François Carrier - Happening (Leo Records, 2007) ****

François Carrier is a stellar Candadian soprano saxophonist. His tone is warm, buttery, yet powerful. I was already strongly touched by his former CDs. "Travelling Light" with Paul Motian and Gary Peackock, is in my eyes the musical equivalent of a watercolor painting : sensitive, precise, gentle, but so strongly emotional. "Play" is more of a free jazz outing with drums and bass, again recommended. On "Happening", Carrier brings his music a step...

Read More

Tin Hat - The Sad Machinery of Spring (Hannibal/Rykodisck, 2007) ****

Tin Hat (Trio) is a group to my taste. Call it chamber jazz, call it folk jazz, it is great music. The core of the band consists of Mark Orton (guitar, dobro, banjo, piano, basss drum, bass harmonica) and Carla Kihlstedt (violin, viola, celeste, trumpet violin, piano, bass harmonica, vocals). Accordionist, pianist Rob Burger has apparently left the trio and has been replaced by Ben Goldberg (clarinet), Ara Anderson (trumpet, toy piano, celeste) and...

Read More

Trumpet Trio - the list

Here is the list of the trumpet trios (trumpet/bass/drums) I know of at the moment.Don Cherry - Blue LakeCharlie Haden/Don Cherry/Ed Blackwell - The Montreal TapesRoy Campbell - Ancestral HomelandRoy Campbell - CommunionRoy Campbell - Ethnic Stew & BrewTomasz Stanko - BluishPaul Smoker Trio - Genuine Fables; Come Rain or Come ShineTrio East - Stop StartTrio East - Best BetsChicago Underground Trio - SlonChicago Underground Trio - ChronicleHugh Ragin - Metaphysical QuestionRaphe Malik/Cecil McBee/Codaryll Moffett - StorylineCuong Vu - Come Play...

Read More

Exploding Star Orchestra - We Are All From Somewhere Else (Thrill Jockey, 2007) *****

Rob Mazurek is hard to pigeon-hole. With his Chicago Underground Duo/Trio/Quartet he produced consistently great avant-garde jazz CDs. On his solo albums, he took often even more adventurous routes, including some failures (including his concept of underwater trumpet, which is a nice gimmick, but not to listen to for a whole album). Last year's electronic Brasilian experiment with the Sao Paulo Underground was also not really my cup of tea. But...

Read More

Alvin Fielder Trio - A Measure Of Vision (Cleanfeed, 2007) ***

Alvin Fielder is a jazz-drummer and a pharmacist and one of the founding members of the AACM in Chicago, a highly unusual combination. "A Measure Of Vision" is a collaboration with Chris Parker on piano, Dennis Gonzalez on trumpet and the latter's sons figure as guests : Stefan on vibes and Aaron on bass. The first two pieces are relatively introspective, and because of the line-up and of Gonzalez's tone, remind me a little of Tomasz Stanko. That...

Read More

Drake/Beger/Parker - Evolving Silence Vol. 2 (Earsay, 2006) ****

It must be clear that I am more than a little crazy about Hamid Drake and William Parker, the best "drum&bass" duo of the world. And "Evolving Silence, Vol. 2" confirms this again. This is the second CD of a series of recordings that the duo had in Israel with Albert Beger, an Israeli sax-player/flautist, who is not really known, but he deserves otherwise. His playing is creative, precise, sensitive, melodious. It's bizarre that the CD was issued...

Read More

Kahil El'Zabar - The Ritual

Another trumpet trio (and there are more to come). This is actually the first CD by Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio, although not yet named as such. In essence this trio consists for two thirds of members of the Art Ensemble of Chicago : Lester Bowie (trumpet) and Malachi Favors (bass), who play one of their own songs, Magg Zelma (from Full Force, 1980) on this album. This is just one song, but still close to 42 minutes long. This music has deep SOUL,...

