Sunday, November 8, 2026

Music Week

November archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 46826 [46790] rated (+36), 25 [32] unrated -7).

Advance Music Week appeared November 8 on Substack as Music Week (11:1). It is also archived here. My cutoff was done before the Substack post. I've run so late, I should probably just run the Substack intro here, and be done with it.

The flexible schedule is a big relief from trying to hit Monday every week. My initial thinking was that Wednesday might be a good target, while leaving some slack. But Friday is release date these days, so I've been tempted to wait until they to fill out my card. It seemed like bad form to review albums that haven't been released yet. In particular, the Bandcamp links usually go from teasers to full releases then.

But other things have been intruding recently. This week, the midterms election was held on Tuesday, and it took me until Saturday to post my initial commentary: After the Flood. I have collected some bits for Loose Tabs (temporary link to draft file) so far, but not a lot (4146 words). I imagine someone is looking into the key question of who showed up and who didn't, but I haven't seen anything. Nor have I tried to get down to detailed results. Maybe later. But the job last night was to win what we could, and the results were encouraging.

It's going to take me some time to figure out where this leaves my two big political/philosophical writing projects (the "weird book," and the Israel essay). My immediate take is: not much, other than that the Republican dystopia chapter in the "weird book" may need to be reframed. Israel is trickier to read, but my proposal has no real chance as long as Trump is president, regardless of who's PM in Israel.

On the other hand, I'm going to have time. I need to shift gears rather abruptly to kick off the 21st Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll. I want to get announcements out next week. To do that, I need to solve some email problems that have long been bothering me, and set up the website (which will be a good place to check for announcements). One important thing I haven't had time to do is to prospect for new voters, so I'd appreciate help on that front.

I should also note that I answered a couple of questions on Nov. 5. I have a form, but don't get many requests. It's also useful for corrections: last week I confused Sunny Murray with Rashied Ali, so thanks for pointing that out. Subscribers should also be able to comment on Substack, but alas, I get very few of those.

There is also a comments function at Substack, but again it gets very little exercise. If something does come through, I should get a notification (as I do with likes, but evidently not restacks, which show up in the stats). I've never gotten so many to tempt me to "mute post." I did manage to get Counterpunch to pick up my Trump's Greatest Hits piece. I was hoping exposure there might net me some subscribers, and possibly they did, but not many (+4 on the week, better than most).

I've given up fighting my block from X, and I've never gotten my data back from them. I should replace the sidebar link to point to a page giving them hell, but for now I'm just commenting it out. I'm still able to announce articles on Bluesky, but that's about it for now. Well, sometimes Facebook. I've tried to limit my "friends" there to people I actually know and want to follow (initially mostly family), but their feeds rarely deliver such info, and now it's just possible to simply follow me. One post worth a skim is by Rob Shepherd on how jazz critics are different from most other listeners, using DownBeat's Critics and Readers Polls as examples. I may have more to say about this next week, when I finally take some time to look at their issues. My priority there will be finding out which critics voted in theirs but not ours — and chances are, again, my reaction will be anger: it takes hours to slog through their 50+ categories, where all we ask for is a list of favorite albums; their ballots vanish after counting, while we appreciate each vote enough to publish it in full; sure, they give voters a promo T-shirt (or this year just a cap), so can that be it?

The comments are interesting, even the sour grapes from the musician side of the divide. I was pleased to find out that the translation of Buddhist texts was by committee, including people who only knew the to and from languages, their minds uncluttered by the mechanics of translation. Truth may be beyond our grasp, but we can approximate it by considering multiple perspectives. That's what critics offer, and it takes all kinds.

Jon Armstrong: Voluntary Breath (2025 [2026], Orenda): Tenor saxophonist, has at least one previous album, composed this 29:40 piece, played by Idaho State-Civic Orchestra, conducted by Dr. Nell Flanders, with his solos and overdubbed guitar. B [sp]

AVKZ: Delusion (2026, Ramble): Group name is initials: Joăo Almeida (trumpet/electronics), José Vale (electric guitar), Ryosuke Kiyasu (drums), and Felipe Zenicola (electric bass) — first two from Portugal, others from Japan and Brazil. Two long pieces around two short ones. All bring lots of noize. B+(**) [bc]

Ernesto Cervini: Water Pistols at Dawn (2026, TPR): Canadian drummer, Discogs lists 3 albums, but named groups should push that over a dozen, with 28 performances since 2006. Quartet with Kae Murphy (trumpet/EVI), Andrew Marzotto (guitar), and Mark Godfrey (bass). Some engaging postbop, including covers of Monk and Glenn Miller. Six songs (37:11). B+(***) [cd]

