Tom Hull: Streamnotes: 2025-10-27

Most of these are short notes/reviews based on streaming records from Napster (formerly Rhapsody; other sources are noted in brackets). They are snap judgments, usually based on one or two plays, accumulated since my last post along these lines, back on September 29. Past reviews and more information are available here (26627 records).

New Music

$ilkMoney: Who Waters the Wilting Giving Tree Once the Leaves Dry Up and Fruits No Longer Bear? (2025, Lex/DB$B): Rapper from Virginia, Murphy Graves, fourth album since 2018, all long, run-on titles. B+(***) [sp]

Affinity Trio [Eric Jacobson/Pamela York/Clay Schaub]: New Outlook (2024-25 [2025], Origin): Trumpet-piano-bass trio, second group album, each contributes an original, along with six covers, starting with "On the Sunny Side of the Street." B+(***) [cd]

Agnas Bros.: Sista Försöket (2025, Moserobie): Swedish group: Kasper Agnas (guitar), Max Agnas (piano), Mauritz Agnas (bass), and Konrad Agnas (drums). They have several albums going back to 2012, as well as solo credits, especially Konrad (the eldest, b. 1990; there was also a previous generation of Agnas Bros., with their father, Urban, and his brothers, Tomas and Joakim; Urban's wife Sabrina, niece Maja, and nephew Nils also have Discogs credits). Live, moves along nicely (32:54). B+(***) [cd]

Marja Ahti: Touch This Fragrant Surface of Earth (2025, Fönstret): Born in Sweden, based in Finland, combines field recordings with electronics and sundry instruments for speculative ambient arts, including a couple others on clarinet and cello. B+(*) [bc]

Pheeroan akLaff/Scott Robinson/Julian Thayer: aRT: Live at Kampo Bahal Gallery (2025, ScienSonic, EP): Drums, reeds, bass trio, the drummer originally named Paul Maddox, from Detroit, has a long and distinguished career starting with Oliver Lake in 1975, including work with Henry Threadgill and Wadada Leo Smith. I think of Robinson as being more retro, but not here. The bassist has few side-credits, mostly with Robinson or Klaus Suonsaari. The three recorded a trio album in 2024 which has proven elusive, but this shorter (23:34) improv piece is probably indicative, but also seems tentative. B+(*) [bc]

Eric Alexander: Like Sugar (2024 [2025], Cellar Live): Mainstream tenor saxophonist, has a lot of records since 1995, especially quartets like this one, with David Hazeltine (piano), Dennis Carroll (bass), and George Fludas (drums). Title is a nod to Stanley Turrentine, but not quite a tribute. This suits him very nicely. B+(***) [sp]

Lily Allen: West End Girl (2025, BMG): British singer-songwriter, fifth studio album since 2007, 7 years since number four, a stretch of time covering a marriage and a divorce, so easy subject matter, which she handles adroitly. Music doesn't have quite the same zip as the earlier albums. B+(***) [sp] [Later: A-]

Ammar 808: Club Tounsi (2025, Glitterbeat): Denmark-based Tunisian DJ/product Sofyann Ben Youssef, third album under this alias, also works with the Tuareg rock group Kel Assouf (based in Belgium). B+(**) [sp]

Bar Italia: Some Like It Hot (2025, Matador): British new wave band, fifth album since 2020, lead vocalist is Nina Christante, but guitarists Sam Fenton and Jezmi Tarik Fehmi also sing, and separately released a pretty good album earlier this year as Double Virgo. Still, she's a plus, and the more they sound like New Order, the more I like them. A- [sp]

Gary Bartz & NTU: The Eternal Tenure of Sound: Damage Control (2022-23 [2025], OYO): Alto saxophonist, in his 80s now, best known for his Afro-centric NTU Troop albums (1970-74), but has a long catalog up through 2011, less recently (although he was featured on one of the Jazz Is Dead albums). I like the sax here, but can't get into the vocals, although they work well enough for slow soul jams. B+(*) [sp]

Bright Eyes: Kids Table (2025, Dead Oceans, EP): Conor Oberst, has been releasing albums under this group/alias since 1998, has some songcraft but that's never sufficed for me. Not sure this should be called an EP (8 songs, 29:06). B+(*) [sp]

Call Super: A Rhythm Protects One (2025, Dekmantel): British electronica producer Joseph Richmond-Seaton, Discogs lists four albums since 2014, more EPs/singles, and a half dozen DJ mixes, where this one is slotted. B+(**) [sp]

Chrome Hill: En Route (2024 [2025], Clean Feed): Norwegian jazz group, fifth album since 2008, main name I recognize is Atle Nymo (tenor sax, bass clarinet), but composer is Asbjørn Lerheim (Fender Bass VI, electric guitar, electronics), backed by Roger Arntzen (bass, electronics) and Torstein Lofthus (drums). B+(**) [sp]

Mike Clark: Itai Doshin (2024 [2025], Wide Hive): Drummer, generic name is easy to forget but he's been active since the the early 1970s (with Herbie Hancock) and Discogs credits him with 21 albums since 1992. Quintet of veterans here -- Eddie Henderson (trumpet), Craig Handy (sax), Patrice Rushen (piano/rhodes), Henry Franklin (bass) -- so mainstream you know what to expect, but can't help but be pleased. B+(***) [cd]

Tom Cohen: Embraceable Brazil (2025, Versa): Drummer, from Philadelphia, has several previous albums back to 1997, plays a wide range of Brazilian standards here, some with Chico Pinheiro on guitar and/or Barbara Mendes for vocals. B+(**) [cd]

Bobby Conn: Bobby's Place (2025, Tapete, EP): Singer-songwriter from Chicago, a "long time musical mischief maker and cultural provocateur," albums back to 1997, this one appears on Spotify as two EPs -- the 6-track (19:10) "Side One" and the 3-track (21:20) "Side A" -- distinct enough they should be kept separate, but interesting that he's into both approaches. B+(*) [sp]

Hollie Cook: Shy Girl (2025, Mr Bongo): English reggae singer-songwriter, daughter of Sex Pistols' drummer Paul Cook, tenor so albums since 2011. B+(**) [sp]

Lucrecia Dalt: A Danger to Ourselves (2025, RVNG Intl): Sound artist from Colombia, María Lucrecia Pérez López, based in Berlin, has a dozen albums since 2011. B+(***)

Maya Delilah: The Long Way Round (2025, Blue Note): English singer-songwriter, plays guitar, first album after two EPs and some singles. Nice batch of songs, with an easy flow. On a jazz label, but not really. B+(**) [sp]

Madi Diaz: Fatal Optimist (2025, Anti-): Singer-songwriter, half-dozen albums since 2007, plays guitar, piano (her original instrument) on one track. Minimally folkie, something I'm rarely attracted to, but this one feels right. Title song is especially strong. A- [sp]

Earscratcher: Otoliths (2024 [2025], Aerophonic): Free jazz quartet with Dave Rempis (soprano/alto/tenor sax), Elisabeth Harnik (piano), Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello), and Tim Daisy (drums), second album, first I've heard all week that's just pure delight to listen to. A- [cd]

El Michaels Affair: 24 Hr Sports (2025, Big Crown): Hip-hop group led by producer Leon Michels, who produced albums in 2002 by Sharon Jones and Lee Fields, has group albums since 2005, including one with Black Thought in 2023. B- [sp]

Jorge Espinal: Bombos Y Cencerros (2023 [2025], Buh): Guitarist from Peru, has a previous trio album from 2015, not sure how much else. This is solo, improv, but the credit reads: "all at once, prepared electric guitar, bass drum, cowbell, pedals, and laptop." Nine pieces, 29:07. For a while I could imagine Captain Beefheart singing to it, but it wound up too fragmented even for Tom Zé. B+(**) [sp]

Esthesis Quartet: Sound & Fury (2025, Sunnyside): Quartet of Elsa Nilsson (flute), Dawn Clement (piano, vocals), Emma Dayhuff (bass), and Tina Raymond (drums), all pictured on cover, third album, plus Bill Frisell (guitar). B+(**) [bc]

The Expert: Vivid Visions (2025, Rucksack): Irish hip-hop producer Cian Galvin, Discogs credits him with a half-dozen albums since 2015, most cuts here have featured guests, including AJ Suede, Blu, Stik Figa, ShrapKnel, Defcee, and Buck 65. B+(**) [sp]

Carter Faith: Cherry Valley (2025, MCA Nashville): Country singer-songwriter, from North Carolina, dropped her surname Jones, but Wikipedia just refers to her as Faith. First album after a couple EPs. First song that caught my attention, midway through, was "Grudge." B+(**) [sp]

