BRAD MEHLDAU TRIO - House on Hill (2006) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

House on Hill may be a new recording, but the material is not. Virtually everything here was written, according to his liner notes -- like Keith Jarrett, Brad Mehldau writes about himself best -- in a session done in 2004 which yielded 18 songs with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jorge Rossy. The decision was made to split the sets into originals and covers. The covers became 2004's Anything Goes. There are nine cuts here, the remaining seven from 2004, and the other two come from a more recent session. Mehldau states quite frankly that the compositions here mostly fall into the standard frame for small ensembles: theme (head) variations/theme. Mehldau's notes are exhaustive. They look at compositional forms of theme and its variations from Bach and Brahms. Yeah, it's an intellectual (read: eggheaded) -- and occasionally dry -- reading. The music on this set is anything but. The sheer elegance of Mehldau's writing is always something to behold, and this trio always finds the lace of swing. Often it is not in the melodies and lyric lines he writes. These are usually somewhat knotty, expansive statements from which the band just finds a kind of groove to extrapolate upon. The title cut is a fine example where the slippery little notation in the theme is built into a Latin-flavored ride. Dynamic shifts are continual in this music' check out "Boomer" which gains in intensity until the last minute when it finds its way home into the midtempo softness, and "Backyard," that is almost pastoral until the improvisation, where the tension in the rhythm section is almost icy. The off-kilter, spatial way "Fear and Trembling" (a reference to Søren Kierkegaard's book of the same name, perhaps?) opens is one of the more satisfying moments on the album. The ascending three- and four-note clusters Mehldau employs as a theme work well for putting the listener immediately inside the piece. It's modal touch is a nice one, where space is used as proficiently as instrumental acumen. House on Hill closes with the slightly angular introduction of "Waiting for Eden," that moves through a series of arpeggiatic sleights of hand and into a full swinging post-bop melody. While this set is nowhere near as full of surprises as Day Is Done, it is nonetheless another chapter in the development of a singular composer and pianist.

(This comment is posted on allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower our blog O Púbis da Rosa)

Tracklist:

1 August Ending 6:59

Brad Mehldau

2 House on Hill 8:13

Brad Mehldau

3 Bealtine 9:19

Brad Mehldau

4 Boomer 7:17

Brad Mehldau

5 Backyard 5:43

Brad Mehldau

6 Fear and Trembling 5:26

Brad Mehldau

7 Embers 8:07

Brad Mehldau

8 Happy Tune 8:53

Brad Mehldau

9 Waiting for Eden 7:32

Brad Mehldau

Credits:

Bass – Larry Grenadier

Drums – Jorge Rossy

Piano, Written-By – Brad Mehldau

BRAD MEHLDAU - Highway Rider (2010) 2CD / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The Highway Rider is pianist and composer Brad Mehldau's second collaboration with enigmatic pop producer Jon Brion. The first was 2002's ambitious but tentative Largo. As a collaboration, The Highway Rider is much more confident by contrast. Mehldau’s most ambitious work to date, its 15 compositions are spread over two discs and 100 minutes. His trio --bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard -- is augmented by saxophonist Joshua Redman, drummer Matt Chamberlain, and a chamber orchestra conducted by Dan Coleman. The album is a narrative jazz suite, orchestrated and arranged by Mehldau, though it has much in common with classical and pop music, as well. 

The group settings range from solo to quintet, with and without strings, all of it recorded live in studio. Redman's addition is welcome. “Don’t Be Sad” features his consoling tenor, Mehldau (on pump organ and piano), Grenadier, and both drummers with orchestra. It begins as a piano solo, languidly establishing a pace that begins to swing with gospel overtones. Later, Redman's lower-register blowing, strings, and winds carry it out joyfully. Brion adds drum‘n’bass overtones to the trio on the title track. The electronics are a narrative device designating motion; they accompany the gradually assertive knottiness in the post-bop lyric. Mehldau begins “The Falcon Will Fly Again” with a complex solo that touches on Latin grooves, even as Chamberlain and Ballard create an organic loop effect with hand percussion. Redman's soprano creates a contrapuntal melody extending the harmonic dialogue. Disc two’s lengthy “We’ll Cross the River Together” has quintet and orchestra engaging in a beautiful study of texture, color, and expansive harmonics with wildly divergent dynamics. It showcases Mehldau’s trademark pianistic elegance in counterpoint. Redman's deep blues tenor nearly weeps on “Sky Turning Grey (For Elliot Smith).” “Capriccio’'s Latin rhythms contrast ideally: Mehldau’s classical, gently dissonant motifs create an exploratory harmonic palette as Redman’s magnetic soprano playing joins Mehldau's in the last third, anchoring the complex melody. The closer, “Always Returning,” builds to a climax that incorporates themes from the cycle. Redman and Mehldau soar with the orchestra before they all close it in a whispering tone poem. By combining sophisticated -- yet accessible -- forms with jazz improvisation, The Highway Rider exceeds all expectations, giving jazz-classical crossover a good name for a change. It is Mehldau’s most ambitious, creatively unfettered, and deeply emotional work to date, and will stand as a high watermark in his catalog.

(This comment is posted on allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower our blog O Púbis da Rosa)

Tracklist 1 :

1  John Boy 3:15
Brad Mehldau 
2  Don't Be Sad 8:40
Brad Mehldau 

3  At the Tollbooth 1:07 

Brad Mehldau 

4  Highway Rider 7:45 

Brad Mehldau 

5  The Falcon Will Fly Again 8:21 

Brad Mehldau 

6  Now You Must Climb Alone 4:05 

Brad Mehldau 

7  Walking the Peak 8:00 

Brad Mehldau 

Tracklist 2 :

1  We'll Cross the River Together 12:28
Brad Mehldau 

2  Capriccio 5:20 

Brad Mehldau 

3  Sky Turning Grey [For Elliot Smith] 6:24 

Brad Mehldau 

4  Into the City 7:36 

Brad Mehldau 

5  Old West 8:28 

Brad Mehldau 

6  Come with Me 6:19 

Brad Mehldau 

7  Always Departing 6:20 

Brad Mehldau 

8  Always Returning 9:52 

Brad Mehldau 
Credits:
Bassoon [Orchestra] – Andrew Radford (tracks: 1-2, 1-6 to 2-1, 2-7, 2-8) 
Cello [Orchestra, Principal] – Timothy Landauer (tracks: 1-2, 1-6 to 2-1, 2-7, 2-8) 
Cello [Orchestra] – Armen Ksajikian (tracks: 1-2, 1-6 to 2-1, 2-7, 2-8), Cecilia Tsan (tracks: 1-2, 1-6, 1-7), Martha Lippi (tracks: 2-1, 2-7, 2-8), Rudolph Stein (tracks: 2-1, 2-7, 2-8), Stefanie Fife (tracks: 1-2, 1-6 to 2-1, 2-7, 2-8), Trevor Handy (tracks: 1-2, 1-6, 1-7) 
Composed By, Arranged By, Orchestrated By – Brad Mehldau
Conductor [Orchestra] – Dan Coleman (tracks: 1-1, 1-2, 1-6 to 2-1, 2-7, 2-8) 
Contrabassoon [Orchestra] – Allen Savedoff (tracks: 1-6 to 2-1, 2-7, 2-8) 
Contractor [Orchestra] – Suzie Katayama
Double Bass [Bass, Orchestra, Principal] – Michael Valerio (tracks: 1-6, 1-7), Sue Ranney (tracks: 2-1, 2-7, 2-8) 
Double Bass [Bass, Orchestra] – David Stone (tracks: 1-6, 1-7), Ed Meares (tracks: 1-6, 1-7), Oscar Hidalgo (tracks: 2-1, 2-7, 2-8), Timothy Eckert (tracks: 2-1, 2-7, 2-8) 
Double Bass [Bass] – Larry Grenadier (tracks: 1-2, 1-4, 1-7, 2-1, 2-3, 2-4, 2-6, 2-8) 
Drums – Jeff Ballard (tracks: 1-7, 2-1, 2-4, 2-6, 2-8), Matt Chamberlain (tracks: 1-2, 1-4, 1-7, 2-3, 2-8) 
Horn [Orchestra, Principal] – Brian O'Connor (tracks: 1-2, 1-6, 1-7), Steven Becknell (tracks: 1-1, 2-1, 2-7, 2-8) 
Horn [Orchestra] – Dan Kelley (tracks: 1-1, 2-1, 2-7, 2-8), John Reynolds (tracks: 1-6, 1-7), Mark Adams (tracks: 1-1, 1-6, 1-7), Phillip Yao (tracks: 1-1, 2-1, 2-7, 2-8) 
Leader [Orchestra] – Dan Coleman
Percussion – Jeff Ballard (tracks: 1-1, 1-5, 2-1, 2-2), Matt Chamberlain (tracks: 1-5, 2-1, 2-2) 
Piano – Brad Mehldau (tracks: 1-1 to 1-5, 1-7 to 2-6, 2-8) 
Soprano Saxophone – Joshua Redman (tracks: 1-1, 1-5, 2-2, 2-5, 2-6, 2-8) 
Tenor Saxophone – Joshua Redman (tracks: 1-2, 1-7, 2-1, 2-3) 
Viola [Orchestra, Principal] – Bob Becker (tracks: 2-1, 2-7, 2-8), Roland Kato (tracks: 1-2, 1-6, 1-7) 
Viola [Orchestra] – Andrew Duckles (tracks: 1-2, 1-6, 1-7), Andrew Picken (tracks: 2-1, 2-7, 2-8), Carole Kleister-Castillo (tracks: 2-1, 2-7, 2-8), Denyse Buffum (tracks: 1-2, 1-6, 1-7), Qiang (John) Wang (tracks: 2-1, 2-7, 2-8), Matt Funes (tracks: 1-2, 1-6 to 2-1, 2-7, 2-8), Victoria Miskolczy (tracks: 1-2, 1-6, 1-7) 
Violin [Orchestra] – Alyssa Park (tracks: 1-2, 1-6, 1-7), Robert Peterson (tracks: 2-1, 2-7, 2-8), Caroline Campbell (tracks: 1-2, 1-6 to 2-1, 2-7, 2-8), Dorian Cheah (tracks: 1-2, 1-6 to 2-1, 2-7, 2-8), Gerardo Hilera (tracks: 2-1, 2-7, 2-8), Jacqueline Brand (tracks: 1-2, 1-6, 1-7), Josefina Vergara (tracks: 1-2, 1-6, 1-7), Julian Hallmark (tracks: 1-2, 1-6 to 2-1, 2-7, 2-8), Michele Richards (tracks: 2-1, 2-7, 2-8), Natalie Leggett (tracks: 1-2, 1-6, 1-7), Philip Vaiman (tracks: 2-1, 2-7, 2-8), Sara Parkins (tracks: 1-2, 1-6 to 2-1, 2-7, 2-8), Tereza Stanislav (tracks: 1-2, 1-6, 1-7), Vladimir Polimatidi (tracks: 2-1, 2-7, 2-8) 
Violin [Orchestra], Concertmaster – Charlie Bisharat (tracks: 1-2, 1-6 to 2-1, 2-7, 2-8) 

JOE LOVANO / MARILYN CRISPELL / CARMEN CASTALDI - Trio Tapestry (2019) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Though most often associated with his swinging post-bop albums for Blue Note, saxophonist Joe Lovano is no stranger to the ECM label. He first recorded with producer Manfred Eicher's storied German institution in 1981 for drummer Paul Motian's album Psalm, playing alongside bassist Ed Schuller and guitarist Bill Frisell. Since then he has made several appearances on the label, including further hits with Motian (who died in 2011), as well as pianist Steve Kuhn and guitarist John Abercrombie. With 2019's deeply atmospheric Trio Tapestry, Lovano takes his relationship with ECM to the next logical and long-awaited plateau: by leading his first session for the label. Joining him are longtime associates in pianist Marilyn Crispell and fellow Cleveland native/drummer Carmen Castaldi. Lovano first played with Crispell in 2006 in a group that included Motian. He's known Castaldi since he was a teenager, and also as a student at Boston's Berklee School of Music, where they both studied. Having started her career in the '70s playing free jazz, Crispell has evolved into a deeply nuanced and harmonically engaging performer whose style often works as a bridge between the avant-garde and more accessible playing. This in-between bridge is what Lovano's trio explores on a set of original compositions that work more as impressionistic sound explorations than traditional, standards-based improvisations. Silence plays a huge role in the trio's sound. "One Time In" opens with a skittering clang of cymbals and a gong, and then there's nothing until Lovano's mournful, bird-like saxophone breaks through the metallic glow. Similarly, "Sparkle Lights" begins as a piano/sax duo with Lovano and Crispell playing a hushed, diminished-sounding phrase that gives way to emptiness before the trio delicately push back against the silence with icy harmonic swells. Elsewhere, they take a more tangible approach, offering up the melancholy balladry of "Seeds of Change," and growl through the atonal Ornette Coleman-ism of "The Smiling Dog." Primarily however, tracks like the evocative "Mystic" (which sounds like it was recorded in a large church, or empty gorge), and the aptly titled "Gong Episode," remain enigmatic, as if Lovano and his bandmates are less interested in a playing music, than in playing the space around them. by Matt Collar 
Tracklist:
1 One Time In 3:41
Joe Lovano
2 Seeds of Change 5:13
Joe Lovano
3 Razzle Dazzle 3:40
Joe Lovano
4 Sparkle Lights 4:07
Joe Lovano
5 Mystic 8:25
Joe Lovano
6 Piano/Drum Episode 3:40
Joe Lovano
7 Gong Episode 2:01
Joe Lovano
8 Rare Beauty 6:18
Joe Lovano
9 Spirit Lake 3:49
Joe Lovano
10 Tarrassa 4:15
Joe Lovano
11 The Smilling Dog 2:55
Joe Lovano
Credits:
Drums, Percussion – Carmen Castaldi
Piano – Marilyn Crispell
Producer [Produced By] – Manfred Eicher
Tenor Saxophone, Tárogató [Tarogato], Gong [Gongs] – Joe Lovano

MIROSLAV VITOUS - Universal Syncopations (2003) / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

On his first jazz date as a leader since 1992, Czechoslovakian bassist and composer Miroslav Vitous comes out of the gate with a host of heavyweights on one of the more lyrically swinging dates in modern jazz. Vitous' engaged, pulsing, and deeply woody tone is featured in the company of John McLaughlin, Jan Garbarek, Chick Corea, and Jack DeJohnette. While the crystalline sound of Manfred Eicher's ECM is everywhere here, as is the open-ended speculative jazz that the label is renowned -- and ridiculed for -- Vitous offers some startlingly beautiful twists and turns with his ensemble. Vitous, who has been through every music, from jazz-rock fusion as a founding member of Weather Report to being a classical composer, decided to revisit the skeletal remains of his very first session for the label in 1969. Produced by Herbie Mann the disc was, from a musical standpoint, a contentious, utterly brilliant marriage of ideas both old and new. Bandmembers DeJohnette and McLaughlin were present on those sides as well. Universal Syncopations is by turns a return to not the old forms, but rather to the manner of illustrating harmonic concepts in a quintet setting that allows for a maximum space between ensemble players while turning notions of swing, counterpoint, and rhythmic invention on their heads. From the wooly, expressionistic "Tramp Blues," with Vitous vamping around the changes, to the wide-open legato guitar phrasing of McLauglin against the double time in Vitous' bass on "Univoyage," to the simmering undulations of Garbarek's saxophones on top of Corea's intricate melodies and right-hand runs on "Brazilan Waves," all of it propelled, not anchored, by the leader's rich tone and accented and punctuated by Garbarek's tight, loping saxophone lines. This is one of those recordings that feels familiar in tone, but is timeless in concept and execution. Universal Syncopations is one of the most gorgeous sounding and toughly played dates of the calendar year.  by Thom Jurek
Tracklist:
1     Bamboo Forest        4:37
Miroslav Vitous
2     Univoyage    10:54
Miroslav Vitous
3    Tramp Blues    5:19
Miroslav Vitous
4    Faith Run    4:58
Miroslav Vitous
5    Sun Flower    7:21
Miroslav Vitous
6    Miro Bop    4:03
Miroslav Vitous
7    Beethoven    7:18
Jan Garbarek / Miroslav Vitous
8    Medium    5:09
Jan Garbarek / Miroslav Vitous
9    Brazil Waves    4:26
Jan Garbarek / Miroslav Vitous
Credits
     Double Bass, Written-By, Producer, Edited By, Mixed By – Miroslav Vitous
    Drums – Jack DeJohnette
    Guitar – John McLaughlin
    Piano – Chick Corea
    Producer, Edited By, Mixed By – Manfred Eicher
    Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – Jan Garbarek
    Trombone – Isaac Smith (tracks: 2 to 4)
    Trumpet – Wayne Bergeron (tracks: 2 to 4)
    Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Valerie Ponomarev (tracks: 2 to 4)
    Written-By – Jack DeJohnette (tracks: 8), Jan Garbarek (tracks: 7, 9)

MARTIAL SOLAL / DAVE DOUGLAS - Rue de Seine (2006) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

French pianist Martial Solal is joined by American trumpeter Dave Douglas for this inspired duo session. Solal has long been one of Europe's top pianists, while he has made occasional trips to the U.S. to perform, while Douglas has become a favorite of critics for his diverse recordings. The 35-year age difference between the musicians means nothing, as they react like old friends who have played together countless times. The session is staged in an unusual fashion, alternating between originals by each player over the first six tracks, followed by several timeless standards. Douglas begins on muted horn for Solal's quirky "July Shower," stimulated by the pianist's unpredictable accompaniment that focuses on the lower half of the keyboard. The trumpeter puts aside his mute for his melancholy tribute "Blues to Steve Lacy," with Solal's dirge-like piano perfectly capturing its mood. The standards are all pieces that the two men have undoubtedly played hundreds of times. Solal's dissonant approach to "Have You Met Miss Jones" is extremely playful and stimulates Douglas' rapid-fire muted trumpet. Their spacious, somewhat pensive setting of "Here's That Rainy Day" is equally refreshing. There's never a mundane moment throughout this brilliant duo date by Martial Solal and Dave Douglas, which merits a follow-up meeting. by Ken Dryden  

Tracklist:

1 July Shower

Written-By – Martial Solal

2 Blues To Steve Lacy

Written-By – Dave Douglas

3 34 Bars Blues

Written-By – Martial Solal

4 For Suzannah

Written-By – Dave Douglas

5 Fast Ballad

Written-By – Martial Solal

6 Elk's Club

Written-By – Dave Douglas

7 Have You Met Miss Jones

Written-By – L. Hart, R. Rodgers moder

8 Body And Soul

Written-By – E. Heyman, J. W. Green

9 Here's That Rainy Day

Written-By – J. Van Heusen, J. Burke

10 All The Things You Are

Written-By – J. Kern, O. Hammerstein

Credits:

Piano – Martial Solal

Trumpet – Dave Douglas

MATS EILERTSEN - Rubicon (2016) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

On his leader debut for ECM, bassist/composer Mats Eilertsen surrounds himself with players he has worked with in various contexts over the last 15 years. He has appeared on the label many times under the leadership of Tord Gustavsen, Jacob Young, Nils Økland, and Mathias Eick. This septet date is the largest ensemble he's ever assembled on record -- though they seldom play together. Among his collaborators are saxophonist/clarinetist Eirik Hegdal and guitarist Thomas Dahl, both of whom he's worked with since the '90s in Dingobats; ex-pat American Rob Waring on vibraphones and marimbas, drummer Olavi Louhivuori, pianist Harmen Fraanje, and saxophonist Trygve Seim. Rubicon began its life as a commission from the Vossajazz Festival in 2014. The music changed shape and was tightened on the road until producer Manfred Eicher and engineer Jan Eric Kongshaug captured it in Oslo's Rainbow Studio in May 2015.

Those familiar with Eilertsen's work with his Turanga or SkyDive bands will know that he doesn't compose to showcase his own playing. He writes for ensembles, or, in this case, subgroups of them. Opener "Canto" is an intimate, gentle dialogue for saxophone (Seim) and Hegdal's clarinet. Cymbal washes and sparse, crystalline, middle-register piano join the bassline. A Spanish tinge lies in its speculative melody. "March" is almost dirge-like in tempo, but it's colorful; it also contains traces of folk melody before moving off into an almost rockist groove via the guitarist's tremolo bar, Fraanje's Rhodes and acoustic piano, and Waring's sparkling vibes before an outside tenor solo. Though "Balky" commences with a bass solo, piano, brushed drums, tenor saxophone, guitar, and marimba eventually add layers, delivering the most songlike melody on the set. The interplay between Seim's solo and Dahl's illustrative electric guitar fills is gorgeous. "Blublue," with its staggered lyric line, is more harmonically open, with elegant use of vibes and Bill Frisell-esque guitar vamps while saxophones and vibes gently circle outward until the piano and an alto horn circle back. "September" is a vehicle for Dahl. His guitar is at the forefront with drums and vibes, as the horns add staggered fills in the backdrop. It's the closest thing to conventional "jazz" here, with a nearly euphoric sense of rhythmic syncopation. Rubicon delivers a series of fine compositions that explore various combinations of intimate, exploratory sounds along (mostly) subtle color lines and elegantly arrayed textural palettes. They evoke an inherent lyricism that, for all its restraint, is tonally expansive and harmonically smart. by Thom Jurek  
Tracklist:
1 Canto 5:36
Mats Eilertsen
2 Cross the Creek 2:22
Harmen Fraanje
3 March 8:07
Mats Eilertsen
4 Balky 6:47
Mats Eilertsen
5 Lago 7:00
Mats Eilertsen
6 BluBlue 7:27
Mats Eilertsen
7 Wood and Water 2:05
Mats Eilertsen / Eirik Hegdal / Rob Waring
8 September 8:01
Mats Eilertsen
9 Reminiscent 4:39
Mats Eilertsen
10 Introitus 2:21
Mats Eilertsen
Credits
     Double Bass – Mats Eilertsen
    Drums – Olavi Louhivuori
    Guitar – Thomas T Dahl
    Marimba, Vibraphone – Rob Waring
    Piano, Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes] – Harmen Fraanje
    Producer [Produced By] – Manfred Eicher
    Soprano Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet – Eirik Hegdal
    Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Trygve Seim

SUE RANEY - Autumn in the Air (1997) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Sue Raney, a top studio singer for years and a beloved, well-respected vocal coach, had not recorded a full showcase for quite some time before making this CD in 1997. Blessed with a very appealing voice, Raney is accompanied by pianist Dick Shreve, whose sensitivity is a major asset to the date, and, on six of the 13 selections, bassist Bob Magnusson. Emphasizing ballads that often have the theme of the singer being in the autumn of her life, Raney manages to avoid sounding dreary or downbeat. In fact, the joy heard in her voice (one knows immediately that she loves singing and that she has complete control over her "instrument") allows her to uplift and make fresh such familiar material as "The Song Is Ended," "I'll Be Seeing You" (taken at a medium tempo), "Over the Rainbow" and even the overrecorded tearjerker "Here's to Life." Other highlights include Shreve's haunting "Autumn In the Air," "Some Other Time" and "This Is All I Ask." Sue Raney's improvising is quite subtle, but even when she sings material fairly straight, her dramatic pauses and placement of notes make the music special. Available from the Spanish Fresh Sound label, this is one to look for. by Scott Yanow  
Tracklist:
1 Looking Back
 (Rowles-Ernst)
2 I'll Never Go There Again/Time Was
(Charlap-Lawrence/Prado-Russell-Luna)
3 The Song Is Ended
(Berlin)
4 Once Upon A Summertime/The Summer Knows
(Legrand-Mercer/Bergman)
5 Here's To Life
(Butler-Molinari)
6 I'll Be Seeing You
(Kahal-Fain)
7 Autumn In The Air
(Shreve-Orenstein)
8 When The World Was Young/Young And Foolish
(Gerard-Mercer-Vannier/Hague-Horwitt)
9 Some Other time
(Bernstein-Comden-Green)
10 Why Did I Choose You
(Leonard-Martin)
11 The Can't Take That Away From Me
(Gershwin-Gershwin)
12 This Is All I Ask
(Jenkins)
13 Over The Rainbow
(Arlen-Yarburg)
Credits:
Sue Raney - vocal
Dick Shreve - piano & arrangements
Bob Magnusson - bass (1, 3, 6, 7, 11 and 12)

MICHEL PORTAL - Arrivederci le Chouartse (1980-2002) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

This live date is a reunion of the reed and drum duo of Michael Portal and Pierre Favre that so freaked out French audiences in 1972 there was a televised debate about live improvised music. However, this time there is the addition of the formidable bass talent of Leon Francioli, a player of such distinction and diversity he is equally at home playing the music of Thelonious Monk or Hans Werner Herze. Playing in front of an audience for the first time -- there had been only two rehearsals -- Portal and Favre hadn't played together in years either; in Switzerland of all places, that feeling was obviously in the air because it can be heard here, that something unexpected was about to happen. It starts like an out improv date with "Arrivederci" with odd whispered rhythms played against an improvised bowed bass slipping along, trying to find a place to begin. The bow saws slowly and quickly from register to register, finding the trace of some ancient melody to bring in before tripping on as Favre kicks up the heat just a notch. Nothing else much happens except the tension of the ambience until about three minutes in when Francioli tags tough with a bit of "O Tannenbaum." Bass and drums continue to toy with one another, turning up the tension level until five minutes in, the atmosphere tight as a wire, Portal enters with an elegantly bluesy "Take the A-Train," improvising alone off the beauty of this cadence. When the band moves in to take him up on it, they slip through post-bop and modal territory like well-rehearsed schoolboys at exam time, all the while looking for the proper syntax to being the exploration. With Portal blowing the blues the way he is, there is little else to do except mine the emotion he lays out. Finally, there are a series of long singe notes, and the improvisation commences in earnest. Rhythm, melody, and harmony -- in almost the same manner as Bill Evans, Paul Motian, and Scott La Faro used them -- become a challenge. They are not to be undone so much as unwound, granting room for dissonance and subtle, yet fickle tonal sonances that normally find their way into only most extreme blowing sessions. Here, all three players share the rhythmic concern, grooving together in this unwinding musical sprawl where overtone and interval questions encounter melodic ones in the process of swinging through in mode and rhythmic meter. It's amazing, really. Semi-quavers appear every third or fourth interval, and the mode changes, as does the harmony. It's all jazz, but it's all improvisation. The swing is definitely the thing as bits of everyone from Ornette Coleman to Dave Brubeck find their way into the floating, slinky twists and turns this trio takes each other through on their way to someplace nobody's been yet. For 32 minutes, "Arrivederci" rolls on, with Francioli playing some deeply funky Horace Silver lines on the bass. The next two works are actually an improvisatory suite, "Le Chouartse," of about 35 minutes in length. Portal gets out the clarinets and puts them to work with the saxophones in a rhythmic counterpart to Favre. There is polyrhythmic in his embouchure before any melodic or harmonic idiom is established. The evidence for the confusion is the lack of Francioli's presence until about three minutes into the track when he realizes the rhythmic line Portal is playing is the melody. Once he's in, and Favre is using his hands all over his muted toms toms, the fun begins. This suite is a trip down the rabbit hole but without Alice and in the dark. It steams, and whispers, shouts, screams and coos with six sets of rhythms all playing against each other at once, Portal accomplishing his with microphonics à la Pharoah Sanders -- but on bass clarinet. There are long periods of near silent communication happening during this work, but when the dynamic changes, so does everything else, the notion of jazz tradition -- i.e., melody, rhythm, and harmony -- has been reinvented, extended to include dissonant harmony and fragmented modal ideas in its rhythmic concepts, thus, opening up an entirely new space for the definition of melody as an extension of rhythm which is the next extension of harmony. A truly remarkable session, one that should be far better known than it is. by Thom Jurek  
Tracklist:
1 Arrivederci 32:36
2 Le Chouartse I 17:52
3 Le Chouartse II 18:42
Credits:
Bass – Léon Francioli
Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – Michel Portal
Composed By – Léon Francioli, Michel Portal, Pierre Favre
Drums, Percussion – Pierre Favre

KEITH JARRETT / GARY PEACOCK / JACK DeJOHNETTE - After the Fall (2017) 2CD / FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

In recent years, pianist Keith Jarrett and ECM have collaborated in releasing varied, important recordings from his performance and private archives. After the Fall, recorded with his iconic "standards trio" with bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette, is another. Recorded at a concert in Newark, New Jersey in November 1998, it exists in the space between the group's Tokyo '96 (1997) and Whisper Not (1999). This performance marked Jarrett's return to the stage after a two-year battle with chronic fatigue syndrome. This particular concert was the first Jarrett performed since the 1996 Italian solo performances issued as A Multitude of Angels in 2016.
This double disc isn't merely a compelling historical document, it is an exemplary concert full of inspired readings of classic jazz tunes ranging from the the Great American Songbook through bebop and John Coltrane. Disc one's opener, a 15-plus-minute reading of Allie Wrubel and Herb Magidson's "The Masquerade Is Over," is astonishing. Jarrett kicks it off with a sensitive re-imagining of its melody and harmony, but when DeJohnette enters with his brushes, it begins to shift until it breaks through to hard-swinging post-bop. They follow it with a bright, impassioned take on Charlie Parker's "Scrapple from the Apple" with Jarrett offering plenty of right-hand fireworks. As DeJohnette finds new rhythmic lanes in the tune, Peacock opens spaces inside the changes and swings them through. After an arresting balance of communication and physicality on the nearly ten-minute ballad "Old Folks" -- featuring a gorgeous Peacock solo -- they close the first set out with a sprightly, harmonically lush, and rhythmically diverse version of "Autumn Leaves," full of deft exchanges between the players that last nearly 14 minutes.
Disc two returns to bop with a long, joyous reading of Bud Powell's "Bouncin' with Bud" and Sonny Rollins' blues-drenched "Doxy." Noel Coward's ballad "I'll See You Again" is a vehicle for the close communication between these players -- note DeJohnette's syncopated flourishes and Peacock's brilliant solo as Jarrett expands the harmonics to showcase the improvisational potential in popular song. They follow with a haunted read of Paul Desmond's exquisite vehicle for melodic improvisation in "Late Lament," before shifting back to bluesy bop with Pete La Roca's "One for Majid," boasting another smoking Peacock solo. While jazzmen have offered "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" before, none have ever delivered it with this much drama and fleet articulation. Jarrett almost hammers the changes while simultaneously embellishing them with taut middle-register arpeggios. Oddly, it sets the stage perfectly for Coltrane's "Moment's Notice," rendered with bop intensity and knotty swing. After the Fall could have ended there, but thankfully doesn't: the whispering shimmer of "When I Fall in Love" brings the performance back to earth, closing one of this trio's great recorded performances. It sounds as exhilarating and thrilling today as it did two decades ago. by Thom Jurek

KEITH JARRETT - The Köln Concert (1975) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Recorded in 1975 at the Köln Opera House and released the same year, this disc has, along with its revelatory music, some attendant cultural baggage that is unfair in one sense: Every pot-smoking and dazed and confused college kid -- and a few of the more sophisticated ones in high school -- owned this as one of the truly classic jazz records, along with Bitches Brew, Kind of Blue, Take Five, A Love Supreme, and something by Grover Washington, Jr. Such is cultural miscegenation. It also gets unfairly blamed for creating George Winston, but that's another story. What Keith Jarrett had begun a year before on the Solo Concerts album and brought to such gorgeous flowering here was nothing short of a miracle. With all the tedium surrounding jazz-rock fusion, the complete absence on these shores of neo-trad anything, and the hopelessly angry gyrations of the avant-garde, Jarrett brought quiet and lyricism to revolutionary improvisation. Nothing on this program was considered before he sat down to play. All of the gestures, intricate droning harmonies, skittering and shimmering melodic lines, and whoops and sighs from the man are spontaneous. Although it was one continuous concert, the piece is divided into four sections, largely because it had to be divided for double LP. But from the moment Jarrett blushes his opening chords and begins meditating on harmonic invention, melodic figure construction, glissando combinations, and occasional ostinato phrasing, music changed. For some listeners it changed forever in that moment. For others it was a momentary flush of excitement, but it was change, something so sorely needed and begged for by the record-buying public. Jarrett's intimate meditation on the inner workings of not only his pianism, but also the instrument itself and the nature of sound and how it stacks up against silence, involved listeners in its search for beauty, truth, and meaning. The concert swings with liberation from cynicism or the need to prove anything to anyone ever again. With this album, Jarrett put himself in his own league, and you can feel the inspiration coming off him in waves. This may have been the album every stoner wanted in his collection "because the chicks dug it." Yet it speaks volumes about a musician and a music that opened up the world of jazz to so many who had been excluded, and offered the possibility -- if only briefly -- of a cultural, aesthetic optimism, no matter how brief that interval actually was. This is a true and lasting masterpiece of melodic, spontaneous composition and improvisation that set the standard. by Thom Jurek
Tracklist:
1 Part I   26:01
2 Part II A   14:54
3 Part II B   18:13
4 Part II C   6:59

