Friday, June 29, 2007

Israel Envy

Juan Cole quotes GW Bush as saying:

In Israel, terrirosts have taken innocent human life for years in suicide attacks. The difference is that Israel is a functioning democracy and it's not prevented from carrying out its responsibilities. And that's a good indicator of success that we're looking for in Iraq.

Israel envy is one of the most bizarre characteristics of the Bush regime. The idea that Israel is any sort of success is itself hard to imagine -- its main claim is to be the last colonial outpost of Europe to maintain a rigid apartheid system, leaving it with an endless struggle to suppress the natives, the enmity of nearly all of its neighbors, and disapproval by most of the world. To call that success takes a high pain threshold and inordinate fondness for the exercise of force -- traits that Israelis seem to have, and that Americans like Bush envy.

Even so, it's damn near inconceivable how to map Israel's "success" to Iraq. For starters, who in Iraq is there to constitute the Zionist master class? The Shiites aren't rich enough; the Sunnis have a bad attitude; the Kurds just want to be left alone. That leaves the US occupiers, and there just aren't that many of them, no matter how heavily armed. To some extent the US has managed to find Iraqis to do its bidding, but that has rarely been more than grudgingly, with various trade-offs as various factions seek to profit by angling off the US occupation. The story about how Iraqis never get to where they can "stand up" is really evidence that they have interests that are different from what the Americans expect. Indeed, it's unlikely that you can find any Iraqi politician whose interests are fully aligned with the US, let alone a whole class of them capable of controlling the country like Israeli security services do in occupied Palestine -- not that that's exactly a gold standard.

This isn't the first time Bush has looked for inspiration in past disasters. A couple of weeks ago he was touting America's 62+ year occupation of South Korea as as a model. Sure, a third of the country is stuck in a time warp under the world's most brutal dictatorship, one that can't feed its own people but can threaten the region with nuclear bombs, but even that looks pretty stable compared to Iraq. A while back, Bush even wandered into the dreaded Vietnam analogy, thinking that some events in Iraq had resembled the Tet Offensive, and thinking that was some sort of US victory. (After all, the only reason the US lost Vietnam was the yellow-bellied peace movement! Ah, the perils of drinking your own propaganda.)

I've been arguing for a while now that Israel today is a glimpse of the sort of country the US is turning into: racist, militarist, paranoid, and vicious. Following the same path will be difficult here, mostly because the US is relatively open and inclusive, both in fact and in principle. Israel, on the other hand, styles itself as The Jewish State, so there's never any doubt there about whether one is part of the ruling us or the enemy them. Still, the US has come remarkably close to a functional definition of us-versus-them thanks to the Republican Party's voter profiling -- a distinction the rightwing radio demagogues have no trouble drawing. One thing the self-appointed us has in common is blind support for Israel. As Bush shows, it's only a tiny step from there to envy.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

The Buck Doesn't Stop

From Seymour Hersh's June 25, 2007 article in the New Yorker, titled "The General's Report":

An aggressive congressional inquiry into Abu Ghraib could have provoked unwanted questions about what the Pentagon was doing, in Iraq and elsewhere, and under what authority. By law, the President must make a formal finding authorizing a C.I.A. covert operation, and inform the senior leadership of the House and the Senate Intelligence Committees. However, the Bush Administration unilaterally determined after 9/11 that intelligence operations conducted by the military -- including the Pentagon's covert task forces -- for the purposes of "preparing the battlefield" could be authorized by the President, as Commander-in-Chief, without telling Congress.

There was coördination between the C.I.A. and the task forces, but also tension. The C.I.A. officers, who were under pressure to produce better intelligence in the field, wanted explicit legal authority before aggressively interrogating high-value targets. A finding would give operatives some legal protection for questionable actions, but the White House was reluctant to put what it wanted in writing.

A recently retired high-level C.I.A. official, who served during this period and was involved in the drafting of findings, eescribed to me the bitter disagreements between the White House and the agency over the issue. "The problem is what constituted approval," the retird C.I.A. official said. "My people fought about this all the time. Why should we put our people in the firing line somewhere down the road? If you want me to kill Joe Smith, just tell me to kill Joe Smith. If I was the Vice-President or the President, I'd say, 'This guy Smith is a bad guy and it's in the interest of the United States for this guy to be killed.' They don't say that. Instead, George" -- George Tenet, the director of the C.I.A. until mid-2004 -- "goes to the White House and is told, 'You guys are professionals. You know how important it is. We know you'll get the intelligence.' George would come back and say to us, 'Do what you gotta do.'"

Bill Harlow, a spokesman for Tenet, depicted as "absurd" the notion that the C.I.A. director told his agents to operate outside official guidelinies. He added, in an e-mailed statement, "The intelligence community insists that its officers not exceed the very explicit authorities granted." In his recently published memoir, however, Tenet acknowledged that there had been a struggle "to get clear guidance" in terms of how far to go during high-value-detainee interrogations.

The Pentagon consultant said in an interview late last year that "the C.I.A. never got the exact language it wanted." The findings, when promulgated by the White House, were "very calibrated" to minimize political risk, an dlimited to a few countries; later, they were expanded, turning several nations in North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia into free-fire zones with regard to high-value targets.

What all this adds up to is that from the very beginning the Bush administration was preoccupied with establishing its legal defense against charges in the International Criminal Court. Or so it would seem. Actually, the likelihood that any of them would ever wind up in a war crimes docket has never been high, mostly because it's unlikely the US would ever lose so badly in war as to expose its leaders, no matter how guilty they were. But even short of arraignment, the stench of guilt might be a political embarrassment, and there deniability would be useful. Al Gore, in his book The Assault on Reason (p. 108) puts it this way:

Usually, he was pretty tricky in his exact wording. Indeed, President Bush's consistent and careful artifice is itself evidence that he knew full well he was telling an artful and important lie, visibly circumnavigating the truth, over and over again, as if he had practiced how to avoid encountering it.

So one theory on the table is that the Bush administration's avoidance of the truth goes beyond being a matter of convenience to some sort of pathological phobia. About the only thing they've actually researched has been in polling to refine their propaganda points, but that's merely instrumental. Their goals appear to be wholly faith based, although even there one suspects that closer inspection will reveal baser motives. Brecht once said that what keeps mankind alive is bestial acts; for Bush bestiality appears to be rooted in the bottom line.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Destination: Out's 90s Lists

While I'm thinking about jazz, let me point out that Destination Out's Best Jazz of the 1990s poll data has been posted. My first instinct when scanning these lists was to jot down a list of things I don't know/haven't heard. There were something like 20 lists, but a glance at the "most mentioned albums" summary should have tipped me off as to how little intersection there is: only 12 albums got three or more mentions, 27 more getting two. When I hit bottom I had a list of 102 albums -- 68 in my database (meaning I've seen and noted favorable reference before) and 34 not. The list includes 9 John Zorn albums, 8 by Anthony Braxton, 4 by Cecil Taylor, 3 each by Barry Guy and Butch Morris.

Didn't count how many records I am familiar with. Uh, let's see: looks like total is 298 votes, minus 68 multiples, so 230; minus my 102 misses, means I'm familiar with 118, 51%. Don't know what to make of that data: reminds me of some well-regarded albums I never bumped into, but there are quite a few other albums on the lists that I've graded B or less, so most likely I've missed more. Also that it's impossible to keep track of Braxton and Zorn, in particular. (I have 7 Braxton and 6 Zorn albums from the 1990s, amounting to less than 25% in both cases.)