Robert Finley: Hallelujah! Don't Let the Devil Fool You (2025, Easy Eye): Blues/soul singer-songwriter, b. 1954 in Louisiana, has played music since he was 11 but didn't record until 2016. Fifth album, with daughter Christy Johnson on backing vocals, on eight songs that at least allude to gospel ("Praise Him," "His Love," "Helping Hand," "On the Battlefield," "I Am a Witness," etc.). The religion doesn't bother me, especially when the guitar transcends it. A- [sp]

Debby Friday: The Starrr of the Queen of Life (2025, Sub Pop): Electropop singer-songwriter, born in Nigeria, raised in Montreal, second album. First, which won the Polaris Prize, I liked a lot, this is a bit more inscrutable. B+(***) [sp]

Tomas Fujiwara: Dream Up (2023 [2025], Out of Your Head): Drummer, a Braxton student, fair number of albums since 2007, lots of side credits. Quartet with Patricia Brennan (vibes), plus Tim Keiper and Kaoru Watanabe on a long list of African- and Asian-sounding instruments, mostly percussion but some flute-like. A- [sp]

Margaret Glaspy: The Golden Heart Protector (2025, ATO, EP): A singer-songwriter of considerable interest, although these 7 songs (25:23) seem to be covers, all but one duet features. The most familiar song is also the most distinctive ("Have You Ever Seen the Rain"). B+(***) [sp]

Phil Haynes & Free Country: Liberty Now! (1996-2025 [2025], Corner Store Jazz, 2CD): Drummer, wide range of releases since working with Paul Smoker in the 1980s. This appears to be two albums in one package, a nightmare configuration for anyone trying to run a poll that distinguishes between new and old archival music. First disc is a recent set with Hank Roberts (cello), Jim Yanda (guitar/vocals), and Drew Gress (bass), each contributing new songs. The second is probably the same group, but playing old Americana, including "Revolution," "What's Going On," and "Respect" -- a 71:16 sampler from their previous albums, or possibly stray tracks from those sessions. The scattered vocals aren't much good, but the melodies take you back. The new material (61:15) is a bit harder to connect with, but the vibe is the same. B+(**) [cd] [10-17]

Miho Hazama: Live Life This Day: Celebrating Thad Jones (2025, Edition): Japanese pianist, based in New York, debut 2012, her 2023 m_unit album caught me by surprise, but she's also been involved with European big bands: a 2018 album with Metropole Orkest, and since 2019 she's been "chief conductor" of the Danish Radio Big Band, a post that had previously been given to several notable Americans: Jim McNeely, Bob Brookmeyer, and Thad Jones. They're bolstered here with strings from the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, for this live program of Jones compositions plus a couple Hazama additions. B+(*) [sp]

Todd Herbert: Captain Hubs (2024 [2025], TH Productions): Strong tenor saxophonist, several albums since 2007, mainstream group here with David Hazeltine (piano), John Webber (bass), and Louis Hayes (drums), playing five Herbert originals, two pieces by band members, and covers of Coltrane, Shorter, and "You Go to My Head." B+(***) [cd]

Conrad Herwig: Reflections - Facing South (2020 [2025], Savant): Trombonist, started with Clark Terry in the 1980s, played with Joe Henderson, Joe Lovano, and Mingus Big Band, but has shifted into Latin jazz, especially with his series of The Latin Side Of recordings. Trio here with Eddie Palmieri (piano) and Luques Curtis (bass). The Latin quotient seems subdued without percussion, but they enjoy space to breathe, without just being hurried along. B+(***) [sp]

Homeboy Sandman & Sonnyjim: Soli Deo Gloria (2025, Dirty Looks): Prolific rapper Angel Del Villar II, with producer Sonny Sathi, from Birmingham, UK. Relatively long by his standards: 10 songs, 38:53. B+(**) [bc]

Homeboy Sandman & Guidance: Tears of Joy (2025, self-released, EP): Six songs, 14:34, no real idea who the producer is. B+(*) [bc]

Hot 8 Brass Band: Big Tuba (2025, Tru Thoughts): New Orleans brass band, founded 1995, long led by Bennie Pate, who died in 2021, carries on. B+(**) [bc]

Hunx and His Punx: Walk Out on This World (2025, Get Better): Punk band from California, principally Seth Bogart, three albums 2011-14, regrouped here for a fourth. B- [sp]

Maja Jaku: Blessed & Bewitched (2025, Origin): Jazz singer-songwriter, last name shortened from Jakupović, from Serbia, based in Austria, some songs co-written by Adrian Varady (drums, co-producer) or Saša Mutić, with two standards. Recorded in Brooklyn with Michael Rodriguez (trumpet), Alan Bartus (piano), Dezron Douglas (bass), and Johnathan Blake (drums). This is nice, especially on standards like "Never Let Me Go." B+(***) [cd]

JID: God Does Like Ugly (2025, Dreamville/Interscope): Atlanta rapper Destin Route, started with mixtapes in 2009, fourth studio album since 2017, sprawling with 15 tracks, 57:06, many guests, a fairly generous view of God. B+(***) [sp]

Rochelle Jordan: Through the Wall (2025, Empire): Dance-pop singer-songwriter, born in UK, grew up in Toronto, fifth album since 2011. Previous one was pretty good, with this one just much more, enough for 2-LP: 17 songs, 59:58. A- [sp]

Rick Keller: Heroes (2024-25 [2025], Vegas): Saxophonist (tenor, soprano, alto, some flute), started career in 1983 in Europe, based in Los Angeles since 2001 (and now Las Vegas?), has a couple records as far back as 1988, many more side credits, styles this as tributes to "musicians who shaped my development" -- mostly with fusion connections (Davis, Shorter, Zawinul, Hancock, Marcus Miller) or groups (Weather Report, Brecker Brothers). Some vocals don't help. B- [cd]

Killah Priest & Purpose: Abraxas 2 (2025, Proverbs): Rapper Walter Reed, from Brooklyn, 1998 debut was well regarded (Heavy Mental), had one more album chart in 2000, plus a couple dozen more since that I hadn't noticed. B+(*) [sp]

Zara Larsson: Midnight Sun (2025, Summer House/Epic): Swedish electropop singer-songwriter, fifth album since 2014. B+(*) [sp]

Jens Lekman: Songs for Other People's Weddings (2025, Secretly Canadian): Singer-songwriter from Sweden, works in English, seventh album since 2004, fancy flights, but long (17 songs, 79:37). B+(***) [sp]

Lizzy & the Triggermen: Live at Joe's Pub (2024 [2025], self-released): Los Angeles-based swing band, Lizzy Shaps (Elizabeth Shapiro) the singer, nine musicians, some I've actually heard of -- Ricky Alexander (tenor/baritone sax, clarinet), Gordon Au (trumpet), John Allred (trombone), Luca Pino (guitar) -- playing standards with a few originals and some patter. B+(**) [cd]

Charles Lloyd: Figure in Blue (2025, Blue Note): Tenor saxophonist, also plays some flute, he's been a big name since the 1960s, recorded this on his 87th birthday, in a trio with Jason Moran (piano) and Marvin Sewell (guitar), with 14 tracks stretching out to 98 minutes. He takes it easy for the most part, with most of the muscle (and sinew) from the guitar. B+(*) [sp]

Zack Lober: So We Could Live (2025, Zennez): Canadian bassist, previuos album from 2021, couple dozen side credits going back to 2003. Nice quartet with trumpet (Suzan Veneman), tenor sax (Jasper Blom), and drums (Sun-Mi Hong). B+(***) [cd]

Russ Lossing Trio: Moon Inhabitants (2020 [2025], Sunnyside): Pianist, has a couple dozen albums since 2000, this a trio with Masa Kamaguchi (bass) and Billy Mintz (drums), opens with five covers: Tchaikovsky between two Ornette Coleman tunes, Harold Arlen, Sonny Rollins, closing with three originals. B+(*) [bc]

Donny McCaslin: Lullaby for the Lost (2024 [2025], Edition): Tenor saxophonist, started early 1990s, has released regular albums, especially since 2000, has always impressed me with his chops if not necessarily judgment. Opts for a fusion-heavy mix here, employing various combinations of guitars (notably Ben Monder), keyboards (Jason Lindner), bass, and drums. B [sp]