KENNY GARRETT - Do Your Dance! (2016) FLAC (tracks), lossless

On Kenny Garrett's fourth Mack Avenue release, 2016's Do Your Dance!, the Detroit-born saxophonist dives headlong into a set of original songs that exploit dance rhythms in subtle, unexpected ways. Conceptually speaking, while there are dance beats from swing, funk, Latin, and more throughout Do Your Dance!, the idea of doing your dance could also simply refer to the idea of doing your own thing and expressing yourself in your own unique way. That seems to be the deeper notion running through much of Garrett's music, which is often explosive, harmonically challenging, and highly engaging here. Joining Garrett are several collaborators from his other Mack Avenue releases, including pianist Vernell Brown, Jr., bassist Corcoran Holt, drummers Ronald Bruner, Jr. and McClenty Hunter, and percussionist Rudy Bird. Together, they have a lively, organic ensemble sound that lends itself to group interplay even during solos. Everybody sounds alert and focused with all ears on Garrett. Bookended by two fiery post-bop swingers in "Philly" and "Chasing the Wind," both of which bring to mind mid-'60s John Coltrane, Do Your Dance! finds Garrett in an eclectic mood. His roiling "Backyard Groove" picks up on the angular circularity of Miles Davis' "Freedom Jazz Dance," while the aptly titled "Bossa" is a fluid, minor-key-tinged exploration the Brazilian sound. Elsewhere, Garrett displays his knack for combining disparate sounds, as on the classically inflected "Wheatgrass Shot (Straight to the Head)" featuring rapper Donald "Mista Enz" Brown, Jr., which sounds delightfully like the Roots making an ECM album. Also unexpected are the ruminative "Waltz (3 Sisters)" and the exotic "Persian Steps," which features Garrett on sax, flute, and the droney, traditional Indian Shruti Box. More expected, but no less impressive, is the buoyant "Calypso Chant," in which Garrett summons the titanic energy and island-inspired hard bop of Sonny Rollins. Ultimately, with Do Your Dance! Garrett has crafted an album that will get your blood flowing to your brain and your feet.  by Matt Collar  

Tracklist:

1 Philly 8:06

Kenny Garrett

2 Backyard Groove 6:56

Kenny Garrett

3 Wheatgrass Shot (Straight to the Head) 4:43

Kenny Garrett

4 Bossa 6:22

Kenny Garrett

5 Do Your Dance! 4:57

Kenny Garrett

6 Calypso Chant 4:37

Kenny Garrett

7 Waltz (3 Sisters) 7:23

Kenny Garrett

8 Persian Steps 8:08

Kenny Garrett

9 Chasing the Wind 5:30

Kenny Garrett

Credits:

Rudy Bird - Percussion

Vernell Brown, Jr. - Piano

Ronald Bruner, Jr. - Drums

Kenny Garrett - Composer, Percussion, Producer, Sax (Alto), Vocals

Corcoran Holt - Bass

McClenty Hunter - Drums

Donald "Mista Enz" Brown, Jr - Rap

KENNY GARRETT - Do Your Dance!

 (2016) MAC / FLAC (tracks), lossless

O Púbis da Rosa

STEFANO BOLLANI - Joy in Spite of Everything [2014] ECM / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

On Joy in Spite of Everything, Italian pianist Stefano Bollani reconvened his longstanding trio with drummer Morten Lund and bassist Jesper Bodilsen. They recorded three previous dates together, the most recent being 2009's excellent Stone in the Water on ECM. Bollani has continually displayed -- from his dates with mentor Enrico Rava, on solo offerings, and with other leaders, that his playing and composing signatures are not only versatile and Catholic in their approach to jazz, but informed equally by the building blocks and possibilities of song itself. To that end, he has added two more players to this date, guitarist Bill Frisell and saxophonist Mark Turner. The group performs on these tunes not only as a quintet, but in various quartets, trios, and duets. The tracks are long enough to stretch a bit and offer a wide, colorful palette of approaches. Opener "Easy Healing" has a calypso-cum-plena vibe that allows for lovely interplay from the rhythm section, but also between Frisell and Turner -- who is unusually lyrical rather than cerebral -- in his solo. It's followed by "No Pope No Party." With knotty, stop-and-start post-bop as its entryway, it swings throughout even when it moves afield; the dialogue between saxophonist and pianist is canny, with Frisell's solo melding straight-ahead swing with Americana. "Alobar e Kudra" is a piano trio that offers Bollani's fluid voicings, light and dark, balanced by shimmering ostinati as the rhythm section digs in and extrapolates on them. "Las Hortensias" is a long, moody ballad for a quartet with lovely understated work by the pianist. Turner explores the fringes of the melody and engages in counterpoint after his restrained solo break. The set's lengthiest number is "Vale." It commences skeletally as a nearly formless, languid, balladic improvisation. Bollani brings angles into view after his own solo, touching on post-bop, Nino Rota's delicate classicism, and the Italian jazz tradition, but it's Turner's solo that shines brightest. "Teddy," a duet with Frisell, was inspired by pianist Teddy Wilson, though its sparse, impressionistic opening would hardly suggest that. Nonetheless, in its sprightly, swinging dialogue, one can hear its subject's influence -- though musically it reaches much further. "Ismene" is a beautiful ballad, and a fine vehicle for Frisell's instinctive manner of chordal voicings and poignant lyrical fills. The closing title track for Bollani's trio is fleet, wildly creative post-bop that shows off just how intuitive the group's development has become in the last decade. Joy in Spite of Everything's myriad colors and moods illustrate its title -- even in the most melancholy places. As an album it reveals how confident and sensitive Bollani is, in full command of his musical range and technical facility -- as composer, bandleader, pianist, and arranger -- as well as in the depth of his honesty in emotional expression. by Thom Jurek 
Tracklist
1 Easy Healing 9:25
Stefano Bollani
2 No Pope No Party 8:08
Stefano Bollani
3 Alobar e Kudra 6:01
Stefano Bollani
4 Las Hortensias 8:30
Stefano Bollani
5 Vale 12:20
Stefano Bollani
6 Teddy 7:07
Stefano Bollani
7 Ismene 8:47
Stefano Bollani
8 Tales from the Time Loop 9:36
Stefano Bollani
9 Joy in Spite of Everything 5:57
Stefano Bollani
Credits
Double Bass – Jesper Bodilsen
Drums – Morten Lund
Guitar – Bill Frisell
Piano – Stefano Bollani
Tenor Saxophone – Mark Turner 

STEFANO BOLLANI - Joy in Spite of Everything

 [2014] ECM 2360 / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

O Púbis da Rosa

MARTIAL SOLAL - Bluesine [1983] Soul Note / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This solo piano affair by Martial Solal dates from early 1983, mixing striking interpretations of standards and familiar jazz compositions along with his own stunning originals. His take of "The End of a Love Affair" has the virtuosity of Art Tatum and the lyricism of Tommy Flanagan in a rather curious blend. His stutter-step introduction to Richard Rodgers' "Lover" is only the beginning of his wild approach to this familiar waltz; his topsy-turvy arrangement is full of humor. "I'll Remember April" is often subjected to rather dull, predictable performances in the world of jazz, though Solal approaches it in angular fashion, working only gradually toward its very recognizable theme. Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight" is also tackled in a roundabout way instead of the usual direct fashion, while his enlightened take of Charlie Parker's "Yardbird Suite" is a bit more accessible, though no less novel. Solal's two originals nicely round out this rewarding CD, which is getting more to difficult to acquire after being dropped from the Soul Note catalog. by Ken Dryden
Tracklist
1 The End of a Love Affair 5:11
Edward Redding
2 Bluesine 2:55
Martial Solal
3 Lover 3:54
Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers
4 I'll Remember April 5:40
Gene DePaul / Pat Johnston / Patricia Johnston / Don Raye
5 Moins de 36 2:47
Martial Solal
6 'Round About Midnight 6:00
Bernie Hanighen / Thelonious Monk / Cootie Williams
7 Yardbirdie Suite 3:02
Charlie Parker
8 14 Septembre 4:00
Martial Solal
9 Have You Met Miss Jones? 3:40
Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers
Credits 
Piano – Martial Solal

 MARTIAL SOLAL - Bluesine 

[1983] Soul Note / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

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PAUL BLEY - Open, To Love (1972) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Despite the fact that pianist and composer Paul Bley had been a renowned and innovative jazzman for nearly 20 years, 1973 saw the release of his most mature and visionary work, and one that to this day remains his opus. This is one of the most influential solo piano recordings in jazz history, and certainly one that defined the sound of the German label ECM. Consisting of seven tracks, five of which were composed by Carla Bley (his ex-wife) and Annette Peacock (soon to be his ex-wife), and two originals, Bley showcased his newfound penchant for the spatial pointillism and use of silence that came to define his mature work. In Carla Bley's "Ida Lupino," the pianist took the song's harmonics and unwound them from their source, deepening the blues elements, brushing the Errol Garnerish ostinato with pastoral shades and textures of timbral elegance, and reaching the tonic chords in the middle register just as he forced the improvisation just barely into the abstract with his right hand, percussively slipping in one or two extra notes to highlight the deep lyricism in the tune's body. On his own "Started," Bley illustrates brazenly the deep influences of the Second Viennese School on his sense of harmony and counterpoint. Recalling Arnold Schöenberg's solo piano pieces in their engagement of dissonance and glissando placement, it's still Bley playing jazz and improvising, vamping on his own theme while turning melody and timbre back on themselves for the purpose of complete tonal engagement in the middle register. And in Annette Peacock's "Nothing Ever Was, Anyway," which closes the album, Bley makes full use of an element he employs throughout the recording: space and its ability to create the notion of consonance or dissonance from the simplest of melodies. Here notes appear, related, but just barely, to one another in a more or less linear sequence, and Bley stretches that connection to the breaking point by using his sense of spatial relationship in harmony to silence. He elongates the tonal sustain and allows it to bleed into his next line just enough, as if it were a ghostlike trace of another melody, a another distant lyric, attempting to impose itself on the present one, though it had just since ceased to exist. Ultimately, what Bley offers is jazz pianism as a new kind of aural poetics, one that treats the extension of the composer's line much as the poet treats the line as the extension of breath. Sheer brilliance. by Thom Jurek

Tracklist:

1 Closer 5:51

Composed By – Carla Bley

2 Ida Lupino 7:31

Composed By – Carla Bley

3 Started 5:13

Composed By – Paul Bley

4 Open, To Love 7:10

Composed By – Anette Peacock

5 Harlem 3:22

Composed By – Paul Bley

6 Seven 7:21

Composed By – Carla Bley

7 Nothing Ever Was, Anyway 6:02

Composed By – Anette Peacock

Credits

Piano – Paul Bley

Producer – Manfred Eicher

ALAN SILVA AND THE CELESTRIAL COMUNICATION ORCHESTRA - Seasons (1970-2002) 2CD / FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Don't let the miserable packaging of the reissue on CD deter you from purchasing this remarkable gargantuan effort by bassist and composer Alan Silva, for which the term "masterpiece" is not too far a stretch. The original three-LP set has been compacted to two full-length CDs. Unfortunately, there are no liner notes, and you may need a magnifying glass to decipher the list of more than 20 participating musicians, who read like a who's who of avant-garde jazz at the time this was recorded. As there are no individual tracks and the "composition" is more than two hours long, there is also reproduced from the LP a detailed time log listing the instruments at any particular moment. Unfortunately, the log is virtually useless as it corresponds to the six sides of the original LPs. That aside, this is a magnificent, rambling, chaotic, lavish, and often meandering spectacle that should be heard in one sitting to be completely appreciated. It takes the concept of "sheets of sound" to the next level. Even with its deficiencies, it is a spectacular presentation, with snippets of melodies (or more precisely, riffs) interspersed among the soloists, who include Silva, Steve Lacy, Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Robin Kenyatta, Michel Portal, and Joachim Kühn, to cite the more recognizable names. The results are absolutely thrilling, if not always inspiring, and there are many high points. While individual improvisers are difficult to identify, the level of improvisation remains consistently at the highest levels. It is wild and free, and the listener receptive to free improvisation is likely to be held in rapturous attention. Destined to be a classic of its genre, Seasons offers a full-scale radical bombardment from many perspectives, resulting in a smorgasbord of delights. While listening to so much at once is a challenge, the patient listener willing to put in the effort should be fulfilled and rewarded amply.  by Steve Loewy 
Track Listing - Disc 1
1     Seasons    1:10:38
Alan Silva
Track Listing - Disc 2
1     Seasons (Continued)    1:12:50  
Alan Silva
Credits
    Alto Saxophone, Clarinet [Clarinets] – Michel Portal
    Alto Saxophone, Flute – Robin Kenyatta
    Cello – Kent Carter
    Cello, Celesta – Irene Aebi
    Drums, Percussion – Don Move
    Drums, Percussion, Performer [Bronte] – Jerome Cooper
        Leader, Bass, Violin [Electric], Sarangi [Electric], Performer [Arc, Ressort (Bow & Spring], Instruments [Two French Electroacoustic Intruments], Composed By, Arranged By – Alan Silva
    Piano – Dave Burrell, Joachim Kuhn
    Saxophone [Saxophones], Flute [Flutes], Oboe – Roscoe Mitchell
    Saxophone [Saxophones], Flute, Bassoon – Joseph Jarman
    Soprano Saxophone – Steve Lacy
    Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Flute – Ronnie Beer
    Timpani, Percussion – Oliver Johnson
    Trumpet – Alan Shorter
    Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Lester Bowie
    Trumpet, French Horn – Bernard Vitet
    Viola [Electric] – Jouk Minor
    Violin [Electric] – Dieter Gewissler

  

WOLFGANG MUTHSPIEL - Where the River Goes [2018] ECM [24-96]

In 2016, Austrian guitarist and composer Wolfgang Muthspiel released the widely celebrated quintet offering Rising Grace as his sophomore effort for ECM. Its meditative -- and sometimes oblique -- compositions were riven with smooth, percolating grooves and an intelligent, canny conversation among the players, thanks in no small part to the musicians recording live in the same room. Muthspiel returns to the same French studio with three of those sidemen -- pianist Brad Mehldau, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, and bassist Larry Grenadier -- with Eric Harland replacing Brian Blade on drums. Just as on Rising Grace, Muthspiel penned all but one of these eight tunes, with "Blueshead" composed by Mehldau. The guitarist uses electric and acoustic instruments in tunes that reveal the conversational m.o. of this band.