My initial ballot and backup data is still here. They just ran my minimal unexplained top ten list with a link to the rest. The editor's round-up is worth reading -- more rigorously avant than my own rather catholic tastes, but everything they list has merit. Horace Tapscott's The Dark Tree missed my own list because it was recorded in 1989 -- I actually have the original separate volumes, rather than the combined 2-CD reissue. Similar borderline issues are common in the lists. Sonny Sharrock's Ask the Ages is an album I don't remember very well -- at the time I preferred Highlife and the earlier solo Guitar. Maybe I should dig it out.

Meanwhile, I think the most striking thing about the poll is its near-complete lack of consensus. Some of this is methodological: too many records, too few vote slots, which adds up to an incentive for idiosyncrasy. But it's also likely that most critics haven't heard more than my 51%, especially if (like me) they weren't working at the time. But it may also be the case that differences in jazz albums are so marginal that consensus building is impossible. I don't know where I'd begin in trying to predict a consensus list -- a task which is still relatively easy with year-end rock critics lists, but harder with jazz.

Records mentioned in poll that I do not have/have not heard (102; * indicates not in database):

• Geri Allen: Maroons (1992, Blue Note)
• Fred Anderson/Peter Kowald/Hamid Drake: Live at the Velvet Lounge (1999, Okka Disk)
• Derek Bailey: Guitar Solos, Volume 2 (1991, Incus)
• Derek Bailey/Susie Ibarra: Daedal (1999, Incus)
• Gregg Bendian: Interzone (1996, Eremite)
• Bergman/Brotzmann/Braxton: Eight by Three (1997, Mixtery) *
• Tim Berne: Nice View (1993, JMT)
• Tim Berne: Unwound (1996, Screwgun) *
• Dave Binney: Free to Dream (1998, Mythology) *
• Michael Blake: Kingdom of Champa (1997, Intuition)
• Paul Bley: Not Two, Not One (1999, ECM) *
• Borbetomagus: Buncha Hair That Long (1992, Agaric) *
• Lester Bowie: Funky T, Cool T (1991, DIW)
• Anthony Braxton: Quintet (Basel) 1977 (2000, Hat Hut) *
• Anthony Braxton: Victoriaville (Quartet) 1992 (1992, Victo) *
• Anthony Braxton: Wesleyan (12 Altosolos) (1992, Hat Art)
• Anthony Braxton: Trio (London) 1993 (1993, Leo)
• Anthony Braxton: Santa Cruz 1993 (1993, Hat Art, 2CD)
• Anthony Braxton: Knitting Factory (Piano/Quartet) 1994, Vols. 1 and 2 (1994, Leo) *
• Anthony Braxton: Compositions No. 10 and No. 16 (+101) (1998, Hatology)
• Anthony Braxton: Four Compositions (Quartet) 1998 (1998, Braxton House) *
• Michael Brecker: Tales From the Hudson (1996, Impulse) *
• Michael Brecker: Time Is of the Essence (1998, Verve)
• Paul Brody: Turtle Paradise (1995, 99 Records) *
• Bob Brookmeyer: New Works: Celebration (1999, Challenge)
• Peter Brötzmann: The Chicago Octet/Tentet (1997, Okka Disk, 3CD)
• John Butcher: 13 Friendly Numbers (1992, Acta)
• Uri Caine: Urlicht/Primal Light (1997, Winter & Winter)
• James Carney: Offset Rhapsody (1997, Jacaranda)
• Ornette Coleman: Naked Lunch (Soundtrack) (1991, Milan) *
• Steve Coleman: Def Trance Beat (1994, Novus) *
• Steve Coleman: The Sonic Language of Myth (1999, RCA)
• Marilyn Crispell: Overlapping Hands (1990, FMP)
• Marilyn Crispell/Stefano Maltese: Red (1999, Black Saint)
• Andrew Cyrille/Mark Dresser/Marty Ehrlich: C/D/E (2000, Jazz Magnet)
• Deep Rumba: This Night Becomes a Rumba (1998, American Clave) *
• Whit Dickey: Transonic (1998, AUM Fidelity)
• Dirty Dozen Brass Band: Open Up (Whatcha Gonna Do With the Rest of Your Life) (1991, Columbia) *
• Bill Dixon: Papyrus, Vol. I (1998, Soul Note)
• Bill Dixon: Papyrus, Vol. II (1998, Soul Note)
• DJ Krush/Toshinori Kondo: Ki Oku (1999, Instinct) *
• DJ Logic: Project Logic (1999, Which) *
• Either/Orchestra: The Half-Life of Desire (1989, Accurate)
• Ellery Eskelin/Andrea Parkins/Jim Black: Kulak, 29 & 30 (1998, Hatology)
• Douglas Ewart: Angles of Entrance (2001, Aarawak)
• Simon Fell: Composition No. 30/Compilation III (1998, Bruce's Fingers)
• The Flying Luttenbachers: Destroy All Music (1998, Skin Graft)
• Frisque Concordance: Spellings (1993, Random Acoustics)
• The Fully Celebrated Orchestra: Live at the Latch String Inn (1996, Cud) *
• Ground Zero: Plays Standards (1997, Nani) *
• Barry Guy: Theoria (1991, Intakt)
• Barry Guy/LJCO: Portraits (1993, Intakt, 2CD)
• Barry Guy: Double Trouble Two (1995, Intakt) *
• Kip Hanrahan: Tenderness (1990, American Clave)
• Gerry Hemingway: Perfect World (1996, Random Acoustics)
• Joseph Holbrooke: '98 (1998, Incus) *
• Guy Klucevsek: Flying Vegetables of the Apocalypse (1991, Experimental Intermedia)
• Art Lande/Mark Miller: World Without Cars (1999, Synergy) *
• Leroy Jenkins: Solo (1998, Lovely Music)
• Last Exit: Headfirst Into the Flames (1990, Muworks) *
• Nguyen Lê: 3 Trios (ACT)
• George Lewis: Voyager (1993, Avant)
• Pat Martino: Nightwings (1996, Muse)
• Jim McNeely/WDR Big Band: East Coast Blow Out (1995, Lipstick) *
• Butch Morris: Dust to Dust (1990, New World)
• Butch Morris: Berlin Skyscraper (1995, FMP)
• Butch Morris: Testament (1995, New World, 10CD)
• Sal Mosca: Recital in Valhalla (1991, Zinnia)
• Paul Motian/Bill Frisell/Joe Lovano: At the Village Vanguard (1995, JMT) *
• David Murray: Sunrise, Sunset (1990, Red Baron) *
• Naftules Dream: Smash Clap (1998, Tzadik) *
• Naked City: Grand Guignol (1992, Avant)
• Naked City: Radio (1993, Avant)
• Naked City: Black Box (1997, Tzadik) *
• Ted Nash: Sidewalk Meeting (2000, Arabesque)
• Painkiller: Rituals: Live in Japan (1993, Toys Factory)
• Phantom City: Shiva Recoil (1997, Virgin) *
• Ponga (1999, Loosegroove) *
• Bobby Previte: Slay the Suitors (1994, Avant) *
• Marc Ribot: Don't Blame Me (1995, DIW)
• Adam Rudolph: Moving Pictures (1992, Flying Fish)
• Maria Schneider: Evanescence (1992, Enja)
• Matthew Shipp: Prism (1993, Brinkman) *
• Matthew Shipp: By the Law of Music (1996, Hat Art)
• Simmons/Evans/Norton: Universal Prayer/Survival Skills (1999, Parallactic)
• Jimi Sumen: Paintbrush, Rock Penstemon (1993, CMP) *
• John Surman: Proverbs and Songs (1997, ECM) *
• Cecil Taylor: In Florescence (1989, A&M)
• Cecil Taylor: Celebrated Blazons (1990, FMP)
• Cecil Taylor: Double Holy House (1990, FMP)
• Cecil Taylor: Almeda/The Light of Corona (1996, FMP) *
• Mark Turner: In This World (1998, Warner Bros.)
• Steve Turre: Rhythm Within (1995, Verve)
• James Blood Ulmer: Music Speaks Louder Than Words (1996, DIW)
• Jabbo Ware: Heritage Is (1994, Soul Note)
• Yosuke Yamashita: Canvas in Quiet (1997, Verve)
• John Zorn: Kristallnacht (1992, Tzadik)
• John Zorn: Masada: Alef (1994, DIW)
• John Zorn: Masada: Vav (1995, DIW)
• John Zorn: Bar Kokhba (1996, Tzadik, 2CD)
• John Zorn: The Circle Maker (1998, Tzadik, 2CD)
• John Zorn: The Bribe (1998, Tzadik)