Jim McNeely: Primal Colors (2025, Challenge): Pianist, composer and big band director, working here with Frankfurt Radio Symphony and Frankfurt Radio Bigband, for a major production. B+(*) [sp]

Mexstep & Principe Q: Tráfico (2025, Puro Unity, EP): San Antonio rapper Marco Cervantes, has a couple previous albums, with "genre-defying" DJ/producer Svani Quintanilla, the grooves a mix of Tex-Mex and turntablism. Six songs, 16:51. B+(***) [bc]

John Michel/Anthony James: Egotrip (2025, Loudmouth): Underground rapper and producer, first album I can find by either. Pretty splashy. B+(**) [sp]

Rhett Miller: A Lifetime of Riding by Night (2025, ATO): Singer-songwriter from Texas, leader of the alt-country-rock band Old 97's (20+ albums 1994-2024), has also released 8 studio solo albums since 2002 (one previous one from 1989). Easy to listen to, and not without merit. B+(**) [sp]

Neal Miner: Invisibility (2025, Cellar Music): Bassist, a name I thought I recognized from Lou Kaven's Smalls labeld, but I find I hadn't made any note of his 2006 album there -- I do have several side-credits from then and since. This is a trio with Chris Byars (tenor sax, also on his Smalls album) and Jason Tiemann (drums), playing his compositions ("mostly contrafacts over classic American standard songs"). Bryars is the leading talent who came out of that scene, a retro player jumping off from bebop, much like Scott Hamilton did with swing. B+(***) [sp]

Kelsey Mines: Everything Sacred, Nothing Serious (2024 [2025], OA2): Bassist, from Seattle, has a couple of albums on Relative Pitch, composed all of this, with flute (Elsa Nilsson), trombone, piano, guitar, drums, and percussion, and some additional recording in São Paulo, co-produced by Steve Rodby, with liner notes by Jovino Santos Neto. B+(*) [cd]

Joe Morris/Brad Barrett/Beth Ann Jones: Abstract Forest (2025, Relative Pitch): Avant-guitarist, many albums since 1990, here with cello and bass. B+(***) [sp]

Andy Nevala: El Rumbón (The Party) (2023-24 [2025], Zoho): Pianist, based in Atlanta, self-released a 2000 album, has a few more credits, teaching experience, some big band work. Lively Latin jazz album, ten pieces from all over turned into a seamless party experience. B+(***) [cd]

Elizabeth Nichols: Tough Love (2025, Pulse, EP): Country singer-songwriter, from Kentucky, seems to be her first record, not much info available but has some appeal, could stick around; 7 songs, 20:08. B+(**) [sp]

Bill Orcutt/Steve Shelley/Ethan Miller: Orcutt Shelley Miller (2024 [2025], Silver Current): Guitar, bass, drums trio, considered "experimental rock," because all three have rock band backgrounds (Shelley on Sonic Youth; Orcutt's first group was called Harry Pussy -- I still file his records under rock, but list them with jazz). B+(***) [sp]

Juan Pastor's Chinchano: Memorias (2024 [2025], Calligram): Drummer-led Latin jazz group, seems to be "(2)" in Discogs (which doesn't have this or other albums on the artist's website, but gives him a side credit for James Davis' Beveled). Cover adds names for Stu Mindeman (piano), Matt Ulery (bass), Dustin Laurenzi (tenor sax), and "featuring" Gian Luiggi Cortez Mejia (congas/cajón/bell/cajita). B+(***) [cd]

Nicholas Payton: Triune (2025, Smoke Sessions): Trumpet player from New Orleans, albums since 1994, also plays keyboards, with Esperanza Spalding (bass and vocals) and Karriem Riggins (drums), with some guests (mostly vocals). I'm not much impressed here until the last two cuts: the first is the funk anthem "#bamisforthechildren" — "BAM" (Black American Music) is his preferred term for jazz; the second is an extended keyboard vamp called "Feed the Fire," which ends with some fairly impressive trumpet. B+(*) [sp]

Princess Nokia: Girls (2025, Artist House): New York rapper Destiny Nicole Frasqueri, fifth album. "I know what I'm doing. I trust my process." B+(***) [sp]

The Prize: In the Red (2025, Anti Fade): Australian power pop band, "equal parts brains and bravado." B+(**) [sp]

Reneé Rapp: Bite Me (2025, Interscope): Pop singer-songwriter, kicks off. B+(**) [sp]

Jussi Reijonen: Sayr: Salt/Thirst (2025, Unmusic): Finnish guitarist, has at least one previous album, has another Sayr: Live in Helsinki schedule to release on same date but this is the only one I was sent. "Sayr" is a concept from Arabic music, used here to denote a series of (thus far) solo albums. B+(*) [cd] [10-24]

Jussi Reijonen: Sayr: Kaiho - Live in Helsinki (2025, Unmusic): Finnish guitarist, also plays oud, which adds to the Arabic tones of his thoughtful solo work. B+(*) [os] [10-24]

Rubén Reinaldo: Fusión Olívica (2024 [2025], Free Code Jazz): Spanish guitarist, Bandcamp page has "Reinaldo" in quotes and shows last name as Baña, I'm not finding anything on Discogs but he has a previous duo album on Bandcamp. Backed by organ (Antonio López "Monano"), bass (Gustavo Hernán), and drums (David Failde). He bravely defied Trump and sent me vinyl, but I buried it under some pile until it came to the top of my unplayed list. Fits loosely in the soul jazz idiom, but a bit fancier, with the bass adding a resonance that organ alone could never quite deliver. A- [lp]

Jason Rigby: Mayhem (2024 [2025], Endectomorph Music): Tenor saxophonist, first noticed as one of Fresh Sound's new talents (2006, or for side credits 2002), several albums since, 40 credits total. Also plays bass clarinet, flute, piano and other keyboards, percussion, electronics, along with Mark Guiliana (drums, electronics). Fast stuff up front is most appealing. B+(***) [sp]

Gonzalo Rubalcaba/Yainer Horta/Joey Calveiro: A Tribute to Benny Moré and Nat King Cole (2025, Calveiro Entertainment): Cuban pianist, flanked by two saxophonists (tenor and alto), and backed by others, playing four songs that Cole covered in his Havana albums, plus four from Cuban star Moré. B+(***) [sp]

Bill Scorzari: Sidereal Days (Day 1) (2025, self-released): Singer-songwriter, originally from Kansas, moved to New York City, seems to have gotten a late start after years of practicing law, his 2014 debut was interesting, and three (now four) subsequent albums have only gotten better. Not much of a voice, but orks for him, probably because the songs justify the lyric sheet but wind up sounding even better. A (Day 2) sequel is promised, but not until Sept. 2026. He has more confidence than I that we'll still be here. A- [cd]

Patrick Shiroishi: Forgetting Is Violent (2025, American Dream): Alto saxophonist, based in Los Angeles, very prolific since 2014. "Supporting cast," including some notable rock figures, is mentioned in the write-up but not properly credited. Mostly voices, not very distinct. Some fine sax runs over a noise backdrop. B+(*) [bc]

Kalie Shorr: My Type (2025, Pound It Out Loud, EP): Singer-songwriter from Maine, based in Nashville, which gets her no-twang pop anthems a bit of a country audience. Has a good album from 2019, plus several EPs. This one has 6 songs, 18:19. B+(***) [sp]

Rich Siegel: It's Always Been You (2025, self-released): Singer, also plays piano, wrote several songs here but mostly far-ranging covers, ranging from Berlin to Tom Waits, with a mix of French, Spanish, and Brazilian, backed by bass (Cameron Brown) and drums (Tony Jefferson). B [cd]

Tom Skinner: Kaleidoscopic Visions (2025, International Anthem): British drummer, mostly has jazz credits like Sons of Kemet but has some other ventures, like Owiny Sigoma Band and, more commercially, the Smile (a trio with two blokes from Radiohead). Second studio album under his own name, has him also playing vibes, guitar, piano, and all sorts of electronics, with two saxophonists (Robert Stillman and Chelsea Carmichael), guitar, bass, cello, and vocals (Meshell Ndegeocello, Contour, Yaffra). B+(**) [sp]

Wadada Leo Smith/Sylvie Courvoisier: Angel Falls (2024 [2025], Intakt): Trumpet and piano duo, the former in his 80s, an early AACM member, his discography going back to 1971, but it seems like he only rose to a much higher level after 2010, as he started getting grant money for expansive compositions. Swiss pianist, very productive since 1997. Her name is first on the front cover, but his comes first on the back, and on the spine. Similar to last year's duet with Amina Claudine Myers (or this year's with Vijay Iyer). A bit slow for my taste, but rewards a close listen. B+(***) [cd]