Douglas J. Cuomo: Seven Limbs (2025 [2026], Sunnyside): Composer, has several previous albums, with Discogs including a 1998 Sex and the City soundtrack. This one is "featuring Joe Lovano and the Overlook": a string quartet. It's all very nice. B+(**) [bc]

Grey DeLisle: Don't Turn Around (2026, Hummin'bird): Country singer-songwriter, has a substantial career as a voice actor, ten albums since 2000. Starts out with a piece that earns accolades as "classic country," but then veers into Tex-Mex and makes other detours, which hit more often than miss. B+(**) [sp]

DJ Djeff the Last Born: Kadodi Season (2026, Nyege Nyege Tapes): Kabodi is a drum music from the Bamasaba in Uganda, which the label has recorded several time, as it's evolved through the use of synths and drum machines. While the drums are fine, this gets better when the synths enter. Still, feels like exercises. [NB: I went with artist name from the Bandcamp text, as opposed to the "DJ Jeff the Lastborn" credit line. Cover isn't clear.] B+(***) [bc]

Roni Eytan: Melody People (2026, PKmusik): Harmonica player, first album, recorded in France, produced by pianist Shai Maestro, with guitar (Nitzan Bar), bass, drums, and cello ("special guest" Mayu Shviro). "Delves into his cultural roots" without identifying much less politicizing them. The results are lovely. B+(***) [cd]

Satoko Fujii Orchestra Tokyo: Kappa Ondo (2026, Libra, 2CD): The fifth (and last) of this year's crop of big band albums. Strong but a bit dark. The two discs could have been squeezed into one CD (40:38 + 37:44). B+(***) [cd]

Rebekah Heller: Righteous Rage (2026, Cantaloupe Music): Bassoonist, seems better known as a conductor, member of International Contemporary Ensemble, probably closer to classical than to jazz, but could be some kind of meta-jazz (some recent collaborations include John Zorn and Kate Gentile, and she has a solo album on Relative Pitch). Bassoon pieces here, multi-track layered into an orchestra, starting with a Julius Eastman piece, and including a Steve Reich, but also one from Fay Victor. B+(***) [sp]

Reza Khan: Shadow Dancers (2026, Painted Media): Guitarist, from Bangladesh, based in New York, has a half-dozen albums since 2009, credits here include FX, sound design, additional keyboards, santoor, the "core group" adding drums, bass, and lots more keyboards, with featured and guest appearances adding strings, vocals, and more. Nice groove, exotica light. B+(*) [cd]

Kucwiny Theatre Industry: Luo Sound of the Alur (2026, Nyege Nyege Tapes): The Alur are a Nilotic ethnic group, about 2.5 million, who straddle the border between Uganda and Congo, part of the larger Luo group — what we might consider, with neither prejudice nor condescension, "deepest, darkest Africa." Drums, tuned horns pointed skyward, chant vocals, intense and repetitive. Notes cite Steve Reich and Julius Eastman as analogs ("music that demands bodily participation rather than contemplative distance"). Can wear a bit thin, but is unique. B+(***) [bc]

Allen Lowe: I Should Have Stayed Dead: The Death and Life of Allen Lowe (1991-2026 [2026], ESP-Disk, 3CD): Saxophonist, mostly plays tenor here but started on alto, assembled this as some sort of soundtrack to a documentary about his life, marked gravely in recent years by more than 60 surgeries to arrest cancer. I think of him more as a writer, especially for his extraordinary excavations into early American recorded music, but he's been releasing albums since 1990, including such massive projects as Blues and the Empirical Truth (3CD, 2011), Mulatto Radio (4CD, 2014), In the Shadow of the Diaspora (6CD, 2015), and Louis Armstrong's America (4CD, 2024). This was mostly recorded with a revolving cast in 2025, so I figure it counts as new, but there are a few old tracks scattered amongst the 55 pieces — odd one in is a guitar-and-voice sendup of Lou Reed. More typical are his piano duo with Matthew Shipp inspired by "Ives in Harlem," and Wadada Leo Smith's trumpet hallucination of Bud Powell. Other names listed on the cover as featuring: Julius Hemphill, Doc Cheatham, Roswell Rudd, David Murray, Hamiett Bluiett, Lewis Porter. But many more played, especially recently. One streamed play. First third is really great. After that, despite breaks, I lost track. Liner notes, worth a read, here. There's also a DVD, which I haven't seen. A− [bc]