Jazz Consumer Guide #13: Muscling Up and Rocking Out

My 13th Jazz Consumer Guide column appears in the Village Voice this week. Title, thanks to Rob Harvilla, is "Muscling Up and Rocking Out" -- suggested by the relative preponderance of guitarists this time out, although like most CG titles it just comes from picking attractive words and phrases out of the mix.

Space, as usual, is a problem. The following records made it to my final draft then got cut in the layout -- presumably they'll appear next time:

• Pablo Aslan: Buenos Aires Tango Standards (Zoho) A-
• Kahil El'Zabar's Infinity Orchestra: Transmigration (Delmark) A-
• Sonic Liberation Front: Change Over Time (High Two) A-
• Frank Carlberg: State of the Union (Fresh Sound New Talent) HM
• Phil Bodner: Once More With Feeling (Arbors) HM
• Jason Lindner: Ab Aeterno (Fresh Sound New Talent) HM
• Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Hot 'N' Heavy (Delmark) HM
• Dave Liebman: Back on the Corner (Tone Center) HM
• Mark Murphy: Love Is What Stays (Verve) Dud

They also cut a line out of the David Torn review, which is ok except that it removes the point where Berne is identified as Tim. Of course, you know that -- maybe even that Torn has produced most of Berne's albums over the past decade. Still, they should at least have given his full name.

I haven't seen the printed copy, so don't know whether they used the second pick hit cover scan, or even whether they ever got it. Both pick hits are older records, but new discoveries for me. I've read reports that Muthspiel is relatively popular in Europe -- frequent comparisons to Pat Metheny and John Scofield, neither of which I hear -- but he's certainly little known in the US. I've long admired his early work, especially 1992's Black and Blue. Even so, the new work is a revelation, with Friendly Travelers nearly as good as the pick. (Had I not made Bright Side the pick hit, I would have written up Friendly Travelers alongside it, and Solo as a low HM.) Nilsson is younger, more obscure, although being based in NYC makes him more visible here. I noticed him on Fay Victor's Cartwheels Through the Cosmos -- an A- record I didn't get written up in time -- and wanted to hear more, and was especially struck by Blood. I could have made any of a number of records second pick hit -- Fujii, Lacy, Lovano, or for that matter Powerhouse Sound, which I deliberately held back but is thus far my record of the year -- but I liked the idea of having two guitarists, especially since I'm not normally much of a jazz guitar fan.

I suppose it's also worth noting that the Honorable Mentions are topped with three A- records I didn't have a lot to write about, and the Duds are three not-awful B by artists who typically do better. Truly awful records remain rare and mostly uninteresting -- the Mark Murphy record is an exception, on the "optional cut" list only because it's so bad I might want to feature it next time (although I'd rather not have to play it again). This time I tried to offer short comments on the Duds, rather than just list them.

The final cut winds up with 34 albums, 1528 words. Jazz prospecting covered 218 records this cycle, plus 84 were considered from previous cycles. Carry over for next time is 16 albums, 705 words, so close to half done. Last column appeared March 20, so once again this one is very close to three months -- given the lack of scheduling I'm always surprised how regularly these have appeared, with (I think) only one straying more than two weeks from the three month mark. I'll make another pitch for accelerating the schedule. I'm thinking about changing the format to something closer to what I do with Recycled Goods: that would let me write more about things I have more to say about, and less about things that are simply better. It would also make it easier for me to write more frequently, but there's little or no evidence that the Voice wants that. Still, we've done three columns since Robert Christgau left the Voice, so for this column at least, plus ça change, plus c'est le même chose.

Publicist's letter:

My Village Voice Jazz Consumer Guide column is out today:

  link

This is the 13th such column. It covers 34 albums rather tersely
in 1528 words. It actually represents the tip of a rather large
iceberg: in the course of putting this together, I wrote notes
on 218 albums and posted them on my blog (in weekly chunks, on
Mondays). The cumulative prospecting log is at:

  http://tomhull.com/ocston/arch/jcg/jcg-13p.php

As usual, I wrote more stuff than fit on the page, so I have a
dozen albums ready for next time. These columns have appeared
quite regularly every three months. I'd like to see them come
out more often, given how much material I have to cover -- well,
wouldn't mind the money either, but I try not to think about how
cost-ineffective this is. That I can do it at all is thanks to
the support of publicists, labels, and musicians, who cheerfully
contribute to my clutter problem. Thanks, and keep me in mind,
especially since I'm becoming worse and worse at tracking down
everything I need to hear.

Notes on albums printed in Jazz CG #13 (purge of bk-print):

1. John Abercrombie: The Third Quartet (2006 [2007], ECM): I'm not sure whether the problem here is Mark Feldman -- a violinist so classical in nature the only time I've ever found him interesting was in Masada with John Zorn and Dave Douglas breathing fire up his ass -- or whether it's Abercrombie himself. The guitarist has never been as intentionally delicate or precious as Ralph Towner, but he still sort of typifies ECM's ascetic aesthetic applied to the instrument, and here he manages to dial it down a couple of notches. Feldman is equally studious and discrete. Marc Johnson and Joey Baron do what they can with what they've got to work with, and they have some good stretches. Normally I would let this pass, but having two guitarists as Pick Hits suggests that by contrast this should be flagged as a Dud. B
2. Carl Allen & Rodney Whitaker: Get Ready (2007, Mack Avenue): Basic rhythm guys, keying off two Motown covers from Robinson and Gaye, as old-fashioned today as soul jazz was in the '60s. But they keep the quiet storm loose and limber, giving Cyrus Chestnut and Rodney Jones their best outing in years. Steve Wilson plays warm and fuzzy alto sax. B+(**)
3. BassDrumBone: The Line Up (2005 [2006], Clean Feed): This is Mark Helias on bass, Gerry Hemingway on drum, and Ray Anderson on bone. Their first album together was *Wooferlo* (Soul Note) in 1987, which I didn't think much of at the time. But one in 1997 called *Hence the Reason* (Enja) was terrific. I was wondering if this is a once-per-decade thing, but evidently there are more, buried on obscure labels: *Oahpse* (Auricle), *March of Dimes* (Data), *You Be* (Minor Music), *Cooked to Perfection* (Auricle). There's also a record by the trio called *Right Down Your Alley* (1984, Soul Note) - *Oahpse* looks like the oldest, dating from 1979. Helias also plays with Anderson in the Slickaphonics, and produced most of Anderson's Gramavision albums. The oldest entry in Hemingway's discography, a 1979 record called *Kwambe*, also features Anderson and Helias. So no surprise that this trio is so tightly integrated and evenly balanced, but they don't seem to be able to break out of their integration and jump to some higher energy level. Good to hear Anderson, who hasn't released much under his own name since his string with Enja ran out around 1999. Whatever the problem is there, it's not in the bone. B+(***)
4. Michael Brecker: Pilgrimage (2006 [2007], Heads Up): I never could fault him on technique, but fast runs have been bebop calisthentics since Charlie Parker, a standard and by now ordinary stock in trade. I never cared for his musical interests, and often found him cold and dispassionate to a worrisome extent. This record was cut during a brief respite in his struggle with MDS. It benefits from simplicity of conception and an outpouring of friends -- he has to juggle two pianists since he could hardly turn down either Herbie Hancock or Brad Mehldau. So I'm tempted to say: impending death focuses the mind, thaws the heart, brings out the best in friends. In fact, that's what I wrote for the column. I'd also say that it's his best album ever, but I've never given him better than a B before, and sarcasm doesn't seem appropriate here. It's certainly one to remember him by. Also note that Pat Metheny stands out among the friends. B+(**)
5. Uri Caine Ensemble: Plays Mozart (2006 [2007], Winter & Winter): Or plays with Mozart, like cat with rat. Much of the fun here comes from the induced chaos of DJ Olive's turntables, Nguyên Lê's electric guitar, the tension of Ralph Alessi's trumpet against Chris Speed's clarinet, the mischief of Jim Black's drums. Still, improbably, the bit that won me over was an oasis of solo piano in the middle, which much as I hate to admit it, could have been faithful to the original. B+(***)
6. Carneyball Johnson (2006, Akron Cracker): Even when they were young, Akron new wavers Tin Huey realized they'd have to get the parts to rule the world. Failing that, Chris Butler tried his hand as a feminist impersonator in the Waitresses, while Ralph Carney eeked out a career playing sax for Tom Waits and others. They he met the useful names of guitarist Kimo Ball and drummer Scott Johnson, not to mention the useless name of bassist Allen Whitman, and formed Rubber City's answer to the New York's Lounge Lizards. The likeness is clear when they take toons like Cream's "White Room" or Desmond Dekker's "Intensified" and bend them into aural origami. The difference is that they bounce more, and tango less. A-
7. Club D'Elf: Now I Understand (1998-2006 [2006], Accurate): Never did manage to figure out who's who and what's what, other than that bassist Mike Rivard is at the center of this amorphuous group and that damn near anyone is likely to show up as a guest. The machine beats recall Nils Petter Molvaer circa Khmer, but conventional drums also appear, probably Erik Kerr. While Rivard's bass grooves are critical, they tend to be thickened up with keyboards -- mostly John Medeski -- and turntables -- someone d/b/a Mister Rourke. Plenty of guitars, too. There's also a strain of mostly middle eastern exotica, which oudist Brahim Fribgane has something to do with. Several songs have vocals -- Jennifer Jackson's "A Toy for a Boy" is a marginal novelty, but the kiddie sample reggae romp "Just Kiddin'" is on my first ever year-end song list. There are also skits and raps, and if MF Doom isn't in the house, his doppelganger ist. If none of this sounds much like jazz, that's just too bad. It doesn't sound like world-techno-fusion either, because they fuck with it like jazzbos junk up pop songs. Besides, Mat Maneri's on the guest list. A-
8. Anat Cohen & the Anzic Orchestra: Noir (2006 [2007], Anzic): The strings don't take as much of a toll here as on Poetica, mostly because they're outgunned in numbers and in volume. Cohen plays tenor, alto and soprano sax, as well as clarinet, and she gets help on the saxes from Ted Nash, Billy Drewes, and Scott Robinson. Plus there's a phalanx of brass, led by brother Avishai -- not to be confused with the bassist (a tip I much appreciated, and figured I should pass along). Then there are the Brazilians, with Guilherme Monteiro on guitar and more in the rhythm section. Cohen works that connection several times, including a medley of "Samba de Orfeu" and "Struttin' With Some Barbecue." The latter is so strong, so crisp, so bright I wish they had taken a shot at a whole post-Katrina album. But Cohen and arranger Oded Lev-Ari had other game in mind. B+(***)
9. Les DeMerle: Cookin' at the Corner, Vol. 1 (2005 [2006], Origin): Going with the spine on this one; the front cover spells out "Volume One," adds "Live at the Jazz Corner," and lists the artist as "The Dynamic Les DeMerle Band featuring Bonnie Eisele." The setup is piano-bass-drums plus singer, but the leader is the drummer, and he sings some too. In fact, DeMerle and Eisele pair up like Louis Prima and Keely Smith, even if they play it straight most of the time. (But not all the time: DeMerle sings one about a sailor who comes home after three years to find his wife has a new baby named Bennie. Where'd he come from, the sailor wonders? "Bennie's From Heaven.") Eisele doesn't enter until the fifth song, then belts out Ellington, Jobim, "Lullaby of Birdland." DeMerle's quite a drummer, and pianist Mike Levine bounces in an all-upbeat program until he gets a lovely ballad at the end. Nothing groundbreaking, but it's good to be reminded that jazz was once a form of entertainment. This is a lot of fun. B+(***)
10. Anat Fort: A Long Story (2004 [2007], ECM): This is not all slow, but inches along with deliberate thoughtfulness, Fort's piano framed by Ed Schuller's bass and Paul Motian's drum haiku. At trio level, this would be add one more worthy name to the long list of pianists, starting with Bill Evans, that Motian has coaxed along. But the real treat here is Perry Robinson, who plays clarinet and ocarina on most of the album. He plays softer than usual, but adds a jagged edge to the soft piano cushion. B+(***)
11. Joel Frahm: We Used to Dance (2006 [2007], Anzic): A tenor sax lover's album, plain and simple, with three-fourths of the late Stan Getz's quartet (Kenny Barron, Rufus Reid, Victor Lewis) -- not that Frahm sounds much like Getz, or plays his songbook. This is the sort of record I tend to be sweet on, but could just as well be underrated here. B+(***)
12. Bob French: Marsalis Music Honors Bob French (2006 [2007], Marsalis Music/Rounder): B+(***)
