Music Week (11:2)

A few select reviews from week 2 of month 11 (November 2026).

After slipping all the way to Sunday last week, I thought I should get this one out a bit earlier. That's one reason this week's rated count is only 19. Another is that a couple of the items below are large, so even if I only played them once, they took up a lot of time. The 2-CD Dave Rempis album got multiple plays, so it also took a big chunk of time. It's not my usual practice to review items several weeks ahead of their release date, but it's been in my queue for a long time, and I expected it to be very good.

I did a lot of work last week to get the website ready for the 21st Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll: the second without him. Problem is, it's a lot of work to keep it going. In 2025, I sent 287 ballots out on Nov. 16, with a deadline of Dec. 21, and results published on Arts Fuse on Jan. 12. I've kept the deadline date this year, but the roll-out is broken up into several steps, and the end as always depends on the writing.

In some sense the start was today: I sent out a notice to the voter list, affirming that the poll is happening, pointing to the website and my draft invitation there, and inviting voters to "jump the gun" and vote now. So far, one did.

The reason I'm doing a soft rollout this year is that I have a new email address, and I thought I should test it out first before running all the invites out. I'll mail invites out in two waves: the first is a quick blast to the established voter email list; the second will be a broader mailing, including critics we invited in the past but who didn't respond, plus possibly a few more.

I wanted to get a jump on prospecting for possible voters a few months ago, but never found the time. Now it's late and I'm still short of time. I'm looking for people who listen to a lot of new jazz — over a couple hundred albums per year — and who write about it somewhat regularly. (We also have a fair number of radio people, although no podcasters as far as I know.) If you know someone like that who you think should be voting (or are one), send me contact info and some pointers to relevant work.

While I'd like to firm up the invite list before sending out the second round of invites, I'll probably just pick a moment and send out what I have then. I can always send out more invites later. At the very least, I need to review the DownBeat polls, and see who's voting in their Critics Poll.

While the website is functional now, I need to go aback over the notes files, which never seem to be quite right. I still have lots of work to do on the older sections of the website, especially with some missing files early on. Indeed, a major redesign is warranted, but seems to always be just out of my grasp.

I'll post the full Music Week tomorrow, and may have some further thoughts then.

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Greg Burk/Achille Succi/Silvia Bolognesi/Gerald Cleaver: Purple Blues: Celebrating the Music of Yusef Lateef (2025 [2026], Tonos): Piano/Fender Rhodes, bass clarinet, bass/n'goni, and drums; four songs by Lateef, three arranged by Burk, who wrote four more, plus had a piece of the joint improv, but it's really Succi who delivers. B+(***) [Bandcamp]

Willi Carlisle: The Universal Bubba (2026, Signature Sounds): Folkie singer-songwriter, Wikipedia says "Origin: Kansas" without getting more specific; a recent interview is titled "No One Wants to Die in Wichita," but otherwise doesn't mention my hometown [turns out to be a line from the title song], and refers to "my fellow Arkansan," implying he's still based near Fayetteville, where he earned an MFA in poetry. Sixth album since 2018, including one called Peculiar, Missouri. Sounds much more like country, with a strong rock-guitar base supporting detailed songs about life, but calling it "folk" may be taken as leaning left. Way too much here for me to sort it out after one play. But I'm pretty sure this is where it lands. A−
[Bandcamp]

Seun Kuti & Egypt 80: Na Dem (2026, Django Music): Youngest son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, has kept the band name, and like his father, plays alto sax as well as singing. Albums from 2008. He also inherited his father's politics, which comes through clearly here — although less clear is what the guest adds to the "feat. Tom Morello" title track. A−
[Bandcamp]

Dave Rempis/Joshua Abrams/Avreeal Ra + Jim Baker: The Walls of the Temple Are Made of Sound (2025 [2026], Aerophonic, 2CD): Leader apprenticed in the Vandermark 5, plays everything from soprano to baritone sax, and releases several superb albums every year. With bass/electronics, drums, and piano/electronics, on three pieces of 45:02, 24:13, and 48:02. The powerhouse segments you may take for granted by now, but there's much more lurking in the background. A−
[Bandcamp: incomplete, release date 11-27]

Linda Sikhakane: Linda (2026, Blue Note): South African saxophonist, mostly tenor, has several albums since 2017, this produced by Nduduzo Makhathini with piano, bass, drums, and guests, starting with singer Omagugu, some other singers, a rapper, a lot of Coltrane-ish spirit. B+(***)

Dan White: Dee Dub (2025 [2026], Side Hustle): Saxophonist, presumably (16) at Discogs, fair to call this his debut album, although his website points to a Sextet unit called Play, which exists as 11 YouTube videos (243 views), and he has several albums as Huntertones (since 2015). Album here features Charlie Hunter (guitar, not in Huntertones) and Scott Amendola (drums), and includes a vocal by Victoria Victoria among several guests. Has a nice, relaxed feel. B+(**)

John Coltrane: The Tiberi Tapes (1960-64 [2026], Impulse, 3CD): Previously unreleased live tapes made by Frank Tiberi from various Philadelphia and New York appearances, mostly with his legendary quartet, although the first four tracks have Steve Davis on bass and Pete La Roca on drums, followed by Reggie Workman on bass, with Eric Dolphy on several tracks. A Preview of the Mythic Recordings was released in April, just 2 tracks (25:18). This one runs 4-LP or 3-CD. An even bigger limited edition box, with "more than 100 performances and nearly 26 hours of music," with everything stuffed into a USB drive, and a book by Lewis Porter, is forthcoming: April 2, 2027, for $499.98. Bad as the sound is, Charlie Parker has been lionized for worse — at least you can hear the rhythm section, and they often fare better than the sax. It's not like there's any shortage of 1960s Coltrane: I have an 8-CD box of studio quartet recordings, and there's a 7-CD Pablo live box, as well as the 4-CD The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings, and 1963's Live at Birdland). B+(*)

David Murray/Questlove/Ray Angry: Plumb Pie: The Complete Live at the Blue Note, NYC August 2024 (2024 [2026], CHUH Music): Trio, the saxophonist with two members of the Roots (drums, keyboards), recorded Plumb in 2022. A reader alerted me to this "digital only" release, which feels archival but is probably all new music. I balked at first due to the length: 6 full sets, 124 songs, 9 hours (Spotify says "about 7.5 hours" but I believe 9). But I had other pressing work to do, so the only question was whether I could listen to Murray as background for such length. Of course, I could. As for the others, I'm ready to move on after a couple minutes of Angry's solo noodling, but they're an adequate rhythm section, sort of a postmodern analog to soul jazz organ — a foundation Murray also built on for 1991's Shakill's Warrior (with organ-guitar-drums, but the organ player was Don Pullen). With Murray, every set has massive solos (often on bass clarinet). The question is how long can you wait in between? [PS: Their original Plumb album was recorded in 2022, with a 136-minute digital in 2023 more than enough to give you the idea, and a 4-LP box that came out later.] B+(***)