Music Week (6:4)

A few select reviews from week 4 of month 6 (June).

Most of my time continues to get sucked up in running the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Mid-Year Poll. With 10 days left to the July 5 deadline, I have 53 ballots counted, with a couple dozen more commitments to make the deadline, a couple dozen declines (for reasons which mostly fall into bins for no time or no interest, although I've also been informed of an alarming number of long illnesses). I've tried to encourage some to send in whatever they can if they find as much as a stray thought, but I've let most of them go. I may do some more voter prospecting — I'm often surprised by the amount of quality of jazz writing when I find time to go searching — and I welcome further suggestions, but the response so far is generating a huge amount of album tips (349 so far, 131 not previously in my tracking files), with I'm sure much more to come.

As I explained last week, the ballots are already available online), as well as lists of all albums that have received votes. The totals will only appear when we publish the poll results at ArtsFuse, in mid-July.

The idea behind these Notes on Everyday Life posts is to pick out 6-8 reviews from the week's batch, and send them out before I post the whole thing (53 rated, 7 A-list) on my blog (should be up later today, or worst case tomorrow). I'll probably go into things at more depth there. The other main idea here is to keep the intro short, so I don't trip myself up.

I've included Bandcamp links where they lead to full albums.

Adam Brodsky: American Epitaph (2026, Permanent): Antifolk singer-songwriter, released four albums 1995-2002, came back from wherever he went to "throw sand in the gears of the fascist regime." Advises "don't break bread with your fascist former friends." ("Their brains are broken from the poison they're fed.") Like many of us, his ideals were set early, only to find a nation that has forsaken them. ("We were once the good guys but no more.") I'm more tolerant of, and probably more sympathetic to, lapses of political judgment that he is, but he's on the right side. A−
[Bandcamp]

Betty Bryant: Nothin' Better to Do (2026, Bry-Mar Music): Jazz singer, plays piano, originally from Kansas City, where Jay McShann was a mentor, moved to Los Angeles in 1955, played clubs but didn't record much — Discogs lists an album in 1987, two in 1999 — until she started releasing her own albums in 2013. Her Lotta Livin' (in 2023, at 93) was terrific, and this (at 96) is also quite satisfying. Three songs by her and/or producer Robert Lyle (soprano/tenor sax, flute). Some guest spots, good for trumpet, not so good for strings. B+(***)
[Bandcamp]

Jesse Davis Quartet: Reflections (2025 [2026], Cellar): Alto saxophonist, from New Orleans, was a student of Ellis Marsalis, early albums (1991-2000) on Concord, regular side credits since then but not a lot of albums under his own name. Quartet with Spike Wilner (piano), John Webber (bass), and (cover says "featuring") Lewis Nash (drums). Mainstream, but exceptionally vibrant, which could very well be the superb drummer hard at work, but you mostly hear it in the horn. A−
[Bandcamp]

Thomas Dollbaum: Birds of Paradise (2023 [2026], Dear Life): Singer-songwriter from New Orleans with a rep as a poet, second album, a roots-rock affair aided sonically by MJ Lenderman, but Dollbaum probably needed no help with the story lines and words. I'm not much good at following such intricacies, but I hear echoes of John Prine and Neil Young, and that's pretty satisfying. A−
[Bandcamp]

KIND: Count (2025, Umland): Group led by German alto saxophonist Jan Klare, dozen-plus albums since 1998, also plays bassoon, all original compositions, group a sextet with clarinet (Shabnam Parvaresh), trombone (Shannon Barnett), cello (Emily Wittbrodt), bass (David Helm), and percussion (Bruna Cabral). Superb postbop, as the ever-shifting harmonics revolve eccentrically around an ever-changing rhythmic drive. Someone I should explore further. [PS: One album I did get to is Played, attributed to the group 1000 (Klare with Wilbert de Joode, Michael Vatcher, and Bart Maris), a similar freewheeling affair released on Leo in 2009, perhaps even more rigorous.] A−
[Bandcamp]

Pat Thomas & XT: Strata, Act (Joy Contemporary) (2022 [2026], We Jazz): British avant-pianist, also electronics, along with the duo (XT) of Paul Abbott ("real and imaginary drums") and Seymour Wright ("actual and potential sax"; you may know him from [Ahmed]). The duo has 7 other albums, one with Thomas (a rendition of Cecil Taylor's Akisakila). Three long (36:02, 43:24, 50:05) live sets on the 2-CD, plus two more digital tracks (20:31 + 16:43). Way too much, but pretty awesome when they all his peak intensity. B+(**)
[Bandcamp]

Immanuel Wilkins Quartet: Live at the Village Vanguard (2025 [2026], Blue Note): Alto saxophonist, 2020 debut on a major label made him an instant star, with serious chops even if he stays within usual boundaries. His rep led me to give him more chances, and often he's repaid extra listens. That could happen again, but rather than edit his stand down to one really exciting CD, they've spread it all out over three volumes, releasing them a month apart, on some kind of marketing hunch. I've reviewed them separately, but poll voters insist on treating them as a single album — as the box set they'll inevitably become — which was easy for me to agree to, being unable to pick between them myself. B+(**)

James Brandon Lewis & Lutosławski Quartet: These Are Soulful Days (2021 [2026], TAO Forms): Tenor saxophonist, makes his entry into the sax-with-strings forum with a well-known Polish string quartet (dozen-plus albums since 2012, including jazz meets with Uri Caine and Kris Davis). This was originally released as a bonus CD with Lewis's poll-winning 2023 album, For Mahalia, With Love, so counts as a reissue here. A−

Louis Stewart: Joyce Notes (1982 [2026], Livia): Irish guitarist (1944-2016), recorded extensively from 1975 on, but I've only noticed him since this reissue series began. A six part suite composed for James Joyce's centenary, with narration and readings from Ulysses by Eamon Morrissey, and a fairly large group with two saxophones, flute, piano, bass, drums, and extra percussion. The music is delightful, and the words add a powerful dimension. A−
[Bandcamp]