13. Satoko Fujii Four: When We Were There (2005 [2006], Libra): Faced with all those big band albums, I chickened out and threw the plum grade to Fujii's Junk Box trio, figuring it's the common denominator to an oeuvre that is remarkable in its totality even if the pieces never seem to quite add up. Still, I worried that Junk Box wasn't quite up to snuff either. But no such worries here. This time it's a quartet with Jim Black in place of John Hollenbeck -- both drummers who can keep a beat as well as free it up -- and Mark Dresser added on bass. The combination is as powerful as Zephyros on the straightaways but a lot nimbler on the curves. There's a lot going on here, and I don't have it anywhere near sorted, but no quibbling on the grade this time -- unless it eventually goes higher. A-
14. Satoko Fujii/Natsuki Tamura: In Krakow in November (2005 [2006], Not Two): Trumpet-piano duet, recorded Nov. 8, 2005, at Radio Krakow, released on a Polish label that has been doing some interesting stuff, but has yet to answer my inquiries. I figured, given the vast number of options for exploring their music, this would be marginal at best, but this one keeps gaining on me. It is in Tamura's more moderate vein, with little flash or daring -- solidly built, powerful music. B+(***)
15. Gato Libre: Nomad (2006, No Man's Land): The ten pieces here have titles like "In Barcelona, in June" and "In Krakow, in November." All of the places are in Europe, and they represent a continent's worth of folk themes elevated to chamber jazz. That they were recorded in one day in a Tokyo studio matters little -- this could be an Enrico Rava album, but it isn't. The trumpeter, leader, composer is Natsuki Tamura. He's always been a straighter shooter than his better half, pianist Satoko Fujii. Here she does him a favor and sticks to accordion, filling in that prototypical European folk sound without ever showing him up. The other key ingredient here is Kazuhiko Tsumura's guitar, especially on the Spanish-flavored tunes, which he has down pat. But Tamura is the real treat here. He's been working his colors into Fujii's more chaotic canvases all along, but here he paints his own masterpiece. A-
16. Jerry Granelli/V16: The Sonic Temple: Monday and Tuesday (2006 [2007], Songlines, 2CD): The band is a quartet, so I guess the band name allocates four cylinders per member, not that that makes much sense. Switching metaphors, the liner notes describes the band as "like a chemical reaction." As anyone who's fiddled with chemistry sets can tell you, that doesn't do them justice. Two guitarists: David Tronzo is credited with electric slide guitar, Christian Kögel with plain old electric guitar. Brother J. Anthony plays electric bass, while the leader drums and attacks steel sculpture. Two discs, one each for two nights, each live with no edits, each with the same eight songs in same order but the versions differ significantly. First night is more experimental, with the drummer figuring more. Second night tends to slide back into blues mode. B+(***)
17. Gordon Grdina's Box Cutter, Unlearn (2006, Spool/Line): Vancouver guitarist, mostly sets up the rhythm that propels François Houle's clarinets through a worldbeat maze. The latter is largely informed by Grdina's interest in Arabic classical music -- he also plays oud, but not on this album -- but the framework seems broader. Houle has done interesting work with Africans before, but sometimes sounds like bebop. "Soul Suite" is an exception here, starting slow and building strong. B+(***)
18. Vijay Iyer + Mike Ladd: Still Life With Commentator (2006 [2007], Savoy Jazz): Maybe Pamela Z's "bel canto" vocals were the turnoff. I missed this first round, but easily skipped past the joke this time, and straight into Iyer's programming and sequencing. Still don't get much out of Ladd's words, even when I read the trot from the Japanese, but then I wonder whether the point isn't just to sound profound, even if meaningless -- that is the way of our cosmopolitanism, where commentators help render us as still lifes, tuned in to a world we thankfully don't have to engage. A-
19. Vijay Iyer & Rudresh Mahanthappa: Raw Materials (2005 [2006], Savoy Jazz). Put this on as soon as I got it, and I've played it three times since, so this isn't really a first impression. But it really is just an impression: I've been playing the record in odd moments when I couldn't really focus. It took me a while before I realized that these pieces are just duets. Iyer is so adept at marshalling time and filling space that I never suspected anything to be missing. But my strongest impression of the record is that it annoys me. I'm inclined to blame Mahanthappa's tone -- a sour, metallic taste, all edge. I can think of other alto saxists with a similar bite -- most notably, Jackie McLean -- so perhaps there's something more bugging me here. Iyer's work here remains impressive -- he's a major figure, and judging from his other work Mahanthappa is at least a useful one. This leaves me with a conundrum: impressions thus far have made it clear to me that I'm never going to like this enough to rate it even as an Honorable Mention; on the other hand, it's possible that if I played it another 3-5 times I might develop the grudging admiration that would push it into low B+ range, or I might get so annoyed to list it as a Dud. Right now I'm not looking forward to either. B
20. Steve Lacy Quintet: Esteem (1975 [2006], Atavistic): Following Lacy's death, his widow Irene Aebi started sorting through over 300 private recordings for a series called "The Leap: Steve Lacy Cassette Archives." This is Volume 1, and it's easy to see why it leapt to the head of the list. It is raw and deliciously noisy, old sounding, yet so far out it's more shocking now than when it came out. Steve Potts' alto sax provides a second horn. Kent Carter's bass is plug ugly, and Kenneth Tyler is credited with percussion because he's hitting things beyond his drum kit. But the revelation is Aebi herself. I can't stand her singing -- if you go through my database you may notice that Lacy's records get docked about a notch for each song she sings on -- but she sticks to cello and violin here, and you can hear why he fell in love with her. The notes say "The Uh Uh Uh" was Lacy's tribute to Jimi Hendrix. I'll have to listen again to see what that means. A-
21. Dave Liebman, Anthony Jackson, Mike Stern, Tony Marino, Marko Marcinko, Vic Juris: Back on the Corner (2006 [2007], Tone Center): How this stacks up against the oft-maligned On the Corner remains to be seen, but with no trumpet weighing in the saxophonist works all that much harder, which is good for him, and with no keyboards, the rhythm people focus on their mission. I have this slotted as HM, but will list it only under Liebman's name. He makes it work, and after half a dozen or more disappointments during the span of Jazz CG, it's good to be able to give him some credit. B+(***)
22. Joe Lovano & Hank Jones: Kids: Duets Live at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola (2006 [2007], Blue Note): Two recent quartet albums with Lovano and Jones were, respectively, more and less disappointing. But really, these two don't need bass and drums to swing or bop or diddle around. The duets are simply delightful from beginning to end. A-
23. The Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmieri Project: Simpático (2005 [2006], ArtistShare): Palmieri grew up in the Bronx melting pot, of Puerto Rican descent. I don't know him well enough to place him, or indeed whether that's possible: salsa draws so promiscuously from Afro-Cuban that it may make no difference. Lynch is a terrific trumpeter who plays a lot of everything; his Latin interests started as a teenager in salsa bands in Milwaukee, then took a leap forward when he hooked up on a Palmieri tour in 1987 -- juggling travel to also keep his commitments to Toshiko Akiyoshi. This pulls it all together, with a steady stream of bubbling percussion, tasty alto sax from Donald Harrison and Phil Woods, and plenty of trumpet. Won a Grammy; for once I can't complain. A-
24. Rudresh Mahanthappa: Codebook (2006, Pi): Whereas Mother Tongue looked to natural languages for tricks of transformation, this one moves on to ciphers and encodings, as when the group members sign their names in Morse code. Either way, the alto saxophonist's true Rosetta Stone is John Coltrane, and what lifts him above dozens of others is his association with pianist Vijay Iyer, who starkly frames his music, and who picks up the place when he lays out. Still, if that was all it took, you'd expect more from Raw Materials, a duo album from earlier this year that never quite stuck together. A-
25. Russell Malone: Live at Jazz Standard: Volume One (2005 [2006], MaxJazz): I've noticed myself complaining about Wes Montgomery a lot lately, and indeed I don't see much value in his school, or even in much of his own work. Still, when he was on, he did amaze, as on Smokin' at the Half Note -- which I first heard embedded in Impressions: The Verve Jazz Sides along with a lot of Jimmy Smith. Malone is so squarely in Montgomery's wake that until now he's always struck me as redundant or worse. Score this one as redundant at best, in part because he pulls more than sweetness out of the blues. Also because pianist Martin Bejerano had me thinking of Wynton Kelly for a while. In a different venue, this could be called Smolderin' at the Half Note. B+(***)
26. Wynton Marsalis: From the Plantation to the Penitentiary (2006 [2007], Blue Note): My wife expressed interest in this album, telling me that she had read a rave review in Counterpunch. I chased down Ron Jacobs' review anyway, but couldn't get past the third line: "It's just enough bop and bebop so it doesn't put one to sleep like a Kenny G solo, but it's not a Coltrane avalanche of sound like those from Coltrane's thundering Ascension, either." Now, there's no information there: Marsalis has recorded 40-50 albums since 1981, and he has never once risked comparison to Kenny G or Ascension. He started off reminding Art Blakey what narrowly construed hard bop sounds like. If he's picked up any tricks since then, they've been old ones, like extending his trumpet mastery from Woody Shaw back to Freddie Keppard, and fumbling to imitate composers like Ellington. I had figured this album for his move into Mingus agitprop, but that doesn't pan out on several levels. He's more song-oriented, but has less in the way of message, and his hired singer handles his hokey lines with cool detachment. On the other hand, the music shows he's working in soundtrack mode: each piece is accompanied by a formal description -- modern habanera; alternating 2-beat country groove, soca, cumbia, swing; walking ballad; etc. -- and he's more inspired as a musicologist than as a polemicist. Indeed, if you could skip past the words this might be one of his more enjoyable albums. But if he meant for you to just enjoy the music, he would have left the words out, right? For one, I find the plantation-to-penitentiary arc narrow, condescending, and disturbing. It's not that there's no truth to it, but it's such a cliché I don't see what you can do with it. I suppose his use of stereotypes is meant to convey some irony, but in an album that's more scold than rant it's hard to be sure. "I ain't your bitch and I ain't your ho" comes off as awkward from him as if Don Imus said it. And speaking of awkward, the closing rap makes Buckshot Lefonque sound real. (But I doubt that when he goes to dis "Camus readers" he's really thinking of George W.) I thought about pitching this for a standalone piece in the Voice, but Francis Davis beat me to it. I don't feel mean enough to single this out as a dud. If he had a smarter, hipper lyricist able to work on a human rather than mythic scale, he might be onto something. But he persists in surrounding himself with ideological flatterers like Stanley Crouch, so this is what he gets. B
27. Wolfgang Muthspiel: Bright Side (2005 [2006], Material): I wonder what Pat Metheny's fans would think of Muthspiel. Probably find him too dry. Penguin Guide speculates that he's "too individual, I suspect, for the majors." I'm not sure what "individual" means, but it doesn't mean idiosyncratic. He gets a clean sound from his electric guitar, little echo or distortion, no effects, nothing prepared, but he also has no interest in the horn-like single note lines that have been so prominent in jazz guitar from Wes Montgomery to Joe Morris. He plays guitar more like a piano, teasing harmony and rhythm out of it as well as melody. That may be even clearer on Solo, where he has to dig deeper into his kit, but the payoff is on this trio with bass-drums from brothers Matthias and Andreas Pichler. They push him hard, but he's always in control, never breaking a sweat. Best guitar jazz I've heard since, oh, Black and Blue, from 1992, same guy. Possible pick hit. A-
28. Anders Nilsson's Aorta: Blood (2004, Kopasetic): Quartet, two Nilssons, one Carlson, one Carlsson. The leader plays fast, dazzling electric guitar, over a pumping fusion rhythm. The Carlson, Mattias, plays tenor sax and "electrified alto sax" but mostly lurks in the background, a contrasting color. They could pass for rock on attitude, or jazz on shops. Several Scandinavian have tried their hands at postpunk fusion -- while most have the attitude, this one has a guitarist up to the challenge. A-
29. Bob Reynolds: Can't Wait for Perfect (2005 [2006], Fresh Sound New Talent): I have a few nits to pick: I wish he'd lose the soprano sax (one cut), and don't care much for his synth programming (two cuts). What makes them minor blemishes on this debut album is that his tone and poise on tenor sax is so superb you wonder why he'd try to dilute it. Youth, I guess. He projects to earn his place in the Budd Johnson-Ben Webster line, which among other things means he very likely has a great ballad album in his future. We remember those guys from when they were old and slow, but once they were young, and Webster wasn't called "the brute" only because he started out in boxing. Reynolds' band is rooted in funk not swing, and that seems fair to me. One he shouldn't lose is drummer Eric Harland. A-
30. Vittor Santos: Renewed Impressions (2005 [2006], Adventure Music): It's rare to hear Brazilian music with a lead horn of any sort, much less a trombone, but Santos's rapid-fire puffs give some much needed heft to the sly rhythms and flighty melodies. A-
31. Sound in Action Trio: Gate (2003 [2006], Atavistic): Two drummers: Robert Barry, from Sun Ra Arkestra, and Tim Daisy, from Triage and numerous Ken Vandermark projects, including the flagship 5. One horn, Vandermark, constantly on the spot. Half originals, all dedicated to drummers; half modern jazz pieces, with Dolphy offering a clarinet feature, and Coltrane setting up some extraordinary tenor sax. A-
32. David Torn: Prezens (2005 [2007], ECM): Rip Torn's cousin played guitar on some fusion albums in the '80s, working with such usual suspects as Bill Bruford and Tony Levin, before moving on to soundtrack work and the group Splattercell, but mostly he's done production work. He's produced most of Tim Berne's albums since 1997. Here he employs Hard Cell -- Berne's trio with keyboardist Craig Taborn and drummer Tom Rainey -- for a dark, demonic comeback. Berne's alto sax adds bite to Torn's power chords, Taborn juices up the electronics, and the always superb Rainey muscles up. A-
33. Turtle Island String Quartet: A Love Supreme: The Legacy of John Coltrane (2006 [2007], Telarc): There are those who regard the Coltrane Quartet's A Love Supreme as the crowning achievement of the jazz canon, and they have a case. But this group manages to drain every ounce of interest from the score, even Jimmy Garrison's bass, and not just because the Turtle Islanders wield nothing heavier than a cello. With the last two movements reduced to 2:44 and 2:47, the acknowledgment here is their lack of ideas. The album itself is flushed out to 64:17 by the inclusion of other pieces, some by Coltrane ("Naima," "Moment's Notice"), some associated with him ("My Favorite Things" is the one sure shot here), and some written in his honor. But no "Giant Steps," let alone "Ascension." Maybe that ROVA record wasn't so bad. C+
34. Frank Wright: Unity (1974 [2006], ESP-Disk): If it weren't for ESP-Disk's "the artist alone decides what you hear" motto Wright might have passed in total obscurity. Who else would have approved the music he released on two ESP records from 1965-67? He was as rough a tenor saxophonist as the avant-garde produced in the '60s, closer in spirit to the future Charles Gayle than to his contemporary Albert Ayler. Since then an occasional live tape pops up, like Raphe Malik's Last Set (1984 [2004], Boxholder), and now this barnburner from the Moers Festival. The drummer dances and stings like his namesake, Muhammad Ali. Bobby Few's piano and Alan Silva's bass are cranked into overdrive, and Wright really brings the noise. Impulse used to call shit like this by guys like Shepp and Sanders "energy music," but even they would have reached for the plug before this finishes. A-

Notes on albums flushed during/following Jazz CG #13 (purge of bk-flush):

1. Antonio Adolfo e Carol Saboya: Ao Vivo/Live (2005 [2007], Points South): Father/daughter, from Brazil, the former plays piano, the latter sings. Adolfo has a formidable reputation in his own right as a composer and arranger. He opens the set with a delightful piece before Saboya enters on the second song. She's a very agreeable singer, but the initial brightness starts to dim a bit toward the end. The song credits include most of the usual suspects, starting with Jobim, and only including one by Adolfo. Not sure whether this counts as jazz in Brazil or just MPB. I suspect it fits the same niche as cabaret does here. B+(**)
2. Charly Antolini: Knock Out 2000 (1999, Inak): A big band drummer from Switzerland, whose early career bumped into Benny Goodman in 1959, turns in a pure drummer's album, every cut built around a beat up front, even when bass and percussion intend a fusion groove; the cover pics are all muscle, but like Buddy Rich, when Antolini wants to turn up the heat, he reaches for his brushes. B+(**)
3. Nacho Arimany World-Flamenco Septet: Silence-Light (2006, Fresh Sound World Jazz): Most cuts have vocals, mostly from Antonio Campos, whose high-pressured melodrama fits the flamenco mold, without quite winning me over like Dieguito El Cigala did. Stretches without vocals are easier to handle and more interesting. Arimany sets the pace with his percussion, trying to bridge jazz and flamenco. Pianist Pablo Suárez and guitarist Lionel Loueke have some good moments, and saxophonist Javier Vercher tops them all. Harder to gauge Concha Jareño's contribution -- credits read "flamenco dance footsteps, clapping." Hard to gauge the flamenco, but minus vocals this makes for interesting jazz. B+(*)
4. Pablo Aslan: Avantango (2003 [2004], Zoho): The first of two albums by an Argentinian bassist, now resident in New York. It more than lives up to the title. You may read about merging jazz with tango, or jazzing up tango, but the real goal here is to push tango to unimagined extremes. Still, in the end the bandoneon, violin, and above all three vocals by Roxana Fontan mark this as uncompromisingly rooted in the classics, even if the horns and piano beg to differ. B+(**)
5. Ab Baars Quartet: Kinda Dukish (2005 [2006], Wig): Ten Ellington pieces, played more than loose -- in most cases only snatches of the familiar themes emerge unscathed. Baars plays clarinet more than tenor sax, so the heft added by trombonist Joost Buis is essential. B+(**)
6. The Heckler by Juan Pablo Balcazar Quartet: Heckler City (2005, Fresh Sound New Talent). Very similar to the Arthur Kell disc -- a tenor sax-guitar-bass-drums group led by the bassist, but a little sweeter all around, especially in the guitar (Alejandro Mingot). The saxophonist is Miguel Villar "Pintxo" -- the quoted part presumably a nickname, like "Lockjaw" (maybe an influence; for all the Basque I know it could even be a translation) B+(***)
7. Gilad Barkan: Live Sessions (2004-06 [2007], New Step, 2CD): Boston-based pianist, born in England, raised in Israel. Second album, preceded by Modulation, same trio as the first disc here. Second disc here changes bassists and adds Amir Milstein on flute. The trio strikes me as sharp, intricate postbop, something that deserves to be taken seriously but doesn't quite inspire me to do so. Far easier to dismiss the flute, even though it is pleasantly boppish. B
8. Beatle Jazz: All You Need (2006 [2007], Lightyear): Fifth album, with David Kikoski (piano, synthesizer) and Brian Melvin (drums, tabla) the mainstays. The Beatles' songs are so indelibly ingrained in my mind that I instinctively reject all variations -- I suppose if I really racked my brain I might be able to come up with a tolerable mix tape of exceptions, but I'm not optimistic. Bass duties are split between Larry Grenadier and Richard Bona; the latter sings one, a risky move that best comes off rather odd. Toots Thielemans (3 cuts) and Joe Lovano (2 cuts) also guest. The core group is smart enough I can't pan them severely. The two Lovano cuts ("The continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" and "Look at Me") are choice. B
9. Joe Beck/Santi Debriano/Thierry Arpino: Trio 7 (2007, Whaling City Sound): Guitarist. Been around at least since the '70s, when he worked with Esther Phillips. AMG says he had a "big hit with David Sanborn in 1975" -- there's an album from then called Beck & Sanborn, but I missed it. Actually, I missed all of 20+ records Beck's recorded since 1969 -- even the Phillips records, but the name rings a bell. This is pleasant, soft-toned, with a little Brazilian seasoning but no nylon. I find myself focusing on the bassist, who's worth the attention. Note that Debriano's name is misspelled on the cover. B+(*)
10. Roni Ben-Hur: Keepin' It Open (2005 [2007], Motéma Music): Guitarist, born in Israel, moved to New York in 1985, has five records since 1995. He's done impressive work, but this one is pretty tame, especially when trumpeter Jeremy Pelt takes the lead. Ronnie Mathews does a nice job on piano, while Santi Debriano and Lewis Nash do whatever's needed. The last two cuts move nicely on Latin rhythms, which give Ben-Hur something to work with. B+(*)
11. Sean Bergin's Song Mob: Fat Fish (2005-06 [2007], Data): Plays sax, clarinet, etc. Based in Amsterdam; born 1948 in Durban, South Africa. He's named his band MOB before, an acronym for My Own Band. SONG MOB, as he capitalizes it, is his own band with extra vocalists: Mola Sylla, Phil Minton, and Maggie Nicols. The latter two are familiar names in English free improv. Sylla moved to Amsterdam from Senegal, bringing a griot flavor -- most evident in the first song, which he wrote. Bergin's band includes some well known names, hardly just his own band: Wolter Wierbos, Eric Boeren, Ernst Glerum, Han Bennink, Alex Maguire -- didn't recognize him last week, but do now. The music manages to be odd and comfortably playful at the same time -- seems to be a Dutch specialty. I have more trouble with the vocals, not that they lack for interest. B+(*)
12. Alan Bergman: Lyrically, Alan Bergman (2007, Verve): Songwriter, lyricist actually -- music credited to Michel Legrand, Lew Spence, Dave Grusin, Neil Diamond, Johnny Mandel, Marvin Hamlisch -- taking a crack at singing his own songs. No recording dates, but presumably it's recent, which puts him in his 80s (born 1925). Voice holds up fine. Songs are stage and film fare, famous enough to put him into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and get him a spot on the board of the Barbra Streisand Foundation. One problem is that Verve sent him to Berlin along with Mark Murphy, but he lucked out better with the Berlin Big Band and Radio Orchestra instead of Murphy's Orchester, plus he got Jeff Hamilton to help him along. (Well, except for "The Way We Were," which probably deserved it anyway.) B-
13. Will Bernard: Party Hats (2007, Palmetto): San Francisco guitarist, gets a smart, light, funky groove going around organ (Wil Blades and/or Michael Bluestein), decorated with various horns -- Peter Apfelbaum is present on most tracks, but Dave Ellis rips off the big tenor sax solo on "Rattle Trap." B+(*)
14. Michael Blanco: In the Morning (2004 [2006], Fresh Sound New Talent): Bassist, born and raised in San Diego, studied at North Texas (evidently a strong jazz program), moved on to New York. He puts his compositions forth on a broad pallette with five or six pieces, and he's managed to draw on first rate players all around: Rich Perry on tenor sax, Alan Ferber trombone Aaron Goldberg piano, Bill Campbell drums, plus two cuts with Rob Wilkerson alto sax. Perry sounds terrific, and of course I love Ferber's solo. But my favorite moment turns out to be the bass lead on the closer. Educated postbop, impressively executed. B+(**)