Maria Somerville: Luster (2025, 4AD): Dream pop singer-songwriter from Ireland, previous releases back to 2018 but this is first on a real label. Hazy, bordering on shoegaze. B+(*) [sp]

Sprints: All That Is Over (2025, City Slang/Sub Pop): Irish garage punk band, Karla Chubb the singer, second studio album after some EPs. Another strong album. B+(***) [sp]

Grant Stewart: Next Spring (2024 [2025], Cellar Music): Tenor saxophonist, from Toronto, mainstream ("steady swinging, muscular hard bop"), couple dozen albums since 1992, a couple co-led with Eric Alexander, this a quartet with Tardo Hammer (piano), Paul Sikivie (bass), and Phil Stewart (drums), playing standards including Monk, Shorter, Barry Harris, and Bob Mover. B+(**) [sp]

Sudan Archives: The BPM (2025, Stones Throw): Brittney Parks, from Cincinnati, learned violin early, studied ethnomusicology later, works both into her varied dance-pop, third album after a couple of EPs. I'm having trouble coming up with specifics here, which suggests something is lacking, but that too eludes me. A- [sp]

Suede: Antidepressants (2025, BMG): English group, first album in 1993 was part of the Britpop wave, had a break between 2002-13, known in the US as London Suede, but they dropped the qualifier for their last couple albums. Lots of guitar, an impressive din of sound. B+(*) [sp]

Taylor Swift: The Life of a Showgirl (2025, Republic): Big star, you know that, 12th album (not counting remakes) since 2007, a Google search offers more info on psychological disorders and political polarization than info on the music itself, which has received such mixed reviews you sometimes wonder who is listening to what. I'm not enough of a fan to be able to recall any of her songs by name, but I've heard them all, and mostly enjoyed them. This one has a 59/23 score at AOTY, which means that Pitchfork's 5.9 rating is precisely average. On the other hand, from the very first play I found nearly all of this delightful. A- [sp]

Laura Taylor: Think I'm in Love (2025, Vegas): Las Vegas-based standards singer, recorded a pretty fair disco album in 1979, Discogs goes straight from it to this one, but I have four intermediate albums in my database, including a tribute to Julie London and Chet Baker and a Johnny Mercer songbook. B+(*) [cd]

The Third Mind: Right Now! (2025, Yep Roc): Americana "supergroup" -- best known are Dave Alvin, Victor Krummenacher (Camper van Beethoven), and Jesse Sykes (who takes most of the vocals) -- take some improv ideas from jazz, which include some heavy guitar, and a closing 7:51 "The Creator Has a Master Plan." B+(***) [sp]

Pat Thomas: ود ود (Wadud/Most Loving) (2023 [2025], Nyahh): British avant-pianist, often drops Arabic into his titles -- best known is his group, Ahmed -- solo here, one 30:35 piece, piano sounds prepared. B+(***) [bc]

Patrisha Thomson: Your Love (2025, PT Designs Productions): Standards singer, third album, songs cover a wide range, including one original (dated 2005). B [cd]

Henry Threadgill: Listen Ship (2025, Pi): Saxophonist, founded Air in 1971, especially notable for its free jazz developments on early jazz models, has had a very notable solo career since 1979. Just composer and conductor here, leading a group of six guitarists and two pianists through a maze of sixteen fractured "roadmaps." B+(***) [cd]

Mark Turner: Reflections On: The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (2025, Giant Step Arts): Tenor saxophonist, one of many to emerge in the 1990s, has been especially busy of late. Extended piece, with ten movements built around spoken word excerpts from James Weldon Johnson's 1912 novel about race in America. Quintet with Jason Palmer (trumpet), David Virelles (piano/profit/organ), Matt Brewer (basses), and Nasheet Waits (drums). Strong group, and the narration is interesting. B+(***) [cd]

UNLV Jazz Ensemble 1: Double or Nothing (2025, Vegas): College-level 21-piece big band, directed by Dave Loeb and Nathan Tanouye, mixed a couple of original pieces along with standards, notably Ellington/Strayhorn and Gillespie. B [cd]

Kamasi Washington: Lazarus [Adult Swim Original Series Soundtrack] (2025, Milan): Tenor saxophonist, major chops but also has crossover appeal, one of three soundtracks for Shinichiro Watanabe's anime series (the others are by Bonobo and Floating Points). Soundtracky, with some boss sax. B [sp]

Wednesday: Bleeds (2025, Dead Oceans): Country-ish rock band from North Carolina, although they also venture into Sonic Youth territory, principally Karly Hartzman (vocals, guitar), although guitarist MJ Lenderman has the bigger profile, and most of the songs (aside from a Lefty Frizzell cover) are jointly credited. Lots of people love this album, and they're not wrong. A- [sp]

Chris Williams: Odu: Vibrations II (2025, AKP): Trumpet player, "(84)" at Discogs, also plays synth, and this could be taken as ambient or deep listening, aside from the horns, which include spots for Kalia Vandever (trombone) and Patrick Shiroishi (sax), both with effects. B+(**) [sp]

Recent Reissues, Compilations, Vault Discoveries

Kenny Barron: Sunset to Dawn (1973 [2025], Muse/Time Traveler): Muse Records was a label founded by Prestige Records producer Joe Fields in 1972, which ran up to 1996 when it was sold to 32 Jazz (run by Joel Dorn; Fields moved on to found the HighNote and Savant labels). The latter reissued much of the catalog on CD, before being sold to Savoy Jazz (a venerable label name by then part of Nippon Columbia), which reissued some samplers, but let the label's many releases go out of print. Muse was a very important (mostly mainstream) label during its time: I count 112 titles in my database, most unrated because the music hasn't been readily available on streaming. So the announcement that this new label (or new label name, as it seems to be associated with Craft, which itself is tied to Concord) will be reissuing from its catalog is terrific news. This is the first of the reissues, the pianist's first recording, mostly electric piano with bass (Bob Cranshaw), drums (Freddie Waits), and percussion (Richard Landrum and Warren Smith). The product push is focused on luxury vinyl, but my promo copy is a CD (better for me, although Gary Giddins' original back cover notes require a microfiche reader). Nice record, but wouldn't have been my leadoff hitter. (I have 32 Jazz's reissue of Barron's second album, Peruvian Blue, rated A-.) B+(**) [cd]

Roy Brooks: The Free Slave (1970 [2025], Muse/Time Traveler): Hard bop drummer (1938-2005), from Detroit, started with Blue Mitchell in 1960, rarely appeared as leader (first in 1964, then this in 1972). Crackling live quintet with Woody Shaw (trumpet), George Coleman (tenor sax), Hugh Lawson (piano), and Cecil McBee (bass). A- [cd]

Ray Charles: Best of Country & Western (1962-85 [2024], Tangerine): Thirteen songs, including three each from the two 1962 volumes of Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music, where his customary application of strings and chorus to country standards just added to his genius reputation. This picks up some later hits like "Crying Time" (1964), but only includes two songs after 1967: a Johnny Cash cover from 1970, and a Willie Nelson duet from the latter's 1985 Half Nelson. Some classics here, but this can slip into formula. B+(**) [bc]

Armen Donelian: Stargazer (1980 [2025], Sunnyside): Pianist, had played with Mongo Santamaria and Billy Harper before recording this first album, a trio with Eddie Gomez and Billy Hart, originally released in Japan in 1981. B+(**) [cd]

Ivan Farmakovskiy: Epic Power (2010 [2025], SteepleChase): Russian pianist, one article says "renowned" and mentions prizes he won in 1994 and 1997, I didn't find him in Discogs until I backed into an entry with his name in Cyrillic, which yielded two 2009-10 titles. I wonder if the "iy" in his name here is meant to pawn him off as Ukrainian? This was from the same period, a trio with bass (Christian McBride) and drums (Jack DeJohnette), mosty playing his originals. Very impressive work. Hard to see why anyone would sit on this. B+(***) [sp]

Carlos Garnett: Cosmos Nucleus (1976 [2025], Muse/Time Traveler): Alto saxophonist (1938-2023), from Panama, moved to New York in 1962, released his first five albums on Muse (1974-78), with this the fourth, a large group playing his original pieces, in a Coltrane-ish spiritual jazz vein, with some vocals by Cheryl P. Alexander. B+(*) [cd]

