up my mind whether this is an excellent formal exercise or just a very competent sideline. Either way I'm impressed, but not all moved. B+(***)

Steve Heckman Quartet: Live at Yoshi's (2001 [2005], World City): Another record that's sat too long in my queue without eliciting a review. Saxophonist, unabashed Coltrane admirer, in a quartet with a good pianist named Matt Clark. Nothing exceptional about the record, other than that it's very good. B+(***)

Jason Kao Hwang: Edge (2005 [2006], Asian Improv): A violinist I like a lot, especially when he draws on his Chinese heritage to distinguish his tone and rhythm. This is less oriental than Graphic Evidence (Asian Improv), and less avant than the Gift's live record, both of which I've rated Honorable Mentions -- but not a lot less. B+(**)

Keith Jarrett: The Carnegie Hall Concert (2005 [2006], ECM, 2CD): Given that this fails only in the context of his own catalogue, and annoys primarily in receiving applause deserved not by the performance here but by his longer history, I figure it would be overkill to complain more than I have and knock this as a dud. But my editors like to see more duds, so I've been holding this one in reserve. B

Liquid Soul: One-Two Punch (2006, Telarc): It seems to be structurally impossible for an acid jazz band to make my cut for Honorable Mentions, even though anyone who goes out of their way to hire Hugh Ragin is certainly doing something honorable. This is terror saxophonist Mars Williams slumming with keyb-whiz Van Christie, and is probably their best album thus far, in case you're interested. B+(**)

Michy Mano: The Cool Side of the Pillow (2003 [2006], Enja/Justin Time): Passed over mostly because the jazz content is minimal -- I reviewed it as "world" in Recycled Goods -- but it's a jazz label, Bugge Wesseltoft provides beats and keybs, and Bendikt Hofseth plays tenor sax. Mano is a Moroccan DJ based in Norway, rapping and chanting to an appealing gnawa-techno fusion. B+(***)

Paal Nilssen-Love: Townorchestrahouse (2005, Clean Feed): Three long improv pieces. The drummer gets top billing, and that's not undeserved -- he's spectacular. But normatively you'd file this under Evan Parker, who remains a puzzle and a project for me. B+(***)

Bobo Stenson/Anders Jormin/Paul Motian: Goodbye (2004 [2005], ECM): One of those good piano trios I like but never have enough to say about. All concerned tend to be retiring and ever so discreet, so you have to snuggle up to the speakers more than usual to discern its charms. ECM also sent me Stenson's 2000 2-CD Serenity, which is superb. Stenson's name also appears first on my favorite Jan Garbarek album, Witchi-Tai-To. B+(**)

Thomas Strønen: Parish (2005 [2006], ECM): A good record firmly implanted in ECM's nordic aesthetic -- the drummer's quartet includes Bobo Stenson, Fredrik Ljungkvist, and Mats Eilertsen. Elsewhere Strønen pushes boundaries, but here he just shows how well-rounded he is. I dusted this off with a side-comment to the Pohlitz review. B+(**)

Stephen Stubbs: Teatro Lirico (2004 [2006], ECM): Classical music, sonatas and dances from 17th century Italy and Slovakia. Not my thing, but my wife loves it, and I have to admit that it's remarkably lovely. B+(***)

Jabbo Ware/The Me We & Them Orchestra + Strings & Horns: Vignettes in the Spirit of Ellington (2001 [2005], Y'all of New York): One of the better big band records of recent years, but long lost in my filing system, and finally my memory. My notes argue that the Ellingtonia has a bop edge, but may be more closely allied with Vienna Art Orchestra and Either/Orchestra, but ultimately falls short of being sufficiently memorable. B+(***)

Marcin Wasilewski/Slawomir Kurkiewicz/Michal Miskiewicz: Trio (2005, ECM): Tomasz Stanko's quartet minus trumpet. They do little to compensate for his absence, but they are a disciplined group and make do. I was surprised to see this show up on Billboard charts when I was working on the smooth jazz piece, but anyone attracted to piano trios should be happy with this purchase. B+(**)

Cassandra Wilson: Thunderbird (2006, Blue Note): Toyed around with making this a featured dud, but in the end couldn't develop much enthusiasm for smashing it. She follows a line of deep, dusky voices that I find much overrated -- Sarah Vaughan, Betty Carter, Abbey Lincoln, although I find the first two, in particular, much more plausible than Wilson. Produced by T Bone Burnett, this one doesn't have much to do with any of the handful or so mostly discrete strains of vocal jazz. All of which make it a pretty uninspiring object for a review. B

Nils Wogram & Simon Nabatov: The Move (2002 [2005], Between the Lines): Trombone-piano duets, some loose and free, some snap to the beat and pick up speed. Most such duos -- especially trombone, but more generally anything with just two instruments excepting drums -- are avant improvs that sound thin, demand close attention, and only occasionally reward it. This is one of the better ones, but it's been on my shelf too long. B+(***)

Other Drops

Also dropping the following. Don't have anything to add to what was previously said in the prospecting notes (for this or some previous Jazz CG cycle).

Finally, the following appeared (or soon will) in Recycled Goods: