Tag Archives: Jazz

Although lacking from Ivo Perelman’s Brass and Ivory Tales, a nine-CD assortment of sax-piano duets, Matthew Shipp has recorded 18 duo albums with the Brazilian-born tenor saxophonist, together with this new masterwork. Perelman is a duet fanatic—he simply launched 103 digital tracks paired with 12 completely different reed gamers—however Shipp appears to be his favourite accomplice. What their deep familiarity breeds is music nourished by loving respect, shared priorities, and ego-dissolving vulnerability that permits for unfiltered communication in essentially the most intimate of areas. These 11 items vary from 4 to seven-and-a-half minutes in size. Within these spans, you’ll hear seemingly infinite styles of phrases, harmonies, melodic tête-à-têtes, rhythmic agreements and divergences, and each delicate and lavish approaches to the touch, breath, density, and quantity. That all this affectionate sparring passed off spontaneously provides to the magic. Listening to this disciplined and interconnected free jazz is like standing in the midst of a basketball courtroom whereas Harlem Globetrotters Meadowlark Lemon and Curly Neal dribble and cross round you. The music is critical, the stuff of life for these two musicians, and it’s difficult, however it totally engages the keen, and leaves you smiling in marvel.

The publish Ivo Perelman and Matthew Shipp: Fruition appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

In 1961, Sun Ra (born Herman Poole Blount in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1914) moved his core band from Chicago to New York. The first album he recorded there, The Futuristic Sounds reveals a slim eight-piece Arkestra bridging swing and bop and Sonny’s rising imaginative and prescient of freer varieties, offbeat constructions, and extra open, if not but vastly cosmic, areas. His acoustic piano enjoying is pleasant, his rhythm part of bassist Ronnie Boykins, drummer Willie Jones, and conga participant Leah Ananda is firmly grounded, and his horn part—Bernard McKinney (trombone, euphonium), Marshall Allen (alto sax, flute, and modified shakuhachi), John Gilmore (tenor sax, bass clarinet), and Pat Patrick (baritone sax)—exhibits indicators of transferring from Ellingtonian/Don Redman-esque tightness towards extra excited expressiveness. Ricky Murray’s vocal on Victor Young’s “China Gates” and accents and jams on bells, chimes, wooden blocks, and claves set the stage for later growth of Ra’s sonic palette. Packaged with producer Tom Wilson’s unique liner notes, new essays by Ben Young and Irwin Chusid, and Harvey’s trippy cowl artwork, the binaurally recorded music will not be solely accessible as barely edgy mainstream jazz, however on this 180-gram vinyl kind, with analog remastering by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, is introduced with luxurious readability.

The submit Sun Ra: The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

For his second WJ3 launch and sixteenth as a frontrunner, veteran tenor saxophonist/composer/educator Gregory Tardy went into the studio with trumpeter Marcus Printup, pianist Keith Brown, bassist Sean Conly, and label proprietor/drummer Willie Jones III to carry out eight Tardy originals. Tardy, who carried out within the teams of jazz greats Elvin Jones and Andrew Hill within the early 90s, writes compositions that transfer in shocking instructions, however they at all times preserve their sense of swing. The up-tempo opener, “The Omnipresent Cardiologist,” begins with a trumpet and tenor collective improvisation; then, after the melody is acknowledged and a piano solo is performed, the trumpet and tenor commerce choruses. “For Deacon Rocky” and “A Tree and Its Fruit” are each medium tempo, however with totally different distinctive melodies. Primarily a tenor saxophonist, Tardy options his first instrument, the clarinet, on the medium waltz “The Intelligent Design” and doubles the bass line with bass clarinet on the funk-oriented title observe.  The nearer, “Janel’s Love Song,” is a stunning ballad tribute to Tardy’s spouse. All of the musicians have been up for the date, and it’s good to listen to Printup, a Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra member, on a small group recording. This is one other high quality recording of contemporary acoustic jazz on the WJ3 label.

The put up Gregory Tardy: Sufficient Grace appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

For his second WJ3 launch and sixteenth as a frontrunner, veteran tenor saxophonist/composer/educator Gregory Tardy went into the studio with trumpeter Marcus Printup, pianist Keith Brown, bassist Sean Conly, and label proprietor/drummer Willie Jones III to carry out eight Tardy originals. Tardy, who carried out within the teams of jazz greats Elvin Jones and Andrew Hill within the early 90s, writes compositions that transfer in stunning instructions, however they all the time keep their sense of swing. The up-tempo opener, “The Omnipresent Cardiologist,” begins with a trumpet and tenor collective improvisation; then, after the melody is said and a piano solo is performed, the trumpet and tenor commerce choruses. “For Deacon Rocky” and “A Tree and Its Fruit” are each medium tempo, however with totally different distinctive melodies. Primarily a tenor saxophonist, Tardy options his first instrument, the clarinet, on the medium waltz “The Intelligent Design” and doubles the bass line with bass clarinet on the funk-oriented title observe.  The nearer, “Janel’s Love Song,” is a stunning ballad tribute to Tardy’s spouse. All of the musicians have been up for the date, and it’s good to listen to Printup, a Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra member, on a small group recording. This is one other high quality recording of contemporary acoustic jazz on the WJ3 label.

