MATANA ROBERTS — Coin Coin Chapter Four : Memphis (2019) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Like each of the previous chapters in artist Matana Roberts' projected 12-part work Coin Coin, she uses her music as a medium. Through it she explores the gauzy intersection of folklore and history that serves as a definition of the way in which we view ourselves at the present juncture, or refuse to should we wish to remain in the darkness. Roberts interrogates official accounts, slave narratives, her family's stories, and her identity as an African American woman; she also delves into and explodes mythologies, historic, spiritual, and cultural. Coin Coin is not one story but many, a revelatory exploration of Blackness outside the notorious twin filters of race and class that define America.

Where Coin Coin Chapter Three: River Run Thee was delivered completely solo, Memphis showcases a brand-new band. This new group includes the criminally under-celebrated multi-instrumentalist and composer Hannah Marcus on guitars, fiddle, and accordion, Sam Shalabi on guitar and oud, Nick Caloia on bass, and Ryan Sawyer on drums and percussion. All members provide vocals. Roberts speaks, sings, and plays alto saxophone and clarinet. She also engages contributions from trombonist Steve Swell and vibraphonist Ryan White alongside a trio of guest vocalists. Roberts employs her usual rainbow of methods to reveal her interrogation of past and present: Spoken word, singing, narrating, playing, and directing. Musically free jazz improvisation winds through gospel, blues, folk, and field chants. Introduced by droning voices, bowed strings, clarinet, and percussion, "Jewels of the Sky: Inscription" opens the doorways between antiquity and a 21st century United States where black men and women are executed by police. Though her maternal grandmother's mugshot adorns the cover, Roberts traces the story of an ancestor named Liddie whose father was murdered by the KKK. In "As Far as the Eye Can See," jaw harp, accordion, fiddle, and guitars frame her spoken narrative about the slippage of memory, Liddie's recollection of her father encouraging her to run as a metaphor to flee the Klan's violence and hate, of church, and segregation. In the set's longest track, Roberts sets snippets of folk songs "Cold Frosty Morning" and "Paddy on the Turnpike" against free improvisation as a way of opening them to her thematic narration which concludes with the sung refrain from "Do Lord." In "Fit to Be Tied," W.C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues" is offered atop a Latin beat amid chants, moans, and free playing. "Her Mighty Waters Run" features staggered choral voices droning through the spiritual "Roll the Old Chariot." On "All Things Beautiful," abstract group improvisation clears the way for Roberts to expressionistically narrate the Klan's violence before and after Liddie's flight: "I wish I could feel myself again/I am a child of the wind/Even daddy said so…." Like its predecessors, Coin Coin Chapter Four: Memphis isn't "easy" to listen to, nor should it be, given the nature of what it explores and explicates. That said, it is a necessary, engaged art that bears repeated listening for its revelation to unfold and hopefully open a gateway to understanding. Arguably, it is the strongest and most compelling of the Coin Coin releases thus far.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1. Jewels of the Sky: Inscription .[01:49]
2. As Far as the Eye Can See .[04:04]
3. Trail of the Smiling Sphinx .[09:44]
4. Piddling .[02:30]
5. Shoes of Gold .[03:08]
6. Wild Fire Bare .[05:42]
7. Fit to Be Tied .[02:42]
8. Her Mighty Waters Run .[04:58]
9. All Things Beautiful .[02:31]
10. In the Fold .[03:17]
11. Raise Yourself Up .[02:45]
12. Backbone Once More .[00:52]
13. How Bright They Shine .[02:51]
Credits :
Alto Saxophone, Clarinet, Voice [Wordspeak], Voice – Matana Roberts
Double Bass, Voice – Nicolas Caloia
Drums [Drumset], Vibraphone, Jew's Harp [Jaw Harp], Bells, Voice – Ryan Sawyer
Electric Guitar, Guitar [Nylon String Guitar], Fiddle, Accordion, Voice – Hannah Marcus
Electric Guitar, Oud, Voice – Sam Shalabi
Guest, Trombone, Voice – Steve Swell
Guest, Vibraphone – Ryan White
Guest, Voice – Jessica Moss, Nadia Moss, Thierry Amar

MATANA ROBERTS — Coin Coin Chapter Five : In the Garden (2023) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Storyteller, composer, saxophonist, and visual artist Matana Roberts is a dozen years into her visionary Coin Coin project that began in 2011. A canny, provocative, utterly revelatory history of African Americans through history and lineage, it's titled after Marie Thérèse Coincoin, former slave, mother, businesswoman, and activist. Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden (the first of a projected 12 parts) follows previous entries, juxtaposing folk songs and avant jazz, free improv and post-bop, spoken word, noise, and post-rock. Her tentet offers a great variety of sounds, textures, and colors in a complex yet illustrative narrative. This album expressionistically chronicles the tragic aftermath of an ancestor's terminated pregnancy, echoing poignantly across time into the 21st century when the Supreme Court invalidated Roe v. Wade.

Roberts employs an excellent cast that includes clarinetist Stuart Bogie, drummers/percussionists Mike Pride and Ryan Sawyer, saxophonists Darius Jones and Matt Lavelle (who also plays trumpet), violinist Mazz Swift, pianist Cory Smythe, and vocalist/actor Gitanjali Jain (she also appeared on the first volume). Kyp Malone (TV on the Radio) played synths and produced.

"We Said" opens with white noise, shimmering, subdued percussion, and almost indecipherable female voices, creating a backdrop for brass, woodwind, and reed drones before a drum kit and tin whistle carry it out. "Unbeknownst" introduced by modal violins and synths playing a four-note pattern are joined by subdued reeds, winds, and processional snare before Roberts' narrative emerges -- from the point of view of her late ancestor speaking from beyond the pale: "My name is your name/Our name is their name/ And we are named/We remember/ They forget ..." Roberts answers with a mournful alto sax solo. The instrumental "Predestined Confessions" is also an excellent case in point, as is the poetic "How Prophetic," which employs droning horns to introduce a slamming rockist drum kit, post-bop reeds and winds, and driving funk. "Enthralled by Her Curious Blend" melds layered synth tones, chamber strings, and winds under Roberts' absorbing, poignant reflection of a marriage and family beset by cultural and racial pressures, coming apart. "But I Never Heard a Sound So Long" is a choral round based on the plantation lullaby "All the Pretty Little Horses." It's followed by "The Promise," a gorgeous choral piece in multi-part harmony with original lyrics atop traditional liturgical hymns. "Shake My Bones" is wonderfully abstract free jazz with horns, winds, and strings all soloing together in a conversation centered on a rhythmic pattern before merging into a mutant post-bop avant blues. "A(way) Is Not an Option" weds chamber jazz, rockist drumming, and frenetic strings and reeds underscoring the protagonist's harrowing story from beyond the grave. Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden's collision of styles, genres, and individual and group voices are not only welcome, but essential to the process of Roberts engendering dialogue, celebrating difference, and communicating emotions, psychologies, and cultures, all testifying to the import and cultural and artistic achievement of her evolving project.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1. We Said (3:31)
2. Different Rings (1:27)
3. Unbeknownst (4:44)
4. Predestined Confessions (4:48)
5. How Prophetic (2:56)
6. A Caged Dance (6:04)
7. I Have Long Been Fascinated (1:59)
8. Enthralled Not by Her Curious Blend (3:56)
9. No Way Chastened (1:16)
10. But I Never Heard a Sound So Long (1:17)
11. The Promise (3:20)
12. Shake My Bones (4:04)
13. A(way) Is Not an Option (5:55)
14. For They Do Not Know (6:56)
15. Others Each (1:22)
16. ...Ain't I. ...Your Mystery Is Our History (4:42)
Credits :
Matana Roberts - Composer, Horns, Harmonica, Percussion, Vocal, Spoken Word
Mike Pride - Drums, Percussion, Vocal
Matt Lavelle - Alto Clarinet, Pocket Trumpet, Tin Whistle, Vocal
Stuart Bogie - Bass Clarinet, Clarinet, Tin Whistle, Vocal
Cory Smythe - Piano, Vocal, Tin Whistle
Mazz Swift - Violin, Vocal, Tin Whistle
Darius Jones - Alto Saxophone, Vocal, Tin Whistle
Ryan Sawyer - Drums, Percussion, Vocal
Kyp Malone - Synthesiser

MAARTEN ALTENA OCTECT - Rif (1990) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