Read More

Trio X - Roulette At Location One (Cadence, 2006) *****

A moment of joy. New CDs are entering the new year and Roulette At Location One by Trio X is already reserving its space on the rankings of best-of-2007. Duval starts the first piece, Funny Valentines of War, with a contemplative bass, to be joined after several minutes by the sparce notes of Joe McPhee on sax and Jay Rosen on drums. After four minutes Duval and Rosen bring in a stomping rhythm, while McPhee remains contemplative with a serene and...

Read More

Mâäk's Spirit - 5

Mâäk's Spirit is a Belgian jazz band that has a track record of avant-garde adventures, with varying success. Lives and Le Nom Du Vent are so far their best records, their collaboration with Moroccan musicians and singers on Al Majmaä was less good. Their fourth CD brought a combination of jazz with spoken word, something I am allergic too. On this CD, the attack is different : the spoken word is still there, but the electronics and post-production...

Read More

John Appleton & Don Cherry - Human Music

This is what I meant in my piece on Don Cherry. His openness to look for new things, has often lead to abuse of his name for the sake of selling impopular music. This reissue on CD brings us electronic music of the early days, which is more technology-driven than musically inspired. The only thing I hear are blips and squeacks and whooshes and peeps. It is unclear where the contribution of Appleton ends the one of Cherry begins, but it is in any...

Read More

Paul Smoker Trio - Genuine Fables

Allright. Another trumpet trio I forgot (see my previous post on Roy Campbell). Shame on me! The Paul Smoker Trio with "Genuine Fables", with Ron Rohovit on bass and Phil Haynes on drums. A wonderful CD, not in the least because the three bring a cover of the St. Louis Blues by W.C. Handy, a unique version. You have to know, dear reader, that my very first contact with jazz, was one of the best jazz albums of all time "Louis Armstrong Plays W.C....

Read More

Fred Anderson - Timeless/Live At The Velvet Lounge (Delmark, 2006) *****

This CD is the last performance by Fred Anderson in his own Velvet Lounge, which had to be broken down to make place for an appartment building. Fred, 77 years old, set up a new Velvet Lounge in the meantime. A great thing, because his was the place-to-be for the Chicago free jazz scene. Fred Anderson is a perfectionist, still now practicing for hours on end on his sax, still learning. On this CD he is accompanied by Hamid Drake (drums) and Harrisson...

Read More

Wadada Leo Smith - Compassion *****

This is a unique CD, just trumpet and percussion. Wadada Leo Smith and Adam Rudolph both belong to the free jazz avant-garde, masters with great technical skill, unafraid to search for entirely new forms of expression, but always with a strong spiritual element into it. This kind of initiative often fails because the music itself suffers from this search for new form. Smith and Rudolph have both made albums for which you really need open ears in...

Read More

Either/Orchestra - Live In Addis

Wanna have fun? Then put on this CD. It's a two hour long afro-jazz fest with strong compositions and a tight horn section. The Either/Orchestra is a mini big band with four saxes, two trumpets, a trombone and a rhythm section. One of their earlier albums, "More Beautiful Than Death", was alreday inspired by the Ethopian music of Mulate Astatqe, but on this double CD, they went to Addis Abeba, the capital of Ethiopia to meet the master himself. The...

Read More

Why is free jazz the ultimate music genre? (3)

When listening to free jazz you just have to let go of your rational and ordened mind and surrender to what is taking place. Free jazz can offer a moving moment, absolute beauty, an exciting rhythm, a painful note, a dynamic interplay, a chaotic cacophony, a crushing loss, a trance-inducing drone, a surprising turn, a magical melody, a punch in the face, raw emotion, gut-wrenching agony, a leap of joy, a desire to dance, an aesthetical summit, ... a musical experience. Free jazz will not leave you indifferent. You like it, or you don't. And even...

Read More

Kahil El'Zabar - Big M

Kahil El'Zabar is hard to put into a box. He's a disciple of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Music (AACM), the Chicago free jazz movement, to which also the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Fred Anderson belong, yet he's carved out his own space. Kahil El'Zabar is a great drummer and percussionist; rhythm is extremely important in his compositions and they are inspired by African music. The core theme of his pieces are thematically repetitive...

Read More

David S. Ware - Surrendered

David S. Ware is a force of nature on tenor, someone who's managed to collaborate with the best of the American free jazz scene : Matthew Shipp, William Parker, Suzy Ibarra, Hamid Drake. On this album he is accompanied by Shipp (piano), Parker (bass) and Guillermo E. Brown on drums. On some of his CDs one gets the impression that the band has only a supporting role, and even hardly gets any space to do their thing, as is sometimes the case on the...

Read More

Other Dimensions In Music

Other Dimensions In Music is a unique band. With Roy Campbell on trumpet, flute and recorder, Daniel Carter on sax and trumpet, William Parker on bass and Rashid Bakr on drums. The first album I bought of this band was "Time is of the Essence, The Essence is of Time", with Matthew Shipp on piano, an album which was praised to the sky by All Music Guide. This CD was then, and it still is today, for me impossible to listen to. So I thought that all...

Read More

Vinny Golia - Sfumato

Sfumato by Vinny Golia is one of those records that I put on countless times last year (partly while painting my bathroom and since this is no background music, my walls suffered terribly). This quartet also consists of Bobby Bradford (trumpet), Ken Filiano (bass) and Alex Cline (drums). Golia, who plays soprano, bass flute and bass clarinet, created some really strong compositions for Sfumato. Veteran Bobby Bradford is a great asset for this band,...

Read More

Trumpet trio

Here is another trumpet trio I did not immediately think about (see my previous message on Roy Campbell) : Trio East, with Rich Thomson on drums, Jeff Campbell on bass and Clay Jenkins on trumpet. It's not really free jazz, yet very adventurous jazz. Two of their CDs are available on iTunes (Best Bets since January 1 of this year, Stop-Start since last year : check under Rich Thompson and/or Jeff Campbell. Stop-Start is really worth having. Three...

Read More

Roy Campbell - Communion

Trumpet trios, consisting of trumpet, bass and percussion, are relatively rare.Tomasz Stanko has one (Bluish), Don Cherry has two (Blue Lake and on Charlie Haden's The Montreal Tapes), the Chicago Underground Trio has one (Slon), but that's about it, I think. There are of course variations, with guitar (Chet Baker), marimba (Schaphorst), electronics(Arve Henriksen), but then always with a harmonic instrument. If you know more trumpet trios, please...

Read More

Michael Bates - A Fine Balance

In 2005 Michael Bates, a Canadian bass player, issued Outside Sources, a very promising album. His second, "A Fine Balance", figures in my top-10 list of 2006. Outside Sources is now the name of the band, consisting of Quinsin Nachsoff on sax and bass clarinet, Mark Timmermans on drums, and Kevin Turcotte on trumpet. This is jazz that digs deep into a broad array of source material. Bates himself cites Shostakovich, Prokoviev, Miles Davis, Tony Malaby,...

Read More

Julius Hemphill - Dogon A.D.

From the very first notes of this album, you know that something special is taking place. The cello of Abdul Wadud brings a repetitive theme, supported by some energetic drumming by Philip Wilson, with Hemphill and Baikida Carroll on sax and trumpet playing the main theme. After a minute or so Carroll drops away and Hemphill starts with a magical sax solo. Wadud and Wilson relentlessly continue with their hypnotic basis, sometimes only playing parts...

Read More

McPhee/Duval/Shipp - In Finland

This is also one of the best of 2006. Joe McPhee (sax, trumpet) and Dominic Duval (bass) are old companions. They have performed for years with Jay Rosen (drums) as Trio X, with so far eight albums together. This drumless trio brings three long pieces : Never Before, Never Again and In Finland. The first starts with a six minute long thundering piano intro by Shipp, which McPhee suddenly brings to a more peaceful theme, after which Duval immediately...

Read More

Bridge 61 - Journal

Bridge 61 is one of the musical highlights of 2006, Vandermark on sax and clarinet, Jason Stein on bass clarinet, Nate McBride on bass and Tim Daisy on drums. McBride is also the bass player of Spaceways Inc., and Tim Daisy is the drummer of the Vandermark 5. Despite his incredible output of albums, Vandermark manages to keep the attention up. The pieces on this album are all composed but with room for improvisation, the search for new effects and...