Hot Chip: Joy in Repetition (2005-22 [2025], Domino): British electropop group, 8 albums 2004-22, this compilation appears to be selected from singles (including a bait track included here, but of uncertain age). Looking back at my individual album grades, I'd say that selection helps, but doesn't clear them as a singles band. B+(**) [sp]

John Lennon/Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band: Power to the People: Live at the One to One Concert (1972 [2025], Universal, 2CD): Two full concerts at Madison Square Garden, spun off from a "Deluxe Edition" that includes much more (9-CD, 3-DVD, book, stickers, who knows what else?). This runs 31 songs, 141 minutes. Lennon's own songs from his two now-classic albums, plus a few songs originating in his previous group, are well known, sharply performed. More songs, especially those sung by Ono, are new to me or long forgotten, but not without merit (although often, as remembered, "shrill"). Most tracks previously unreleased. The exceptions are probably from Some Time in New York City, although I suspect that the sound is much improved here. I haven't seen the "Deluxe Edition" box, but hear that it has some tie-in to the film Betrayal at Attica B+(**) [sp]

Mark O'Leary Group: I See Further Than You (2001 [2025], TIBProd.): Irish guitarist, released a series of albums on Leo in the early 2000s that were well regarded in Penguin Guide, but moved away from jazz (or toward something else?) after 2008. This is one of several old tapes recently released, this one with Michael Formanek (bass) and Joey Baron (drums). (Two others I reviewed last month but spent most of my time puzzling over the missing dates.) B+(**) [bc]

Eli "Paperboy" Reed: Sings "Walkin' and Talkin'" and Other Smash Hits [20th Anniversary Edition] (2005 [2025], Yep Roc): Blues-smitten singer-guitarist from the Boston suburbs, made a pilgrimage to Clarksdale, Mississippi after graduating high school, but went to Chicago for college, then returned to Boston to record his first album: 12 tracks here, with the reissue adding 15 more (4 bonus tracks + 11 radio sessions). B+(**) [sp]

Pharoah Sanders: Love Is Here: The Complete Paris 1975 ORTF Recordings (1975 [2025], Transcendence Sounds, 2CD): Tenor saxophonist (1940-2022), a Coltrane protégé in the 1960s, coming off a series of expansive albums on Impulse! that helped define what we've since come to call "spiritual jazz" (in the trinity, he was "son" to Coltrane's "father" and Ayler's "holy ghost"). Quartet with Danny Mixon (piano/organ), Calvin Hill (bass), and Greg Bandy (drums). Some of this has been out before, but not at this length (11 tracks, 113 minutes). Starts with an "Improvisation with Pipe Organ" that I find very murky, but ends with a resounding "Love Is Everywhere." New label seems to be a spinoff of Barcelona's Elemental Music. B+(**) [sp]

Atef Swaitat: Palestinian Bedouin Psychedelic Dabka Archive (1970s [2025], Majazz Project/Palestinian Sound Archive): Two sides (46:31) compiled from "immersive field recordings from weddings across the Galilee in the 1970s." B+(***) [sp]

John Taylor: Tramonto(2002 [2025], ECM): English pianist (1942-2015), many side credits starting in 1970 with John Surman, Graham Collier, Harry Beckett, Alan Skidmore, and Kenny Wheeler. This is a trio with Marc Johnson (bass) and Joey Baron (drums). This was a live recording in January, befor the April studio session the trio released as Rosslyn. B+(**)

Old Music

Abdullah: Life's Force (1979, About Time): Trumpet player Leroy Bland, better known as Ahmed Abdullah, Discogs (which notes that he kept the Arabic name even after converting to Buddhism) treats this as a group name. Played with Sun Ra, Arthur Blythe, a few others -- his 1974 group, Melodic Art-Tet, is especially notable. Group here with Vincent Chancey (French horn), Muneer Abdul Fatah (cello), Jerome Hunter (bass), Jay Hoggard (vibes), and Rashied Sinan (drums). B+(***) [bc]

Agnas Bros.: Lycka Till Med Musiken (2017 [2018], Agnas Musikproduktioner): Third group album (first was 2012) for Urban Agnas' sons Konrad (drums, b. 1990), Kasper (guitar, b. 1992), Mauritz (bass, b. 1995), and Max (piano, b. 1997). B+(**) [bc]

Agnas Bros.: Frya (2022, Haphazard Music): Fourth album. B+(**) [bc]

Pheeroan ak Laff: House of Spirit: "Mirth" (1979 [1980], Passin' Thru): Drummer, first album on his own, solo, produced by Oliver Lake. B+(***) [yt]

Willem Breuker Kollektief: William Breuker Collective (1983 [1984], About Time): Dutch saxophonist (1944-2010), a co-founder of ICP, ran his group from 1974 on, a not-quite big band which played free jazz while liberally quoting from Kurt Weill, classical, and circus music. Most of their records are on the BV Haast label. I've sampled them occasionally where I could, but my grades are all over the place, as is their music. This was snagged from a rare New York performance, much like European labels latch onto concerts by visiting Americans. This one is more wonderful than not, but still trips up more than I would like. B+(***) [bc]

Roy Brooks: Beat (1964, Workshop Jazz): Hard bop drummer from Detroit, first album as leader, with Blue Mitchell (trumpet), Junior Cook (tenor sax), George Bohanon (trombone), Hugh Lawson (piano), and Eugene Taylor (bass). B+(**) [sp]

François Carrier Trio With Uri Caine: All' Aba (2001 [2002], Justin Time): Canadian alto saxophonist, debut 1994, impressed me early and has long been a favorite. The pianist was in peak form during this period. A- [bc]

Ray Charles: The Complete Swing Time and Down Beat Recordings (1949-1952) (1949-52 [2004], Night Train, 2CD): First recordings for the blind pianist-singer, before he moved on to Atlantic and stardom. He had a few minor r&b hits during this period ("Confession Blues," "Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand," "Kissa Me Baby"). I've always heard that he was a Charles Brown wannabe early on, and there's a fair amount of that here, but other undeveloped styles as well. B+(*) [sp]

Mike Clark: Plays Herbie Hancock (2022 [2023], Sunnyside): Veteran drummer, joined Hancock's band in 1974, and remained in the Headhunters long after Hancock left. Acoustic trio here with Jon Davis (piano) and Leon Lee Dorsey (bass), playing eight Hancock standards. B+(**) [sp]

Jerome Cooper: The Unpredictability of Predictability (1979, About Time): Drummer (1946-2015), best known for Revolutionary Ensemble, also injects flute, whistle, balafon, percussion, and voice into this early solo album. It's a remarkable tour de force, especially as the balafon adds a melodic overtone to the basic thud of the drums. A- [bc]

Jerome Cooper Quintet: Outer and Interactions (1987 [1988], About Time): Drummer-led quintet, his compositions, he also plays chiramia, balaphone, and flutes, joined by Joseph Jarman (tenor sax/flute), William Parker (bass), Thurman Barker (drums), and Jason Hwang (violin). Best parts here focus on the percussion. B+(***) [bc]

Fred Hopkins/Diedre Murray Quartet: Prophecy (1990 [1998], About Time): Bassist (1947-99), not much as a leader (two more albums with the cellist around this time list her first, but he started out with Air in 1975, was a regular with David Murray, and appeared with others like Don Pullen, Oliver Lake, and Henry Threadgill. Quartet with cello (Murray), guitar (Brandon Ross), and drums (Newman Baker). B+(***) [bc]

Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society: Eye on You (1980 [1981], About Time): Drummer (1940-2013), from Fort Worth, part of Ornette Coleman's mid-1970s Prime Time group. This is a similar-sounding group, with two saxophonists (Byard Lancaster and Charles Brackeen), two guitarists (Vernon Reid and Bern Nix), electric bass (Melvin Gibbs), violin (Billy Bang), and percussion (Erasto Vasconcelos). Still, none of them (even Bang) can quite pull off the sort of miracles Coleman so often delivered. B+(***) [bc]

Sam Jones Plus 10: The Chant (1961, Riverside): Bassist (1924-81), a dozen-plus albums starting in 1960, huge number of side credits (especially with Cannonball Adderley and Cedar Walton). Second album, three brass, three saxes, drums, piano/guitar (Victor Feldman/Les Spann) or piano/vibes (Wynton Kelly/Feldman), three tracks where Jones plays cello and Keter Betts picks up the bass. B+(***) [sp]