15. Stan Bock Ensemble: Your Check's in the Mail (2006 [2007], OA2): Trombonist, based in Oregon, but studied at Fort Hays State here in Kansas back in the early '70s -- I have some cousins who went there a bit before. Has a couple of albums with his semi-large (8 piece) Ensemble, as well as some group efforts at Latin jazz and Klezmer. This is bright, burly, fairly boppish, with a group tribute to James Brown. B+(*)
16. The Brooklyn Repertory Ensemble: Pragmatic Optimism (2006, 360 Degree): The label, with its bullseye logo around the number 360 and "from rag time to no time" slogan, reminds me of Beaver Harris, who had a group called 360 Degree Music Experience. Don't know that there's any link here, although the director here, Wade Barnes, is another drummer. Nothing avant here. Just a big band that goes for heavy brass -- James Zollar is the only trumpet, but he's complemented by French horn, mellophone, euphonium, bass trombone, and tuba. The horns tend to undulate with no one breaking loose or doing anything especially distinctive. The rhythm -- Bill Ware III on vibes as well as drummer Barnes -- have more going on. Don't much care for vocalist Tulivu-Donna Cumberbatch, who seems to have missed Rafters Raising 101 in Sunday School. B-
17. Bobby Broom: Song and Dance (2005 [2007], Origin): Guitar-bass-drums trio, with Broom the guitarist. Got off on the wrong foot (with me, at least) by starting with a Beatles song. Actually, it's very tasteful, not bad at all: "Little Rascals Theme" isn't too cute, and "Wichita Lineman" isn't too cloying. B
18. Jaki Byard: Sunshine of My Soul (1978 [2007], High Note): Solo piano, recorded live at Keystone Korner in San Francisco. Nothing strikes me as new or particularly interesting here, but I'm not much of a fan of solo anything. That said, Byard has a strong presence, and he expertly works his way around a broad songbook -- including a Mingus medley, "Spinning Wheel," "Besame Mucho," a bit of boogie woogie. Don't know how this compares to his other solo albums, like the early Blues for Smoke (1960) or the later At Maybeck (1991), both well regarded. B+(*)
19. Havana Carbo: Through a Window . . . Like a Dream (2006 [2007], MODL Music): Born in Havana, don't know when; raised in US, don't know when; refers to NY high school years but also a marriage to "a Cuban Economics major she met while a student at pre-Castro's Villanova University in Havana." Started singing in 1984, recording an album, Street Cries, on Soul Note in 1987. So I figure she's probably in her 60s. Her voice weathered, she goes with slow pieces that don't sound like much at first, but grow on you, like the subtle attraction of gravity. B+(*)
20. The Catz in the Hatz featuring Steve Johnson: Resilience (2006, Rhombus): Featuring singer Steve Johnson, a/k/a Rusty. He touts the same idols list as Jonathan Poretz, with the minor substitution of "Nat" for "Bobby." Can't say he sounds like any of them, Nat least of all. He sounds hollow, which I find growing on me a bit, but not impressively. The guys in the hatz are OK, with Mike Wiens getting off a couple of nice guitar solos. C+
21. Amy Cervini Quartet: Famous Blue (2007, Orange Grove Jazz): Singer, in front of a piano trio. No bio on her website, although drummer Ernesto Cervini grew up in Toronto and works in New York, with degrees from both. Album cover is very attractive: pastel blue-green sky over sea, washed out, the lettering fuzzy. The music is like that too, which isn't a plus. Ordinary songs, voice, arrangements. I go up and down on "Don't Fence Me In" -- that there's a down at all isn't a good sign. B-
22. Ray Charles/The Count Basie Orchestra: Ray Sings, Basie Swings (2006, Concord/Hear Music): First, let's clear this gripe away: Concord has dropped or fumbled me off their mailing list. I don't know whether that's accidental or deliberate. Don't know whether citing Chick Corea and Taylor Eigsti as duds has a thing to do with it, or they just don't care that Scott Hamilton has two A- albums and an Honorable Mention to his credit. Maybe it's both malevolence and incompetence, as suggested by one of the company's exes who described Concord as "the Bush Administration of the record industry." So, despite asking for this several times, and having been promised it at least once, I'm listening to it courtesy of the Wichita Public Library. As for the record, the first thing to point out is that it is a case of fraud: Charles never recorded with Count Basie; Charles's vocals were lifted from an undated live tape, most likely from the late '70s; the arrangements were newly recorded by the Basie ghost band, now directed by Bill Hughes, 22 years after the Count passed away, and for that matter two years after the singer died. The second thing is that it sounds pretty near-great, passably realizing its "what if" concept. Two reasons for this: first, Charles himself sounds great, even if pieces like "The Long and Winding Road" and "Look What They've Done to My Song" aren't up snuff; second, the Basie-trademarked arrangements were fit to the vocals with a smartness that never would have occurred to them live. It also helps that originating as a live concert Charles recycles some dependable warhorses. Docked a couple of stars for fraud. I could have gone deeper, but don't want you to think I prefer Genius Loves Company. B+(*)
23. Anat Cohen: Poetica (2006 [2007], Anzic): This is a showcase for Cohen's clarinet work, taking a mix of Israeli and Brazilian songs and pieces by Jacques Brel and John Coltrane. Half are just quartet, with Jason Lindner on piano, Omer Avital on bass, Daniel Freedman on drums. The other half add a string quartet, which is a bit like sprinkling sugar on something that's already too sweet. It's not without appeal, and at best it gives you a rush. B+(*)
24. Ornette Coleman: To Whom Who Keeps a Record (1959-60 [2007], Water): Odds and sods, released Japan-only in 1975 but not in the US until boxed for Beauty Is a Rare Thing: The Complete Atlantic Recordings. Starts with an outtake from Change of the Century with Don Cherry on pocke trumpet, Charlie Haden on bass, Billy Higgins on drums; filled out with leftovers from This Is Our Music with Ed Blackwell replacing Higgins. At this point this sounds so typical of the classic Coleman quartet that it's hard to wax ecstatic and impossible to fault. Art of the Improvisers and Twins picked over the same sessions first; it's hard to figure why these cuts were passed over, unless it's the relative prominence of Cherry. A-
25. Scott Colley: Architect of the Silent Moment (2005 [2007], CAM Jazz): Colley's bass lines bounce around in and out of time, giving this a rather inconsistent and unsettling foundation, making it hard to follow even if it sometimes seems worth the effort. The core band is a quartet with Ralph Alessi on trumpet, Craig Taborn on keyboards, and Antonio Sanchez on drums. Alessi makes a big impression, as he often does. Four guests also pitch in: Dave Binney, Jason Moran, Gregoire Maret, and Adam Rogers. The only one I particularly noticed was Binney, on soprano. B+(*)
26. Graham Collier: Hoarded Dreams (1983 [2007], Cuneiform): A bassist and well-regarded composer who started out in the late '60s, a protean period when Britain's modern jazz musicians could still span avant-garde and fusion, where there was little distance between music abstractly composed and explosively improvised. This particular piece was commissioned by the Arts Council of Great Britain for performance at the Bracknell Jazz Festival. Collier conducts a large group: 5 reeds, 5 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, 2 guitars, piano, bass, drums, including many recognizable names, both local (John Surman, Kenny Wheeler) and from far afield (Ted Curson, Tomasz Stanko, Juhanni Aaltonen). Framed for solos, some quite rivetting, but mostly loud and a bit ugly for my taste.