Nicole McCabe/Savannah Harris: All Together Now (2025 [2026], Sudden Quarterly): Alto saxophonist, from California, debut 2020, duo with the drummer, who's been making the rounds since 2020. Sounds like more, given "digital outboard effects (such as a Lexicon Primetime) to generate delays, pitch shifts, and mirror-image textures without traditional synthesizers." B+(*) [sp]

Jay Mitta: Kazi Kwanza (2026, Nyege Nyege Tapes): From Tanzania (Dar Es Salaam), second album, although one might just as well file this under electronica, where this reminds one of the hyperkinetic joke tracks of Springhill Jack and Skrillex. B+(*) [bc]

Tom Morello: Everyone Gets Everything They Want (2026, Mom + Pop): Hard rock singer-songwriter, founded rap-metal bands Rage Against the Machine (1991-2000) and Audioslave (2001-07), solo albums since 2008, some as Nightwatchman, or Atlas Underground. Has a lefty political rep, which I haven't followed close enough to comment on (other than that I don't take much comfort from "They Can't Kill Us All"). The metal is melodic enough I can handle at low volume, and he slips in a couple of folkish ballads. B+(***) [sp]

Joyce Moreno: Never Too Soon (2026, Far Out): Brazilian singer-songwriter, just Joyce from her 1968 debut to 2009, last name from husband/drummer Tutty Moreno. B+(**) [bc]

Luis Nacht & Camila Nebbia: Noche Y Niebla (2026, Ears & Eyes): Two Argentine saxophonists, both tenor, Nacht also on soprano, backed by bass and drums. Nacht has only a few albums since his 2001 debut (titled Nachtmusik). Nebbia, with a 2015 debut, has more every year since 2021. B+(**) [bc]

Orchestra Baobab: Made in Senegal (2026, Strut): Legendary African group, founded 1970 as the house band of the Baobab Club in Dakar (Senegal), drawing on members of the Star Band de Dakar, in some ways returning Afro-Cuban influences to Africa. The original group broke up in 1987, but with their classic albums and bootlegs circulating in Europe and the US, they regrouped for 2002's Specialist in All Styles, and have several albums since, picking up new members as the older ones died out. This is the first since 2017, with new singer Korka Dieng. Doesn't quite have the same old zip. B+(**) [sp]

Brandon Sanders: The Game Changer (2026, Savant): Drummer, (6) at Discogs, fourth album since 2023, five originals, five covers (Porter, Ellington/Strayhorn, Jobim, Jeremy Pelt, Isley Brothers), with piano and bass, with a rotating cast of vocals (Briana Swann on 2 tracks), Pelt (trumpet on 4), Stacy Dillard (tenor sax on 6), and Warren Wolf (vibes on 6). [cd]

Sella: Well I Mean (2026, Bar/None, EP): First name Brian, singer for the Front Bottoms, a New Jersey alt/indie band with some pretty good albums since 2009. Nine short songs, 24:55, slight but appealing. B+(**) [sp]

Matthew Shipp/William Parker: A Whole System Of (2025 [2026], TAO Forms): Piano and bass duo, intimately connected since the 1990s, when they were half of the David S. Ware Quartet. Around 2003, when I started to write a deep-dive consumer guide to Shipp's work (following up on my Rolling Stone guide), I ran into so much more by Parker that he largely took over the piece. Since then, Shipp probably has another hundred albums, and Parker has several times that. Hype sheet says this is their fourth duo, starting with Zo in 1994 (an A− when I reviewed the 1997 Thirsty Ear edition; ESP-Disk is reissuing it). Shipp goes heavy here on percussion, while Parker is a wizard at tying it all together. A− [cd]

The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters: Reason (2026, Corbett vs. Dempsey): Second group album, I don't recall why but I filed their eponymous debut under Gabriele Mitelli (piccolo trumpet, electronics & lyrics/voice on 3 tracks), rather than the better known Mette Rasmussen (alto sax) or the first-listed Mariam Rezaei (credit says turntables but notes refer to "fractured turntable sax loopings") or Lukas König (drums, synthesizer). An interesting mix of sounds, including some hip-hop. B+(***) [bc]

Victor Solano: Sundate (2026, Endectomorph Music): Tenor saxophonist, from Brooklyn, first album, title is likely to be reused as the group name, a sextet with Alfredo Colón (alto sax), Carter Yasutake (trumpet), Jonathan Paik (piano), Steve Williams (bass), and Justin Henry (drums) — I dug that out of the "assets" file, but neither Bandcamp nor Discogs has the credits, and Solano's website is misleading (assuming the "assets" are right). "Modal frameworks that give each player freedom to push the music into unexpected territory." There's a lot of that going around (what we generally tag as "postbop") and this works better than most, only trailing off a bit toward the end. B+(**) [sp]