Jim McNeely Quintet: Rain's Dance (1976 [1978], SteepleChase): Pianist (1949-2025), owns one of the few solo piano albums I've rated A- (his Vol. 20 entry in Maybeck Recital Hall Series), but is best known for extensive work in big bands, starting with Thad Jones/Mel Lewis in 1978, including its later Vanguard Jazz Orchestra edition, and work with several European big bands. Quintet with Larry Schneider (tenor/soprano sax), Mike Richmond (bass), Bob Merigliano (drums), and Sam Jacobs (percussion). B+(***) [sp]

Joe Morris: Racket Club (1993 [1998], About Time): Avant-guitarist, long list of records starts in 1990, this one with two saxophonists (Jim Hobbs on alto and Steve Norton on baritone), electric bass (Nate McBride), and two drummers (Jerome Deupree and Curt Newton). B+(***) [bc]

Mark O'Leary Quartet: White Album (1998 [2025], TIBProd.): Early New York set with Paul Motian (drums), Kenny Werner (piano), and John Patitucci (bass). B+(*) [bc]

Mark O'Leary Group: A Simple Question (1999 [2025], TIBProd.): Early trio with Marc Johnson (bass) and Bill Stewart (drums). B+(**) [bc]

Mark O'Leary/Cuong Vu/Tom Rainey: Waiting (2004 [2006], Leo): Freewheeling guitar-trumpet-drums trio. B+(***) [sp]

Mark O'Leary/Ståle Storløkken/Stein Inge Braekhus: St. Fin Barre's (2002 [2008], Leo): Guitar-organ-drums trio, recorded on the guitarist's home turf in Cork City. B+(*) [sp]

Mark O'Leary/Eyvind Kang/Dylan Van Der Schyff: Zemlya (2004 [2008], Leo): Another trio, recorded in Seattle, with viola and drums (and electronics credits for all). I'm rarely getting a good sense of how the guitar fits into these records, but the viola is exceptional here, and the timbre is close enough that the two instruments co-extend. A- [sp]

Mark O'Leary/Kenny Wollesen/Jamie Saft: The Synth Show (2005 [2008], Leo): The guitarist adds E-Bow and Soundscapes to his repertoire, with Saft on synthesizer and Wollensen on drums. At the time, there was a boomlet for "jazztronica," extending from Matthew Shipp's Blue Series to postmodernists like Dave Douglas and even to retro-oriented Nicholas Payton. My favorites, like Nils Petter Molvær and Nik Bärtsch, focused on rhythm. This one is more into texture. B+(*) [sp]

The Henry Threadgill Sextet: When Was That? (1981 [1982], About Time): Saxophonist (alto/tenor, clarinet, flutes), started with Air in 1975, effectively kicked off his solo career here (after a best-forgotten 1979 album on Arista/Novus), a group with Olu Dara (cornet), Craig Harris ( trombone), Fred Hopkins (bass), Brian Smith (piccolo bass), and drums (Pheeroan Aklaff or John Betsch). B+(*) [bc]

The Henry Threadgill Sexett: Just the Facts and Pass the Bucket (1983, About Time): Seven figures (back facing) on the cover, so the group appears to be misnumbered, with both drummers returning, the only change being replacing the piccolo bass with a proper cello (Diedre Murray). B+(**) [bc]

Grade (or other) Changes

Sometimes further listening leads me to change an initial grade, usually either because I move on to a real copy, or because someone else's review or list makes me want to check it again. Also some old albums extracted from further listening:

Margo Price: Hard Headed Woman (2025, Loma Vista): Country singer-songwriter, fifth studio album since 2016 (plus a live Perfectly Imperfect at the Ryman). Strong upbeat pieces, doesn't lose much on the ballads. [was: B+(***)] A- [sp]

Music Weeks

Music: Current count 45048 [44927] rated (+121), 22 [20] unrated (+2).

Excerpts from this month's Music Week posts:

October 7, 2025

Music: Current count 44977 [44927] rated (+50), 29 [20] unrated (+9).

Bernie Sanders is wrong, It's not okto be angry about capitalism. It's a curse, a chore, a dead weight that saps your energy and spirit and leaves you empty and bitter. That's probably why most people are resigned to its inevitability. And those who can afford it, which probably includes us, will wind up just paying them off to make the problems go away. Most capitalists, after all, are satisfied just taking your money. Political ideologues aren't so easily paid off. No point going into details about what's driving these statements. They're my problems, not yours. But they're coming for you, just as surely as they came for me.

I posted a piece on Cooking Chinese last week. It was on my Substack newsletter, which for various historical and philosophical reasons I call Notes on Everyday Life. After several political posts (and one on Sheila Jordan), I wanted to do something closer to my own everyday life. Your mileage may vary, but cooking, eating, and socializing are pretty universal. Of course, when I was done, I still had further thoughts, so I spent a couple days writing them up, in Friday's (updated yesterday) blog post, Cooking Chinese (Again). That, plus capitalism, pushed this Music Week post out a day.

I was surprised to find the rated count so high (50; 30 is my idea of a good week), as it seems like I spent much of the week desperately searching for things to listen to next. I did the cutoff late Monday, so got most of an extra day in, but I wasn't able to listen to much that day. (My initial cutoff count was 49. I added the Carrier album late Monday, before I finished opening the day's mail, so that made 50, and bumped the A-list from 2 to 3. Tuesday morning I added Wednesday, figuring it would be nice to have at least one new A- album, and that I was overdue in getting to it anyway. But it will be in next week's count.)

Three things helped with the rated count: Phil Overeem's October 1 list suggested some titles (including Wednesday, and a Patricia Brennan album that I expected would show up in the mail later); the About Time Records Bandcamp page, where I listened to everything (checks; missed one, so next week for Ronald Shannon Jackson); and a look into Mark O'Leary's early work: three newly issued tapes that date from 1998-2001, on Bandcamp, plus many of his 2000-08 Leo releases, on Spotify. He wrote me via my Q&A form, adding "even a modest mention of . . . would be very appreciated." Modest mentions is about all I seem to be good for these days, but I wrote up two of those last week, spending most of my listening time trying to figure out how old they were. I got the recording dates from him later (1998-2001), so that's why they're in the "changes" section below. I gather he went off in a different direction after 2008, but I didn't venture there: too many albums, no idea where to start. Maybe later.

It seems like most of what I get through the Q&A form are plugs for reviewing albums. I follow up on them more often than not, but still find it disappointing when my opinion is only sought for commerce. More anger about capitalism, I'm afraid.

If you haven't already, a subscription to Notes on Everyday Life would be appreciated. They do one thing well that I've never been able to do on my own, which is to track readership. It's good to get some evidence back that I'm not just shouting into the void. I'm thinking that my next piece there is going to be a "modest mention" of a sensible peace plan for Israel/Gaza. I've thought about that for 25 years, basically ever since Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon, and Shaul Moffaz blew up the Oslo Accords (with non-trivial assists from Shimon Peres, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Bill Clinton), although most of the ideas I've come up with over the years no longer work, mostly because I've always assumed that sanity can prevail. The question now is more along the lines of can insanity be constrained? I'm pretty skeptical, especially where Trump is concerned, but if it could be constrained, some ways are more realistic and/or more viable than others.

Don't expect such a piece real soon. While I have a pretty good idea where to go, I need first to collect some Loose Tabs, especially to pick up details on the "Trump Peace Plan" (which is probably one of those compound oxymorons like "Holy Roman Empire"). Not much in the draft file so far, so I have a fair amount of work to do there.

October 13, 2025

Music: Current count 45001 [44977] rated (+24), 29 [29] unrated (+0).

Week is a day short, but the rated drop is mostly because I haven't been paying much attention. Indeed, I'm surprise the drop isn't worse, but I've lost track of time. Last Monday we had insurance out to look at the roof, and they decided that he had enough hail damage to replace the whole roof, but that the most visible wounds were our own fault, so didn't merit them putting a tarp up to stop the leaking. Since then, I've been talking to roofing contractors, who curry favor by admitting that insurance companies are really criminal enterprises, then lose with sales pitches that make me as wary of them. The only things are are clear right now is that this is going to cost us a lot of money, and I'm not really going to trust whoever I wind up picking. The whole experience has me reeling so severely that I took time out today to work up my solution to a much simpler problem: peace in the Middle East.

This will be the subject of two Notes on Everyday Life pieces: one on the actual plan, and another on what I think would be a better, albeit far from ideal, plan (links to local drafts, the former nearly done, the latter just barely outlined). Events are moving fast, with the hostage exchanges today, the ceasefire and very partial withdrawal presumably started, and Trump off to Egypt to wax eloquent on the art of the deal. I'm hoping to post those on Tuesday and Friday, with the latter shortly followed by an updated Loose Tabs. The draft file is close to ready now, with nearly 10,000 words so far (193 links), but I figure I should keep it open until the second post is ready, as the Israel section (27 links so far, plus whatever I find during the week) will help document.