Read More

Why is free jazz the ultimate form of music? (2)

Still my subjective appreciation of the music.Free jazz is the ultimate symbol of everything that is important in life : absolute freedom, openness of mind, listening to others, creativity, emotional wealth and intelligence (tough luck for those who're interested in money : it won't make you rich). No musical form is as open as free jazz : because of the lack of an imposed format, it is easy to incorporate other music. That was one of Don Cherry's great missions - to integrate the muscial wealth on earth into his own music.Free jazz means going...

Read More

Why is free jazz the ultimate genre of music? (1)

Why is free jazz so fantastic? To me, free jazz is emotionally and musically the richest music ever made in history across the globe. Classical music has a predominantly esthetical function, with the emotional component starting to surface during romanticism (dark, gloomy, menacing, triumphant, ...), but that's about it. Original jazz brought fun into music, into the performance itself, in dancing. The blues brought in sadness, but also fun with the boogie. Rock music brought anger and protest. But free jazz ...free jazz just simply offers the...

Read More

Bengt Berger - Bitter Funeral Beer

This album is already 25 year old, but really worth mentioning. Berger, a Swedish percussionist, uses music recordings from Ghanese tribes, and especially mourning chants, as a backdrop for one of the saddest free jazz albums imagineable. This mini big band with vocals, saxes, violin, trumpet, xylophone, electric guitar, cello, bass and percussion, and with no one less than Don Cherry on the pocket trumpet, brings a musical experience beyond anything...

Read More

Dennis Gonzalez - No Photograph Available

Dennis Gonzalez is an underexposed trumpet player and his music is hard to find, especially in Europe. His CD Nile River Suite is available on Gonzalez's website, but for your convenience linked below in its entirety. Nile River Suite is a great album, with Gonzalez and Roy Campbell on trumpet, Sabir Mateen on sax and flute, Henry Grimes on bass and Michael Thompson on drums. The music is slow, flowing like a river, with once in a while some slight...

Read More

Carlos Barretto - Lokomotiv

Wanna hear something else? Free jazz from Portugal. Carlos Barretto is a bass player who has played with Steve Lacy, Mal Waldron and Barry Altschull. On Lokomotiv, he is accompanied by Mario Delgado on electric guitar and José Sagueiro on drums. The French François Corneloup on baritone sax is a guest player on half the pieces. This is not entirely free jazz, rather modern creative, whatever that means. Delgado's guitar gives the music a fusion...

Read More

The plastic sax of Ornette Coleman

Dear Ornette,Your contribution to music history has been invaluable and this cannot be overestimated, but please use your plastic sax again. Your new album "Sound Grammar" is praised to the sky by the press, and admittedly, the music is excellent, but less adventurous than we are used to. The sound of your sax is awful, however. Or was this your plastic sax? Whatever it was, please change it.With best regards,S...

Read More

School Days - In Our Times

School Days is one of the approximately 30 bands of which Ken Vandermark is a member. This one consists of the rhythm section of the Norwegian band The Thing, with Ingebright Haker-Flaten on bass and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums, together with vibraphonist Kjell Nordesen and Vandermark 5 trombone player Jep Bishop. To make it even more complex, the first piece of the album is dedicated to Havard Wiik, the piano player of the Norwegian Band Atomic,...

Read More

The Gift - Live At Sangha

I've always been a great fan of Roy Campbell (trumpet, flute), whom I consider to be the true musical heir of Don Cherry. I have all his great albums with William Parker and Hamid Drake, but this one I bought without knowing what to expect. The trio also consists of William Hooker (drums) and Jason Kao Hwan (violin). By itself, this is already an unusual line-up, but the CD is one long piece of free improvisation, with slow, hectic, intense, sad...

Read More

Free Jazz & Politics

OK - our friends free jazzers do not really like the Bush Administration, and probably rightly so. After having written a review about The Nu Band Live some hours ago, of which the last piece of the album, called "Four of Them", starts with a long introduction against Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice and George Bush, I'm now listening to Spirals/The Berlin Concert of Ullman, Stevens, Fonda and Schuller, on which a piece is called "Three" with again a spoken introduction of a few minutes against the US policy in Iraq. This time the...

