RUDRESH MAHANTHAPPA — Bird Calls (2015) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Inspired by his love of the music of legendary jazz saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker, Rudresh Mahanthappa pays homage to the late bebop innovator on 2015's Bird Calls. It was purportedly while breaking down Parker's performance on "Donna Lee" to help a student learn the infamously difficult song that saxophonist Mahanthappa came up with the concept of a different way to interpret Parker's music. Taken in small, easily digestible bites, Mahanthappa began to hear Parker's architectural bop motifs less as swinging, blues-based jazz and more as modern classical or even avant-garde music. Combining his own creative approach to jazz with Indian raga, funk, post-bop, and other eclectic stylistic elements, Mahanthappa wrote pieces loosely based on Parker's songs or parts of solos. For example, "Both Hands" reworks Parker's "Dexterity" into a roiling, machine-gun stream of sound, and "Talin Is Thinking" turns Parker's classic bluesy ballad "Parker's Mood" into a frenetic spiritual jazz workout. Furthermore, just as Parker was often backed by a quintet featuring a trumpeter like the great Dizzy Gillespie, Mahanthappa takes the same approach, bringing with him 2014 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Trumpet Competition third-place winner Adam O'Farrill along with pianist Matt Mitchell, bassist François Moutin, and drummer Rudy Royston. Only 20 years old at the time of recording, O'Farrill (the son of pianist Arturo O'Farrill and the grandson of legendary Cuban percussionist, and Parker associate, Chico O'Farrill) is an immensely gifted trumpeter with a robust, rounded tone and lithe improvisational style. Joining with the other members of Mahanthappa's quintet, he brings an intensity and buoyant creativity to Bird Calls that effectively updates the classic Parker/Gillespie partnership. For his end, Mahanthappa, a brilliantly capable improviser blessed with a fluid, harmonically engaging approach to jazz, blazes his way through these songs, which are at once accessible yet boundlessly inventive. Ultimately, with Bird Calls, Mahanthappa has crafted an exuberant, expressive album that's as fresh and surprising as the music Parker originally recorded. Matt Collar

A contemporary perspective on one of the founding fathers of modern jazz: Charlie "Bird" Parker. In an intelligent and multifaceted way, Mahanthappa uses influences from Parker's work as a foundation for his compositions and improvisations. ACT
Tracklist :
1    Bird Calls #1    2:50
2    On The DL    8:01
3    Bird Calls #2    1:09
4    Chillin'    8:03
5    Bird Calls #3    2:14
6    Talin Is Thinking    6:53
7    Both Hands    4:47
8    Bird Calls #4    2:12
9    Gopuram    7:37
10    Maybe Later    7:02
11    Bird Calls #5    1:39
12    Sure Why Not?    7:49
13    Man, Thanks For Coming    1:38
Credits:
Rudresh Mahanthappa - Alto Saxophone
Adam O'Farrill - Trumpet
Matt Mitchell - Piano
François Moutin - Acoustic Bass
Rudy Royston - Drums

MARY HALVORSON'S CODE GIRL — Artlessly Falling (2020) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Artlessly Falling is the second album by Mary Halvorson's Code Girl. Its core remains Halvorson on guitar; Tomas Fujiwara on drums; Amirtha Kidambi on vocals, and Michael Formanek on bass. Trumpeter Adam O'Farrill replaces Ambrose Akinmusire, and Maria Grand is added on tenor saxophone and voice. The date also includes three vocal cameos by Robert Wyatt. A primary influence on Halvorson, she composed these songs especially for him. Her lyrics throughout reflect not only detailed attention but a methodology in which each poem strategically conforms to its accompanying musical construct. Artlessly Falling showcases deeply focused, expansively articulated, abstract musical languages that remain warm and welcoming, even amid dissonance.

"Lemon Trees" is a nearly exotic mutant waltz introduced by Halvorson's circular guitar pattern as Kidambi and Grand wordlessly vocalize behind Wyatt, who delivers the lyrics in a lithe, world-weary tenor. O'Farrill fills in behind him until the stanza ends and he solos as Fujiwara and Halvorson support. The feel is buoyant and airy. Kidambi's wordless groan meets Formanek's dark bassline in "Last-Minute Smears" before Fujiwara's snare and beer-can percussion frame an elliptical melody articulated by Halvorson's striated chords. O'Farrill's serpentine trumpet and Grand's tenor emotively entwine themselves around one another before Kidambi includes a particularly venomous and vengeful quote from Justice Brett Kavanaugh, providing a bewildered sense of dislocation and primeval conviction. While "Walls and Roses" is introduced by Fujiwara's cymbals and Halvorson's fingerpicking under Wyatt's vocal; it erupts in under a minute as the guitarist unleashes distorted shredding. Kidambi calms her on the second stanza, but Halvorson shakes loose here, and between each succeeding exchanged stanza, as Fujiwara and Formanek brace her screaming lead lines. The amorphous structure of "Muzzling Unwashed" is a set highlight as trumpet, guitar, bass, and drums create an exotic backdrop for Kidambi's languid delivery. "Bigger Flames" commences with Halvorson's playing simulating an electric ukulele amid a shimmering snare cascade from Fujiwara, bittersweet horn lines, and slippery time signatures. Backing vocals enter and leave at odd junctures, while Halvorson interjects loudly over Wyatt as the tune turns in on itself. "Mexican War Streets (Pittsburgh)" and "A Nearing" each clock in at over ten minutes. The former balances form and abstraction with lyrical playing from the soloists until Halvorson whomps on a Black Sabbath-like power riff that sends the band toward free improv. The latter, introduced by a long solo from Formanek, offers detailed ensemble playing a complex melody that is expanded by Kidambi and the guitarist with help from O'Farrill. When it cuts loose, powerful soloing from the horns and guitarist stridently engage dissonant post-bop. The title track begins like an indie folk tune, highlighted by Kidambi's tender singing. A minute in, Halvorson's slide guitar ushers in shapeshifting changes and kinetic exchanges between players. The tune sends Artlessly Falling out with dramatic, emotional resonance. This remarkable album cannot be quantified, only experienced. Mary Halvorson's Code Girl are so mercurial in method and content -- and mystifying in execution -- they actually deserve their own genre.
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Tracklist :
1    The Lemon Trees 7:15
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
Voice – Robert Wyatt
2    Last-Minute Smears 8:58
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
Percussion [Beer Cans] – Tomas Fujiwara
3    Walls And Roses 3:33
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
Voice – Robert Wyatt
4    Muzzling Unwashed    10:51
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
5    Bigger Flames 5:15
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
Voice – Robert Wyatt
6    Mexican War Streets (Pittsburgh)    10:40
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
7    A Nearing    10:32
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
8    Artlessly Falling    7:15
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
Credits :
Bass – Michael Formanek
Drums – Tomas Fujiwara
Guitar – Mary Halvorson
Tenor Saxophone, Voice – Maria Grand
Trumpet – Adam O'Farrill
Voice – Amirtha Kidambi
Written-By – Mary Halvorson