Aside from this writing, I need to concentrate on house matters next week. It's going to be rough.

October 20, 2025

Music: Current count 45041 [45001] rated (+40), 12 [29] unrated (-17).

My 75th birthday is coming up this week. It's been a long, strange trip, one I'm increasingly reflecting on. I'm not big on milestones, but close to 30 years ago I decided to celebrate by cooking up a big dinner for a few close friends, and that's become an annual tradition almost ever since. Back in the 1980s I started seriously exploring the great world cuisines, so each annual dinner has turned into some kind of challenge to discover something new. At some point, I should gather my notes and document these (and similar) events, so I can have something to link to here. The best I can offer right now is a sketch of a recent but relatively modest Chinese (with a few extra notes here).

I've been thinking about this year's event for a while now, and it's just about the only thinking that gives me any pleasure. While I've never gotten to the obvious choice of Italian — which I have cooked on many occasions — or such less obvious ones as Persian, German, Scandinavian, or most of Africa and Latin America, I've long contemplated trying my hand at Indonesian/Malaysian, so that is this year's theme (possibly with a switch to French for dessert, as birthday in my family always means cake).

In good years, I would have thought this through well by now. In bad years, I found myself throwing something quick together at the last minute. (We've even done American food, twice: soul food featuring fried chicken, once just a lot of hamburgers.) I hoped this would be one of the good years, but I guess I'm slowing down, because time sure seems to be accelerating. I've complained all year about how little I've gotten done, and even this most happy of tasks seems to be slipping away from my grasp.

So all I've managed so far has been to flip through some cookbooks — one I've long had but never used, Cradle of Flavor, and a couple more I picked up from the library after the No Kings demo — and order some daun pandan and kecap manis, which seem to be mandatory. I've built up a list of possible ingredients, and figure I'll make two shopping trips: one today to look for the more esoteric staples, and one on Wednesday to pick up the meats and vegetables and whatever else I've missed. Whereas most years, I'd start from a well defined list of recipes, what I'm thinking of doing this time is just buying a lot of possible ingredients then looking through the cookbooks to find things to do with them. It's an overkill strategy, but my small experience with Rijsttafel suggests many small dishes brimming with flavor to mix into big piles of festive rice. And scanning through the cookbooks offers a lot of sambals that can be used as building blocks or just served on the side. That way I can start soon, and escape from the world.

Today, however, I need to post a lot of stuff. This Music Week, of course, but also I have the follow up to my Gaza War Peace Plan post, tentatively titled Making Peace. It's something of a joke to say that all I've done in the last week has been to figure out the solution to peace in the Middle East, because there is zero chance that anyone who can do anything about matters will read me and put such obvious solutions into practice. But pretty much everything you need to know is in those two posts. Of course, you could make it even simpler and say: try to do the right thing for everyone involved, be honest and open about it, and adjust when necessary. The first one got 104 views, which is not a lot but up from my previous posts. I'm not begging for money, but more free subscribers would be nice. The second post should go out tonight, possibly by the time I post this.

I should also go ahead and publish whatever I've managed to save up for Loose Tabs. I haven't come close to making my rounds, let alone making even a cursory edit, but the draft file wc word count is 14235 (so about 12k actual words), and some of the sections are beginning to smell funny. What I'm hoping to do now is to post it when this goes up, but dating it ahead to Tuesday (or, given that I rarely post before midnight, dating this back to Monday). I can always add change bars as I find other things that fit in (many, no doubt, already in open tabs I want to close). I can also write another More Thoughts on Loose Tabs, like I did last time. Indeed, I'm already having more thoughts on the Gaza posts, with new ones sure to come as I read Ilan Pappé new book, Israel on the Brink and the Eight Revolutions That Could Lead to Decolonization and Coexistence. Say what you will about the Nazis, the British, and even the Mongol Hordes, but there are no historical precedents for what Israel has done in and around Gaza, and we have even less historical guidance for anticipating the aftermath. (And yes, I've read Pankaj Mishra's ambitious The World After Gaza, where he, like Pappé, tries to look ahead after looking back. Another book along these lines that looks promising is Omar El Akkad's One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, although it is also billed as a memoir, as it's hard to find solid ground here.) I'm sure I'll have more to say after Pappé book. Indeed, I should do another books post, as more relevant books are appearing all the time — and many more are in the works: Amazon already has pages for 2026 books by Omer Bartov (Israel: What Went Wrong) and Norman G Finkelstein (Gaza's Gravediggers: An Inquiry Into Corruption in High Places).

Meanwhile, I'm overwhelmed with domestic tasks. I talked to more roofers last week, and hope to get some concrete bids this week, and be able to make some decisions next week. I don't know how I'll find the time. Each discussion generates new questions, ideas, and worklists, requiring more thought. Meanwhile, stuff breaks, and has to be repaired (or lived with), and repairs drag on. I feel like I should be able to fix most things, but my own skills are clearly diminishing, and it's hard to find other folks to pick up the slack. After all, we live in a world where fraud is so prevalent it's hard to ever trust anyone.

One thing I should work on but will postpone at least another week is the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll. I still expect to send out ballots in mid-November, but at this point my ambitions don't extend much beyond trying to keep it barely afloat. I do have the website set up, but the ballot invites and other documentation needs a close edit. If anyone who reads this wants to help, please take a look at what's available, suggest edits and/or ask questions. I may be short on initiative, but I still try to respond to requests. I've mostly suppressed the FAQ because there haven't been any, but how could there possibly be no questions? Maybe there's some AI that can scan the website, rephrase it as questions, and make me wonder what it missed and/or what needs to be answered better?

One thing I won't be doing this week is listening to new music, or for that matter working much on the computer. Fortunate that we have a pretty large (and varied) list of finds this week to tide you over. And that I have a lot of treasured old music to enjoy.

PS: I held this post back until I published my second Gaza piece: Making Peace in Gaza and Beyond. This is also archived here. Also now available is Loose Tabs. Given that the latter collects 36 days of notes, it can't properly be called a rush job, but everything there (250 links, 13861 words) feels incredibly rushed and slapdash. Some day I expect to look back at it and pick out a dozen or so bits that I still think make good points, but right now I just have this desperate urge to clean house. I may well add a few changes later, but this opens up a new scratch file.

October 27, 2025

Music: Current count 45048 [45041] rated (+7), 22 [16] unrated (+6).

I made it through my 75th birthday Saturday. After my Tuesday posts of Music Week (3969 words, per wc), Loose Tabs (14825 words), and my big Notes on Everyday Life (Substack) post on Making Peace in Gaza and Beyond (5766 words) (archived here), I figured I had the whole week open to work on my birthday dinner. As you can see, I spent very little time listening to new music last week, or working on the computer in any way, shape, or form. On the other hand, it seems like I had a hard time getting going, although I wound up with a respectable effort: 13 dishes, plus 2 cakes and store-bought ice cream for dessert.

At some point, I should do the research and compile a list of major birthday dinners. The idea came up around 1995-96, in Boston. After I left Contex, I occasionally had lunch with some friends there, and at some point I expressed a desire to cook for them. My birthday was coming up, so I invited them over, and made a huge phantasmagoria of Chinese dishes (17-18 if memory serves, topped the next year with more like 20-22, also Chinese), and a similar quantity of Indian the year after that. Then I think I did Turkish for my last year in Boston, and Indian again for our one year in New Jersey — probably the biggest one ever, with friends from NYC coming out to the sticks, for curries I cooked over several days on a tiny stove that looked like it was ripped out of an Airstream, more or less warmed up at the last minute.

In 1999, we moved to Wichita, and I think the tradition got disrupted. But a year or two later, I got it going again. More Turkish, Spanish, Moroccan, Thai, Cuban, Russian, Greek, Korean. One year I got lazy and just made a single pot feijoada. I skipped one year when my culinary muse, Jerry Stewart, had moved to Salina, so we drove up there and went out for fried chicken at the Brookville Hotel (then in Abilene). Another, after he moved back, I was grousing about what to cook, and he talked me into just grilling hamburgers (well, beef, pork, salmon, not sure what else; some not very successful homemade buns, and lots of beans and potato sides). Another year I made my own southern fried chicken. I finally made a serious attempt at French. I never did Italian, although I cook a fair number of Italian dishes. In 2024, I had a Burmese cookbook I had bought but never opened, so I offered that as a possibility, and Laura approved.

