2016 Jazz Thread
 

like we did last year... THIS will be a thread to discuss new jazz recordings (including reissues) for 2016. Also to discuss live performances, etc.


Some recent stuff that I want to give a listen to:


Peter Erskine - Dr Um
Wes Montgomery - One Night In Indy


Some stuff coming out soon that I have my eye/ear on:


Bill Frissell - When You Wish Upon A Star (1/29)
Dr. Lonnie Smith - Evolution (1/29)

Kamasi Washington will be playing a live set on Pitchfork Radio, Monday Feb 1st at 8pm EST. I will be listening to that.

Ches Smith "The Bell" with Craig Taborn, one of the world's great improvisers. I recommend this very very highly, as well as his band These Arches

http://m.pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/21350-the-bell/

intresting. I missed this. Thanks!

some excellent live sets including Taborn solo at tapersection.com recently

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=172133.165

Great!

Michael Formanek's Ensemble Kolossus

A big band made out of some of the best NYC scene players including Tim Berne, Chris Speed, Oscar Noriega, Mary Halvorson (a huge voice in contemporary guitar). Really impressive modern large ensemble writing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEP8TYk2hQI

I misunderstood. Apparently this was a DJ set. I was bummed and shut it off a few songs in.

that Miles Davis biopic MILES AWAY hits theaters in April.

I'm gonna go ahead and predict that Sony/Columbia will have a soundtrack released to coincide.

...which could be awesome. If y'all don't know - the movie is not one of those stories of an artists' life - it focuses very specifically on the late 70's. This is AWESOME. The 70's is by far my favorite era of Davis' work. So if Sony (or the Davis estate, or the film company or whoever is in charge) is smart, they will put together a really interesting compilation - alternate takes and previously unreleased live dates would be great.

Of course there's always the possibility that instead they have someone else re-record tracks, which would be a totally missed opportunity.

EDIT: Did some Googling, and two very good pieces of news - (1) Robert Glasper did an original score, and (2) Herbie Hancock is in charge of compiling a proper soundtrack. !!

this sounds interesting,

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/...n-made-object/

GoGo Penguin - Man Made Object (Blue Note)

seeing Dave Douglas w/Fabian Almazan (piano), Jon Irabagon (sax), Linda Oh (bass), and Rudy Royston (drums) next week. He plays a pretty trumpet. Haven't seen Irabgon but I like his work in MOPDTK, Royston to me is not a great drummer, a little too heavy handed and not the rhythmic support that I like to see (eg Motian or Wollenson)

Linda Oh is a fantastic bass player, seen her in a few settings in Australia maybe 5+ years ago. World class, enjoy! Dave Douglas is always great... I always come back to his quintet with Uri Caine and Clarence Penn or his '90s trio with Jim Black

speaking of Uri Caine, did you ever hear the Philadelphia Experiment project he did w/ Ahmir Thompson (from The Roots) and Christian McBride?

That really depends on whether Herbie is in his artistic mood or his commercial mood... unfortunately he's produced his fair share of drivel. You'd hope given the context he'd do the right thing. Early '70s Miles was vicious, explosive music... I hope they don't smooth the edges off for the sake of wider appeal.

No, I'll have to check it out!

sounds good, thanks! I'll be rolling tape and will post the results. I liked the double band DD put together for "Sanctuary" best.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctu..._Douglas_album)

I have a Philli Experi boot I can dig out.....

here's that Uri Caine bootleg

Uri Caine

12/14/01 Philadelphia Experiment Bowery Ballroom NYC w/Pat Martino - Gtr Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson dr Christian McBride - b Rob Lambert-sax 2 cd--edited out dead air and drop outs

Uri Caine i2 o4 2ooi.zip 617.4 MB
https://mega.nz/#!QxQUWLBL!R9g5Bd7wN...7j7zpbEi bbhc

just caught the 1st set tonite at the stoneBLUE I William Hooker (drums) Ted Daniel (trumpet) Dick Griffin (trombone) Hill Greene (bass) Larry Roland (bass) William Hooker (drums) and also David Soldier (violin)

tomorrow night with Bern Nix -but all the sets all week are excellent - I can spend so much money! The week celebrates a new box set of Hooker's early work.

Another rewarding set last night in this week of William Hooker ensembles! Louie Belogenis (reeds) Bern Nix, Cristian Amigo (guitars) William Hooker (drums). You all would have liked Amigo, who did a lot of physical interaction with his axe to make interesting sounds...

I can't believe there weren't more people there. Sat. he plays with Alan Licht, and William Parker, so while not Text of Light, it should be interesting.

William Parker is legendary... enjoy!

did you guys who got to see Hooker pick up this new box set?

https://www.discogs.com/William-Hook...elease/8107615

Last night's 10 pm set was fucking intense and killer - Mixashawn Lee Rozie (sax) Alan Licht (guitar) William Parker (bass) William Hooker (drums) in addition there was another man playing sax whose name other than Richard I didn't catch. The set basically congealed as a power trio of the 2 Williams and Alan - I know I saw the 2 horn guys standing back listening and enjoying what was going on - but it sounded great when they kicked in too because they were really listening to what else was going and playing right into it. I was really knocked out I should have expected nothing less with William Hooker and William Parker playing together.

I've seen 3 of the sets this week, and each time William has called out tonites sets as being special - these are the new generation - he said - so I'll catch the 8 pm set
YELLOW I
Matt Lavelle (trumpet) Mike Noordzy (bass) Ras Moshe (reeds) Tor Snyder (guitar) William Hooker (drums)

It is convenient the Stone is about 10 mins fast walk from my apartment.