The publish Gregory Tardy: Sufficient Grace appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

For his second WJ3 launch and sixteenth as a pacesetter, veteran tenor saxophonist/composer/educator Gregory Tardy went into the studio with trumpeter Marcus Printup, pianist Keith Brown, bassist Sean Conly, and label proprietor/drummer Willie Jones III to carry out eight Tardy originals. Tardy, who carried out within the teams of jazz greats Elvin Jones and Andrew Hill within the early 90s, writes compositions that transfer in stunning instructions, however they all the time keep their sense of swing. The up-tempo opener, “The Omnipresent Cardiologist,” begins with a trumpet and tenor collective improvisation; then, after the melody is acknowledged and a piano solo is performed, the trumpet and tenor commerce choruses. “For Deacon Rocky” and “A Tree and Its Fruit” are each medium tempo, however with completely different distinctive melodies. Primarily a tenor saxophonist, Tardy options his first instrument, the clarinet, on the medium waltz “The Intelligent Design” and doubles the bass line with bass clarinet on the funk-oriented title observe.  The nearer, “Janel’s Love Song,” is a stunning ballad tribute to Tardy’s spouse. All of the musicians had been up for the date, and it’s good to listen to Printup, a Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra member, on a small group recording. This is one other high quality recording of recent acoustic jazz on the WJ3 label.

The publish Gregory Tardy: Sufficient Grace appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

A bona fide tenor titan for these instances, Allen’s brawny tone and assertive assault have fueled 16 albums as a frontrunner since his auspicious debut in 1999, In Search Of. On his eleventh Savant launch, Allen continues looking out along with his long-time rhythm tandem of bassist Gregg August and drummer Rudy Royston. They are joined on this potent outing by guitarist Charlie Hunter, who brings a gutbucket sensibility to bear on bits of Americana like “You Don’t Know Me” (a rustic tune written by Eddy Arnold and popularized in 1962 by Ray Charles) and the normal religious “This Word Is a Mean World,” which has Hunter dealing in a uncommon show of Delta-flavored slide guitar. Allen’s earthy and evocative originals, “Up South” (a nickname for his hometown Detroit) and “Down South” (a reference to Mississippi), discover the chief unleashing with muscular abandon in opposition to a mesmerizing backdrop. Other Allen originals like “The Werk Song,” “Hammer and Hoe,” and “Irene (Mother)” reveal the depth of the quartet’s bluesy groupthink whereas three stirring trio numbers (sans Hunter)—“Jackie and Johnny,” “Mickey and Mallory,” and the mournful ballad “A Mouthful of Forevers”—showcase the saxophonist stretching in additional meditative environment.

The submit JD Allen: Americana Vol. 2 appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava has a approach of casting a spell together with his golden-toned, less-is-more strategy to his instrument. Joining Rava within the studio with pianist Fred Hersch, one other hopeless romantic with a lyrical bent and an adventurous sense of making off the cuff, was an impressed notion. While Rava’s luminous flugelhorn carries the lion’s share of the melody work right here, Hersch animates this duo session with creative orchestration that’s full of humor, grace, and verve. They set an intimate tone with a romantic opener, Jobim’s “Retreat em Banco e Preto,” earlier than delving into extra darkly dissonant territory on the freewheeling “Improvisation,” which contains some playful call-and-response between flugelhorn and piano. The duo’s jauntily swinging rendition of “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You” finds Hersch channeling his internal Chick Corea whereas the title observe, an oft-covered jazz normal that’s usually swung in uptempo vogue, opens with an exploratory, deconstructionist aesthetic earlier than settling into a wonderful balladic studying of the Jerome Kern basic. Other highlights embody Hersch’s participating “Child’s Song,” the duo’s extremely impressionistic studying of Thelonious Monk’s “Misterioso,” and Hersch’s deeply introspective solo piano rendition of Monk’s “’Round Midnight.”

The put up Enrico Rava/Fred Hersch: The Song Is You appeared first on The Absolute Sound.