The opening title cut is introduced by Muthspiel's electric with sparse fingerpicking before pulsing a chord pattern to introduce Mehldau, who in turn articulates the lyric in elliptical tones. Grenadier enters, adding weight and increasing the tempo before Harland and Akinmusire approach, adding force, color, and texture as the melodic body ascends to a euphoric plateau. Muthspiel's solo winds above and through his bandmates' dialogue, framing the proceedings with scalar single-note queries and chordal accents. In "For Django," the band offers the head in unison before Mehldau and Muthspiel turn around one another in widening circles while Akinmusire finds choice moments to underscore their contrapuntal inquiries. "Clearing" is a group improv piece fueled by Harland's breaks and syncopated trap beats. The groove remains deep even as Mehldau takes it outside, pushing off from the vamp to go deeper. Akinmusire employs a rainbow of tonalities in his solo before paring the entire proceeding down for Muthspiel to carry it out. The guitarist plays solo acoustic on the lovely "Buenos Aires," a three-and-a-half-minute exercise in harmonic inquiry inside a ballad.

"One Day My Prince Was Gone" is a vehicle for Akinmusire and Mehldau. The former makes use of his immense creativity and technical skills to embrace everything from New Orleans jazz to Miles' modalism to vanguard exposition in ever increasing modes of tension, while the latter and Grenadier frame his statements and the guitarist offers tight, single-string leads as ballast for the labyrinthine trumpet lines. By contrast, Mehldau's "Blueshead" is a muscular exercise in fingerpopping post-bop. All five members showcase their soloing chops. Muthspiel in particular is notable for his fleet, spidery arpeggios that swing like mad. Mehldau sits out the brief closer, "Panorama," as the guitarist and the rhythm section stretch Brazilian rhythmic interpolations to meet elements of classical and even flamenco musics. Where the River Goes is more speculative than its predecessor, but it's so kinetic in its group engagement, it doesn't feel that way. Its seemingly effortless conversation sets a new bar for this group going forward. by Thom Jurek
Tracklist
    1     Where the River Goes    7:42
Wolfgang Muthspiel
    2     For Django    7:15
Wolfgang Muthspiel
    3     Descendants    5:32
Wolfgang Muthspiel
    4     Clearing   7:26
Ambrose Akinmusire / Larry Grenadier / Eric Harland / Brad Mehldau / Wolfgang Muthspiel
    5     Buenos Aires    3:37
Wolfgang Muthspiel
    6     One Day My Prince Was Gone    5:31
Wolfgang Muthspiel
    7     Blueshead    7:41
Brad Mehldau
    8     Panorama    3:27
Wolfgang Muthspiel
Credits
    Double Bass – Larry Grenadier
    Drums – Eric Harland
      Guitar – Wolfgang Muthspiel
    Piano – Brad Mehldau
    Producer [Produced By] – Manfred Eicher
    Trumpet – Ambrose Akinmusire

WOLFGANG MUTHSPIEL - Where the River Goes
[2018] ECM 2610 / FLAC [24bit-96khz]

O Púbis da Rosa

STEVE COLEMAN - Invisible Paths : First Scattering [2007] Tzadik / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

For a musician as engaged with the history, lineage, and future possibilities of jazz, it's rather remarkable that composer, saxophonist, and bandleader Steve Coleman hasn't recorded a solo album before now. Better later than never. In his liner notes, Coleman states: "As always my concern was to create music that would express my total range of beliefs regarding the universe and our relationship to it. The resulting music would be a sonic commentary or expression of Nature and Life....I realized that these musical ideas would in some ways have more clarity than my work within an ensemble, and in other ways be more obscure....I realized that the forms that lie at the basis of the sounded music would normally not be able to be perceived." This is not so pretentious: painter Mark Rothko held views very similar to this, resulting in his own singular method of painting that used few colors and shapes, but communicated and invoked strong, even universal emotions in the viewer that would not and could not come into play in more conventionally image-based work. Coleman also regards the possibility of new meanings and invisible paths that can and do come into play when the articulated sounds of the music engage the imagination of the listener, creating a third entity that comprises both -- hence a new meaning. Add to this his eternal sense of cyclical time that comes from Hindu, Buddhist, and Taoist traditions, and what one has is indeed a sonic universe, both infinitesimally small and inconceivably large. This is wonderfully ambitious for a solo saxophone recording, but there is great merit in his thinking, especially as it translates to the music at hand. In fact, this set has more in common with Lee Konitz's Lone-Lee album (without the multi-tracking) than it does with, say, Anthony Braxton's solo saxophone improvisational recordings. Coleman uses a keen sense of how to fill aural space, with a deep knowledge and use of a (mostly) Western harmonic language that allows the listener inside his sound world. In fact, it readily invites you in.

These 16 pieces take just over 70 minutes to complete, and use mostly conventional notions of melody to poetically weave their way through the jazz tradition -- and yes, he does that by using the lineage in these pieces, evoking Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Ben Webster, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Anthony Braxton, and contemporaries like Greg Osby and Don Byron -- while offering new notions of song. These pieces, which range from just over two minutes to seven and a half with many points in between, more often than not turn on themselves, returning to a theme that offers itself as a first step and as a return to hear what has changed in the interval between. Not merely scalar exercises, these pieces, all of them inseparable from one another by their very placement in both sequence and the evolution in the sound they offer, are parts of an extended meditation on a pulsing, growing universe, perhaps inconceivable to the listener's imagination before hearing these ideas as "sung" in a more conservative sense. Coleman also extends the language of the horn, and offers something new in the way of way solo recordings. In fact, Invisible Paths: First Scattering is not the revelation of what he has learned as a musician so much as what he perceives may be possible since he is one. Hosting Coleman's recording is a coup both for the artist and for Tzadik, which hasn't, for all of its forward thinking and radical reinvention of many musical languages, ever hosted a recording quite like this one before, so inside a jazz tradition that is regenerative and creates newness because of its past rather than in spite of it. This is Steve Coleman as you have never heard him before; with every note here, he communicates in improvisational song how necessary he is to the continued evolution of jazz in particular and to 21st century music in general. Invisible Paths was worth waiting 22 years for.  by Thom Jurek

Tracklist:
1     Ascending Numeration: Reformed     4:05
2     Shift     2:07
3     Possession Of Images     6:35
4     Negative Secondary     4:41
5     The Witness     5:26
6     Invisible Paths     3:11
7     Fundamental Disturbance I     4:02
8     Fecundation: 070118     4:32
9     Embodiment     5:04
10     Facing West     5:05
11     Clouds     7:29
12     Back At The Crib     3:06
13     Cardinal-Fixed-Mutable     2:36
14     Fundamental Disturbance II     4:30
15     Individualization     4:14
16     Fecundation: 070118 (Another View)     4:19
Credits
    Alto Saxophone, Written-By – Steve Coleman

 STEVE COLEMAN - Invisible Paths : First Scattering 

[2007] Tzadik / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

O Púbis da Rosa