They were selling the box set at the gig, I did not get one however, finances being tight right now (4 gigs in one week is about all I can deal with + I saw matt valentine last week and also tom carter/Loren Connors duo))

sweet! I wish the "nyctaper" guy would get a little more of real NYC on his site, he usually does jam bands or new indy stuff though...

I'll always listen to what Matthew Shipp is up to, and this band is great from the live clips turning up this year. Hopefully they make it to the studio.


https://youtu.be/Q5ftwXunMOg

Shipp is great. I'm always interested in his work w/ Blue Series Continuum. I was just listening to the Optometry record they recorded w/ DJ Spooky actually.

Nice!

This is a great pro shot thing from that period of time... a little time stamped as these kinds of projects always are, but great stuff. I like that Shipp brings a kind of Cecil Taylor/McCoy Tyner influence to the hip hop stuff that isn't afraid to be ugly.

https://youtu.be/P-yhzUFwP8A

you nailed it man. I never really made the McCoy Tyner comparison, but now it's totally dead on in my mind. Yeah.

There's definitely something I think. I'm mainly basing this on the way he uses his hands as kind of separate entities... unlike the Hancock/Evans school of 50s/60s players, where what's happening between the hands shares some distinctive relationship (scales match chords perfectly, always rooted in some kind of classical harmony, even if heavily altered), Tyner was happy to use somewhat ambiguous sounds in both hands, meaning things that aren't really "supposed" to go together can be sort of "layered", opening up all kinds of different possibilities. I feel like Shipp comes right out if that... and you can totally hear it in the David S Ware bands in the late 90s/00s, where Shipp was totally playing that Tyner role.

Apologies if that's stupidly technical or whatever... I just really like talking about jazz.

no apologies needed. I'm enjoying your observations.

It's been many years since I "studied" music, so nowadays most of my listening is like "oh that's cool. I like the way he did that thing." So it's not quite as deep haha.

So often the best way. The other side of the coin is that you get people from music school who are heavily into music which is artistically and aesthetically worthless because it fulfills some form of "technical" quota.

Saw Dave Douglas last night, Jon Irabagon was fantastic! I've heard him with Mary H and MOPDTK, but it was wonderful seeing him live. I heard a bunch of different influences in his playing, but all of it together, he has a really unique sound. Really recommended, if you get a chance, see him

OK cool... I've also heard him with Mary H but nowhere else, will definitely keep in eye out

from the downtown music gallery update - I really am grateful to Thurston for pointing these guys out. Is it true Heyner has quit music? I know Sabir lives in Italy now.

TEST [DANIEL CARTER/SABIR MATEEN/MATTHEW HEYNER/TOM BRUNO] - Always Coming from the Love Side [2 CD Set] (Eremite 059-60; USA) NYC free jazz cooperative TEST was literally an underground favorite -- as part of the Music Under New York program in the 1990s, TEST was out on the street and subway platforms year-round, playing long-form unadulterated free jazz with an energy and creativity rarely encountered. Even on a scene known for strong personalities, these guys were renegade cats. Eremite heard and recorded TEST many, many times over a ten-year period; Always Coming from the Love Side, a two-CD set from TEST's 1999 US tour captured live by Malachi Ritscher at Fred Anderson's Velvet Lounge just weeks before Y2K (on November 13, to be exact), is right up there among the band's strongest and most memorable performances. The cover photo, for those who don't recognize it, is of the Velvet Lounge's legendary wallpaper. Other images include a portrait of Fred Anderson in front of the club (shot November 2005 by Peter Brötzmann just months before the building was destroyed by the city of Chicago to build a parking garage) and Tony Getsug's photos of TEST tearing up the bandstand there, as well as art and photography by Joshua Abrams and TEST bassist Matthew Heyner. Tom Bruno, drums; Daniel Carter, winds; Matthew Heyner, bass; Sabir Mateen, winds. Edition of 550 copies. Presented in a tri-fold Stoughton sleeve. 2 CD Set $20

I watched a rough cut of a new documentary on DMG last night, it will be very entertaining when done

Vijay Iyer / Wadada Leo Smith - A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke

Looking forward to this one. Iyer brings something interesting to free situations... I feel like he somehow moves "slower" than a lot of free players, responding the broader movements and shapes of the music, rather than responding to each passing second and moment. The Trio 3 album with Vijay called "Wiring" from 2014 was a good example of this. Should be great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8CaG3BwPHI

A1 Discovery
A2 Phenomenon Of Man
A3 The Pit
A4 Gas Bottle
A5 Visions Of Himself
A6 Hysteria
B1 Telekinesis
B2 Night And Day
B3 Looking Back
B4 Into The Vortex
B5 Mass Psychosis
B6 The Final Conclusion

Vijay was great solo. A really stellar player and composer

A somewhat rare case where the hype and awards are justified. He brings together '60s players like Andrew Hill, '80s NYC avant-garde, the rhythms and displacement of hip hop, all in one coherent voice.

I wish Jason Moran was more prolific recently because he's another contemporary pianist doing special things

In the somewhat "mainstream", that is

Just looked these guys up... awesome! Going to enjoy digging through their stuff

A couple of tracks reminded me of the more experimental tracks by Medeski, Martin and Wood, such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ngLS2UZkUk