In prepping for that, I bought James Oseland's Cradle of Flavor cookbook, on Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. I didn't need it for Burmese, but I've ordered Rijsttafel a couple times in Indonesian restaurants, and that always struck me as the exact concept behind the birthday dinners: a lot of little dishes spread out around a pile of rice. So it's long been a concept on the list, but just a bit out of reach. However, this seemed like a now of never moment, so I decided to put some time and effort into it. I started by shopping for extra cookbooks, like I did for Burmese, but actually found little that looked promising. I wound up going to the library, and picked up two slim books with a lot of pictures that proved pretty useful, two more which were mostly words and not much help, plus a Dorie Greenspan baking book — it occurred to me that I didn't have to follow convention for dessert, but could switch it up (much like how in NYC we would go to Chinatown for dinner, then cross Canal for Italian desserts). I also started to assemble a shopping list, and thought to order some items from Amazon that I feared I might not be able to find. (Kecap manis for one; turned out daun pandan wouldn't be a problem, but I never did find the daun salam, even on Amazon.)

I did some preliminary shopping last Monday, going Thai Binh and Dillons. I did major shopping on Wednesday, at Lucky Market, Whole Foods, and another Dillons. I didn't have a real menu, just a bunch of vague ideas. I bought a lot of stuff, including a little bit of just about everything green. I probably wound up using a little less than half of what I bought, but my idea was: pile it all up on a table, look through the cookbooks, pick a recipe, grab what I needed, finish it, store it away (possibly to heat up later). I figured I would start on Wednesday, but didn't. I figured I'd have all day Thursday, but got nothing done, except the decision not to try to grill anything. (I have a broken gas grill, so I spent several hours trying to figure out how to fix it, but failed. I love grilled food, but don't care much to tend to the grill, so unless I have help, it can be a big distraction. So no satés, no grilled fish or chicken, no grilled eggplant, all of which would have been great, but were likely too much for me.)

Friday got off to a slow start too. It was evening before I got the first pickle made, and had the pork simmering. I boiled most of the gado gado ingredients, cooked the lamb, and made a couple more pickles. I made the orange spice cake, but punted on Greenspan's Lisbon chocolate cake (I'm not good with a lot of hand whisking). I didn't get to the peanut sauce until after midnight. Saturday I got going around 11, and was slower than I used to be, but pretty methodical. I boiled the rice. I still wanted a chocolate contrast to the cake, so I settled on Ruth Reichl's flourless chocolate cake: easy, I've made it a dozen times, very intense even without any finishing. I did the preliminary braise of the ribs and chicken. I started the beef redang, which takes 3-4 hours. I realized that the lamb needed more cooking to get a similar effect, so redid it. I cooked the green beans. I finally got around to the greens. It occurred to me that the sauce I used on the greens would work even better on two packages of mushrooms I had bought for the hell of it, so I mixed up another batch and chopped and cooked them. I put the ribs into the oven, and pan-fried the chicken. I probably should have done the chicken a bit differently, to get a bit more crust. I assembled and dressed the gado gado. I started frying the rice. Guests showed up, and I got them to do a couple little things. I fried four eggs to top the rice, and cut up a cucumber for a garnish. I had a couple things to warm up (pork, green beans, maybe something else). I finally got everything out into bowls and dishes: 13 of them. Dinner was supposed to be at 6. Not sure when it was, but no later than 7. Six guests, so 8 total.

The tiny kitchen was a total wreck by then. I'm pretty well equipped and stocked, for everything but space. The food pretty much lived up to expectations. The chicken could have been browner, the rendang glossier and more tender, the peanut sauce more robust (and the stuff we put it on a bit crunchier). I should have made more rice, and had I compared the recipes better could have come up with more interesting add-ins. What seemed like a lot of greens had become very little. (I should know that by now, but still I'm surprised.) I left out things (especially shrimp paste and dried shrimp; I also had a pound of shrimp thawed out for a sambal that I never got to). I don't like hot peppers, but first day I tried to experiment with much reduced quantities, and those dishes still came out pretty hot for my taste. Second day I pretty much skipped the hot peppers altogether, whereas the first day's strategy was closer to the mark (just above it, but once you started mixing things you could get a nice sharp taste). On the other hand, no one complained. I offered sambal oelek on the side, and got no takers.

I had three pints of Talenti to go with the cakes: vanilla, coffee chocolate chip, and a lemon sorbet. I was thinking the latter would go with the orange spice cake, but the butter pecan would have been better. The cakes were very moist and very rich. After the guests left, I started to clean up, only to find a flood under the sink. I finally determined the faucet was leaking, and probably needed to be replaced. I've hated that faucet — an expensive Kohler with touchless controls that did the wrong thing way too often for my tasted — but it was hell to install, and wouldn't be much easier to replace. Still, I have to buy another faucet real soon.

In past years, I've been known to make a second dinner combining leftovers with new dishes from unused ingredients. I have some things I should still cook up somehow, but don't see turning them into more Indonesian food. The leftover pork will probably go Chinese. I have a Thai duck dish I like a lot. I have some chicken livers I didn't find a use for, but they're good for lots of things. The frozen stuff can stay frozen until some opportunity comes along. On the other hand, cooking gives me a sense of accomplishment I get from few other things. Like writing.

For more on the dinner see Facebook or better still my planning file, which I'm turning into a document, including links to all of the recipes. This meal will also probably be the subject of my next Notes on Everyday Life newsletter. That's likely to take a couple of days, as opposed to the hour or two of extemporizing in this post.

This coming week will mostly be house stuff. I need to decide on a roofing contractor, and they seem to mostly be avoiding me (except for the ones I'm avoiding). I also have both big and small plumbing projects. I'm not sure I'm even up for the latter. Plus a lot of organizing, sorting, storing and/or trashing. And the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll is soon upon us.

This is the last Monday in October, so I've opened a November archive, but I haven't indexed October yet or added the Music Weeks. I've made some minor edits to last week's Rubén Reinaldo review, as some of my writing was rather muddled. Grade remains unchanged. Besides, gives me a second image to go against the long intro.

Reading Illan Pappé's Israel on the Brink and the Eight Revolutions That Could Lead to Decolonization and Coexistence has me thinking even more about future socio-political engineering schemes there. I find it easy to see similar fractions forming in Israel's credibility, but I would be very surprised to see changes develop along the lines he sketches out. I think the best case scenario is Israel discards Gaza, turning it over to the UN, which only partially reconstructs it, as most of the pre-2023 population go into exile. Israel then annexes the rest of the occupied territories, braving a not very effective BDS movement, which combined with lessening demographic pressures from Palestinian emigration starts in the 10-20 year time frame to soften up a bit, eventually landing on one of the binational schemes floating about (probably the worst one they can find). Until now I've done my best to ignore binational schemes, as Israel is nowhere near willing to accept one (nor are most Palestinians interested in offering one, although that may just be because there's no point selling yourself short when you can't sell yourself at all). But now they got me thinking about such schemes, and sure, I could write about that if anyone cared. But there's no evidence of that being true. I just did a Google of "tom hull making peace in gaza and beyond," and 9 of the first 10 listings are to my own pieces/tweets/etc. And the 10th is a Facebook post from Tim Scott that has nothing whatsoever to do with my piece. (It is mostly a retweet of Donald Trump, above which Scott — yes, that Tim Scott — writes "Thanks to President Trump's bold and determined leadership, we're seeing a historic opportunity for lasting peace.")

There are more Israel books in the wind, but the only question that matters is whether there is some schism in Israeli politics that will see some common bond with Palestinian voters as worth pursuing. Dahlia Scheindlin is the only writer I'm aware of who is working on this sort of thing, but her latest book came out in 2023 (The Crooked Timber of Democracy in Israel), which is almost an eon ago.

Notes

Sources noted as follows:

[cd] based on physical cd
[cdr] based on an advance or promo cd or cdr
[lp] based on physical lp (vinyl)
[dvd] based on physical dvd (rated more for music than video)
[bc] available at bandcamp.com
[r] available at napster.com (formerly Rhapsody)
[sc] available at soundcloud.com
[sp] available at spotify.com
[yt] available at youtube.com
[os] some other stream source
[dl] something I was able to download from the web; may be freely available, may be a bootleg someone made available, or may be a publicist promo

Grades are probably self-explanatory, aside from B+, which is subdivided 1-2-3 stars, because most records that come my way are pretty good, but they're not all that good.