Read More

William Parker - it's Raining On The Moon

There aren't many CD's I enjoy more than this one. It is not entirely free jazz, despite Parker's reputation as a free jazz bass-player with his other bands, The Little Huey Orchestra and In Order To Survive. This album swings from beginning to end with lots of free improv and strongly rooted in the blues. Leena Conquest sings on five of the eight songs, with lyrics which are at times absurd and at times offer criticism on society. Rob Brown on sax...

Read More

John Lindberg - A Tree Frog Tonality

This CD offers a strong combination of chamber jazz and free jazz. All pieces have a clear structure but the improvisations are quite free. The musicians are stellar : John Lindberg himself on double bass, Wadada Leo Smith on trumpet, Larry Ochs on sax and Andrew Cyrille on drums. The pieces evolve from very intense interplay of the whole band to more melancholic duos. The four musicians are at their best. I was not too enthusiastic about Lindberg's...

Read More

Lonely Woman

Lonely Woman is probably the most wonderful piece ever written by Ornette Coleman. The music is melancholic, cinematic, dragging and staccato at the same time, it sounds like crying and sobbing. It's no mystery that there are dozens of covers of the song played by artists from both free jazz and mainstream styles. Personally, I do not care much for Ornette's own version. But listen to Old & New Dreams, 8 Bold Souls and Ahmed Abdullah : these are among the best versions to be found, and not without reason each one of those is longer than ten...

Read More

The Nu Band Live

This is the Nu Band's second album after Live At The Bop Shop. The band consists of Roy Campbell (trumpet), Mark Whitecage (sax), Lou Grassi (drums) and Joe Fonda (bass). All four musicians are masters of their instruments with a long track record and their own albums. The Nu Band Live is a fantastic album. Beginning with some composed melodic lines, the themes are deconstructed and added upon. This record offers listening joy from beginning to end,...

Read More

Top 10 World jazz

World jazz is a combination of jazz with world music. That's the best name I can find for it - suggestions are welcome. The essence of the genre is that it's still jazz. Here is my list of favorite albums : Rabih Abou-Khalil - The Sultan's Picnic Anouar Brahem - Astrakan Café David Chevan - The Days of Awe Codona - Codona (1, 2 én 3) Davka - Live Peter Epstein - Lingua Franca Jerry Gonzalez - Y Los Piratos Del Flamenco Soriba Kouyaté - Live In Montreux Frank London - Invocations Hafez Modirzadeh - People's Blues Natraj - Meet Me Anywhere Paradox...

Read More

Top 20 free jazz albums of all times

Sure, it's incomplete, and I may change my mind as well, but here it is, without a specific order.Ahmed Abdullah - Song Of The TimesFred Anderson - The Milwaukee Tapes, Vol. 1Bengt Berger - Bitter Funeral BeerCarla Bley - Escalator Over The HillRoy Campbell - CommunionDon Cherry - Complete CommunionDon Cherry - Nu - BBC SessionsErnest Dawkins - Mean AmeenEast New York Ensemble De Music - At The HelmEight Bold Souls - SideshowKahil El'Zabar - The RitualEthnic Heritage Ensemble - Freedom Jazz DanceThe Gift - Live At SanghaDennis Gonzalez - Nile River...

Read More

Top 10 freejazz 2006

Of course there are more than 10, but the choice is difficult, also to rank them. I'm not sure either if they were all published in 2006, but that's at least I when I got hold of them. Hamid Drake/Albert Beger/William Parker - Evolving Silence Vol. 1 Kahil El'Zabar - Big M Fred Anderson - Timeless, Live At The Velvet Lounge Michael Bates - A Fine Balance Bridge 61 - Journal Rob Brown - Radiant Pools John Coltrane - One Up/One Down Ernest Dawkins - The Messenger Dennis Gonzalez - No Photograph Available Kidd Jordan - Palm Of Soul Adam Lane - Music...

Read More