Rachel Spencer: The Next Right Thing (2026, self-released): Trumpet player, based in Austin, first album, Bandcamp page doesn't list credits but cover names: Michael Dease, Gene Centeno, Andy Langham, Liam O'Dell, Adam Jackson. B+(**) [sp]

Johanna Summer: Dialoge (2026, ACT Music): German pianist, has several albums since 2017, this one is solo piano, an experiment where other pianists (Kit Armstrong, Danae Dörken, Claire Huangci, Igor Levit) pick and play pieces, with Summer improvising a response to each. B+(*) [sp]

Kevin Sun: Lofi at Lowlands 五 (2026, Endectomorph Music): Tenor saxophonist in New York, draws on his Chinese ancestry for the title numbering of this fourth "Lofi" trio recording — live tapes that have been streamlined in the studio — with Walter Stinson (bass) and Kayvon Gordon (drums). CD spreads 21 songs over two discs, but just 50:48. B+(**) [sp]

Takkak Takkak: Abu (2026, Nyege Nyege Tapes): Duo of Vilnius-based Indonesian instrument builder Johanes Santoso Pribadi and Berlin-based Japanese producer Shigeru Ishihara (aka Scotch Rolex), second album. The effect resembles those Kinshasa bands that make instruments out of junkyards, but with more angles than just percussion. A− [bc]

UNLV Combos: Back Home (2026, Vegas): University of Nevada Las Vegas school ensemble, a school I've run across before which has the potential to muscle in on UNT and Michigan State among America's non-coastal jazz engines. Two groups here: Joe Williams Combo, and Latin Jazz Ensemble. The former has vocals (Eva Yazdanpanah) on two tracks, some imposing saxophone (either Jason Knowles or Skyy Estanislao, mostly the latter but Knuckles wrote his two pieces), piano (Tristan Selzler, who wrote three pieces), bass, and drums. The latter is a larger group (eleven, including Knowles, Selzler, and singer Megan Wallace, directed by Jose "Pepe" Jiménez. I like the first group. I don't dislike the second, but they're not going to turn many heads. Some of these names are likely to become better known. B+(*) [cd]

UNLV Jazz 1: My Favorite Things (2026, Vegas): The full student big band, directed by Dave Loeb & Nathan Tanouye, featuring Clint Holmes (vocals, along with Eva Yazdanpanah), starting with the title tune and ending with (what else?) "Cherokee." If I were teaching, as opposed to comparing this with dozens of similar efforts by seasoned pros, I'd grade this higher. B [cd]

Bobby Watson: Continuum (2026, HighNote): Alto saxophonist, many albums since 1977, around the time he was apprenticing in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. He often sounds fine here, but the lushly-layered postbop is rarely inspired. Mostly originals, including a couple from his band: Wallace Roney Jr. (trumpet), Kysen Ellis (trombone), Jordan Williams (piano), Curtis Lundy (bass), Victor "Yahya" Jones (drums). B [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Allo Darlin': Bits and Pieces (2009-14 [2026], Now We Know): London indie pop band, started as an Elizabeth Morris solo project, four albums 2010-25, this compilation is drawn from early singles and EPs, with two previously unreleased tracks. Some male vocals (Bill Botting?). B+(**) [bc]

Old music:

Gao Rap: Hip Hop From Northern Mali (2007-12 [2017], Sahel Sounds): Gao is a small city in eastern Mali, approx. 140,000 people, on the bank of the Niger River and the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, the former seat of the Gao and Songhay Empires. Dates are approximate, from the first local recording studio to the wars of 2012-13, when the town was overrun by Islamist forces. It's possible that some tracks appeared after the Malian forces regained control, but there were attacks at least through 2017. None of this is very clear from the tracks, which offer calm and poise. B+(***) [bc]

Rebekah Heller: One (2023 [2024], Relative Pitch, EP): Genre-bending bassoonist, solo debut, six short tracks (17:23), layered with some voice, engineered by Tony Maimone. B+(*) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Greg Burk/Achille Succi/Silvia Bolognesi/Gerald Cleaver: Purple Blues: Celebrating the Music of Yusef Lateef (Tonos) [09-19]
  • Caleb Wheeler Curtis & Jason Moran: Incantation (Imani) [12-12]

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