When Rif was first issued on LP in 1987, it marked the first of numerous turning points for Dutch composer and bassist Maarten Altena. The ensemble for this date came from vastly different musical worlds such as pop, theater, improvisation, and post-bop jazz, among others. This assemblage, and this term is used in the sense of visual art, was for the express purpose of looking at what could be done within the limits of the octet structure. How big could you make it without overdubbing? How much could you throw at the wall and still make it stick? How many layers could be piled on top of one another before they all collapsed? Altena decided on a set that juxtaposed fixed compositions such as the noir-ish jazz of "Boa," with the minimal melodic framework of "Rondo," which then opened onto a vast improvisational field. Harmonic ranges were articulated on charts and time frames, other than that, only a skeletal, monody (all musicians playing along the same line contributing whatever they feel is necessary) was imposed. Otherwise, there are no rules. Altena also included the compositions of bandmates, pianist Guus Janssen's and violinist Maartje ten Hoorn's in his mix along with the closing piece, "Re-Mix" (nearly a game) by classical composer Steve Maartland for dimension. Musically we cross over all genre lines, so much so that they cease to matter. What is left -- and it is plenty -- is the process of "music-making," the business of how to play together and still be true to the improvisational spirit a piece calls for. For an example of this, note the juxtaposition of the microtonal study of the ballad in "Ruis," and the conjecture that soling instruments need not have structural, timbral, or intervallic priorities in "Rif." The dynamics are radically different in each work as is their approach to restraint, but it is in the freedom of the latter that makes the discipline of the former possible. Tonality and its dissonances are only part and parcel of the individual voices that are "consonant" with one another in both pre-composed and improvised works. That consonance or, unified willingness of purpose, creates the almost limitless possibilities for tonal and harmonic exploration. The elegance and playfulness of Rif is startling, given what Altena had accomplished on his previous recordings. If anything, Rif is what firmly established him not only as a composer but also as a bandleader, as later recordings would attest.  
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1    Boa 5:57
Written-By – Maarten Altena
2    Rondo 7:09
Written-By – Guus Janssen
3    Ruis 6:44
Written-By – Maarten Altena
4    Rif 11:26
Written-By – Maarten Altena
5    De Yup 5:16
Written-By – Maartje Ten Hoorn
6    Marre 7:36
Written-By – Maarten Altena
7    Dek 3:52
Written-By – Maarten Altena
8    Re-Mix 4:28
Written-By – Steve Martland
Credits :
Alto Saxophone, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet – Michael Moore
Bass – Maarten Altena
Percussion – Michael Vatcher
Piano, Synthesizer – Guus Janssen
Tenor Saxophone, Bass Clarinet – Peter van Bergen
Trombone – Wolter Wierbos
Trumpet, Horn [Alto] – Marc Charig
Violin – Maartje Ten Hoorn

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.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
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

STEFANO BATTAGLIA | TONY OXLEY — Explore (1990) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This is an interesting title in the wake of the notion that Stefano Battaglia composed most of these pieces and has performed them on earlier recordings -- both solo and with various groups -- and that Tony Oxley is such a renowned improviser. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding this music, all listeners have is this music, and this meeting is as awe-inspiring on record as it is on paper. Battaglia is Italy's premier new jazz pianist. Deeply influenced by the pointillistic chromaticism of Paul Bley, Battaglia is at home playing in both vanguard and "straight" settings. Here, listeners get his lyrical side for the most part, relying on Oxley as a percussionist more than as a drummer. Of the 13 selections on this set, Battaglia and Oxley collaborated on only two. So Oxley is free to roam, holding up whatever light stick he wishes to the prism of Battaglia's timbral panorama and illustrating it any way he wishes. The clear standout tracks here are the more experimentally arranged ones such as "RTA," with Battaglia playing both the inside and the outside of the piano simultaneously, improvising on a melody he wrote based on a folk song from Sardinia. It's all different shades of D minor, and Oxley, delighted by the turn of the strings being plucked, uses rattles and shakers on his cymbals and his skins while Battaglia rumbles across the middle register inverting each of the sequential chords and turning them inside out with two pedals down the entire time. Also notable is the joint composition in two parts that serves as the title work, where Oxley assumes his role as one of a melodist along with Battaglia, who opens up shimmering harmonic vistas to create room for the drummer's shards of bells, sticks on wood, rattles, etc. There isn't a weak or unbeautiful moment on Explore; it is the mature work of two grand masters of modern music.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1    Moonstone 3:35
Composed By – Stefano Battaglia
2    Explore 1 4:59
Composed By – Stefano Battaglia, Tony Oxley
3    Hits, Breaks And Blocks 1:19
Composed By – Stefano Battaglia
4    South Africa February Dance 4:44
Composed By – Stefano Battaglia
5    Uneven 2:34
Composed By – Stefano Battaglia
6    Rapture 4:45
Composed By – Stefano Battaglia
7    Jar 4:38
Composed By – Stefano Battaglia
8    RTA 8:42
Composed By – Stefano Battaglia
Piano [Prepared Piano] – Stefano Battaglia
9    Chant Of The Ocean Sirens (Mana Of The Sea) 5:15
Composed By – Stefano Battaglia
Gong – Tony Oxley
10    Mr. Hooks Beats The Band 6:45
Composed By – Stefano Battaglia
11    Amethyst 3:13
Composed By – Stefano Battaglia
12    Still Rain 3:27
Composed By – Stefano Battaglia
13    Explore 2 3:27
Composed By – Stefano Battaglia, Tony Oxley
Credits :
Drums – Tony Oxley
Piano, Percussion – Stefano Battaglia