Monday, October 20, 2025

Music Week

October archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 45041 [45001] rated (+40), 16 [29] unrated (-13).

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.

New records reviewed this week:

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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 Săo Paulo, co-produced by Steve Rodby, with liner notes by Jovino Santos Neto. B+(*) [cd]

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]

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]

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 Bańa, I'm not finding anything on Discogs but he has a previous duo album on Bandcamp. Backed by organ (Antonio López "Monano"), bass (Gustavo Hermán), and drums (David Failde). He bravely defied Trump and sent me vinyl, was buried under some pile until it came to the top of my unplayed list. Fits in the soul jazz idiom, but a bit fancier, with the bass adding a resonance organ never quite delivered. A- [lp]

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]

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]

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]

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]

Recent reissues, compilations, and 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]

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]

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]

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]

Old music:

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]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Martin Bejerano: The Purple Project (Figgland) [11-21]
  • Theo Bleckmann: Love and Anger (Sunnyside) [10-31]
  • Tomas Fujiwara: Dream Up (Out of Your Head) [09-12] [damaged]
  • Thomas Morgan: Around You Is a Forest (Loveland Music) [11-07]
  • Tom Ollenberg: Where in the World (Fresh Sound New Talent) [11-21]

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