RAN BLAKE — Epistrophy (1992) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Ran Blake's re-interpretations of 12 Thelonious Monk songs and four standards that Monk enjoyed playing are quite different than everyone else's. He states the basic melody but, rather than improvising off the chord changes, Blake's flights on these solo piano performances stay close to the mood of the melodies, alternating silence with unexpected emotional flurries. Scott Yanow
Tracklist :
1. Epistrophy (Clarke-Monk) - 3:08
2. Thelonious (Monk) - 5:18
3. April in Paris (Duke-Harburg) - 3:07
4. Off Minor (Monk) - 1:39
5. Criss-Cross (Monk) - 2:19
6. Reflections (Monk) - 3:24
7. Epistrophy (Clarke-Monk) - 3:55
8. 'Round Midnight (Monk) - 5:50
9. Hornin' In (Monk) - 0:56
10. Just a Gigolo (Brammer-Casucci) - 3:10
11. Nice Work If You Can Get It (Gershwin-Gershwin) - 3:47
12. Ruby, My Dear (Monk) - 3:00
13. Monk's Mood (Monk) - 5:12
14. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (Harbach-Kern) - 2:48
15. Eronel (Monk) - 2:27
16. Misterioso (Monk) - 3:08
17. Epistrophy (Clarke-Monk) - 1:18
Credits :
Ran Blake - Piano

FRANK WRIGHT QUARTET — Blues for Albert Ayler (1974-2011) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

No, this isn't a long-lost ESP session despite the label. It's a tape from Rashied Ali's club made in 1974 celebrating both a visit by Frank Wright from his base in Paris, and a dedication to the memory of Albert Ayler. Backing Wright was James Blood Ulmer on guitar, Benny Wilson on bass, and Rashied Ali on drums and they were assembled just for the occasion. It's a blowing session for sure, with everyone getting plenty of solo space, but it's not an all-out firestorm. There's a theme that they return to throughout and Wright comes from a jump blues background and even his outside playing is informed by that. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this recording is hearing how advanced Ulmer's harmolodic playing is at this stage, well before he recorded with Ornette Coleman. He even takes a very unorthodox wah-wah solo at one point. It's certainly a long way from his work with Big John Patton for Blue Note just a few years prior. This is a great, historic session captured in surprisingly excellent sound that we're lucky to have. Sean Westergaard

Tracklist :
1. Part 1 (12:50)
2. Part 2 (5:10)
3. Part 3 (14:38)
4. Part 4 (12:13)
5. Part 5 (23:58)
6. Part 6 (5:47)
Credits :
Frank Wright - Tenor Ssaxophone, Flute, Vocals
James Blood Ulmer - Guitar
Benny Wilson - Bass
Rashied Ali - Drums

ALBERT MANGELSDORFF | JOHN SURMAN — ROOM 1220 (1970-1993) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Three stunning tunes featuring some of the best improvisers in the world today, all of them written -- yes, written -- by trombonist Albert Mangelsdorf. Interestingly, with a band this diverse and dimensionally articulate, the composer has come up with a program addressing each of the band's particular strengths. The title track, clocking in at over 21 minutes, is a study in the spatial relationship of tonalities. Even so, with its slow unwinding passages -- and interesting interplay between Surman on baritone and Mangelsdorf -- there are intervals, which allow for the creation of alternate harmonies and timbral interjections in chromatic architecture. Pianist Eddy Louis, along with Pedersen, are largely responsible for keeping the slowly revolving beast moving, but they add true depth in microtones and chord voicings. "Triple Circle" is quintet jazz, pure and simple, with everybody playing the hard bop line. Pedersen's solo is of particular interest here, in that his pizzicato playing moves through all three registers and offers scalar blues attacks in each. Finally, "My Kind of Beauty" caps it all off with a pastoral, late-night into courtesy of the horns and Louis on organ. It's a shimmering ballad until almost five minutes in, when Surman begins playing the baritone in the upper register and makes it cry with loneliness and an outpouring of what can only be called amorous emotion. Just as he finishes his sojourn, Pedersen and Louis begin to pace off a blues and transform the number into a groove tune with room enough for every body in the slowly evolving mix of textures in the intervallic transition. Louis' own solo is light and airy, whispering itself along the changes until it shifts into a noirish piece of film music with Mangelsdorf's solo. It all ends on a groove in the backbeat somewhere, but not without making the listener smile. Room 1220 is a hell of a Mangelsdorf date to be sure, but this is once in a lifetime ensemble, and the recording proves it.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1    Room 1220    22:05
2    Triplet Circle    8:32
3    My Kind Of Beauty    12:51
Credits :
Baritone Saxophone – John Surman
Bass – Nils-Henning Ørsted Pedersen
Drums – Daniel Humair
Piano, Organ [Hammond] – Eddy Louis
Trombone, Composed By – Albert Mangelsdorff

EDWARD VESALA — Nan Madol (1976) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Finnish percussionist Edward Vesala’s debut on ECM Records may also be his most fiery outing for the label. On the album, Vesala assembles a particularly lively big band of Finns, who interpret his music with blazing colours. In 1976, when the album was released, Melody Maker suggested that “John Coltrane might have made music like this had he been born a European. ‘Nad Madol’ is an orgy of sound, no other description can suffice and ‘Areous Vlor Ta’ remains one of the most extraordinary and moving big band scorings…. Put it next to ‘Ascension’ in your collection.” ECM
Tracklist :
1    Nan Madol    6:02
2    Love For Living    3:47
3    Call From The Sea    1:58
4    The Way Of...    12:09
5    Areous Vlor Ta    12:39
6    The Wind    9:23
Credits :
Alto Saxophone, Nadaswaram [Nagaswaram] – Charlie Mariano (tracks: 5)
Bass Clarinet – Pentti Lahti (tracks: 6)
Drums (tracks: 1, 4 to 6), Flute [Flutes] (tracks: 1), Harp [Harps] (tracks: 2), Percussion (tracks: 1, 3, 6), Composed By, Arranged By, – Edward Vesala
Double Bass – Teppo Hauta-aho (tracks: 1, 4 to 6)
Flute – Charlie Mariano (tracks: 6), Sakari Kukko (tracks: 1), Seppo Paakkunainen (tracks: 6)
Flute, Bells, Voice – Juhani Aaltonen (tracks: 6)
Harp – Elisabeth Leistola (tracks: 4)
Piccolo Flute – Juhani Aaltonen (tracks: 4)
Soprano Saxophone – Juhani Aaltonen (tracks: 1, 2), Pentti Lahti (tracks: 5), Seppo Paakkunainen (tracks: 5)
Tenor Saxophone – Juhani Aaltonen (tracks: 4, 5)
Trombone – Mircea Stan (tracks: 5)
Trumpet – Kaj Backlund (tracks: 1, 4, 5)
Viola [Alto Violin] – Juhani Poutanen (tracks: 1)
Violin – Juhani Poutanen (tracks: 1, 4, 5)
Voice – Teppo Hauta-aho (tracks: 6)
Voice, Bells – Juhani Poutanen (tracks: 6)

MYRA MELFORD'S FIRE AND WATER QUINTET — For the Love of Fire and Water (2022) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

For the Love of Fire and Water marks the recorded debut of pianist/composer Myra Melford's 2021's quintet featuring guitarist Mary Halvorson, cellist Tomeka Reid, saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, and drummer Susie Ibarra. All are notable bandleaders. She put the group together to play a one-off during a 2019 residency; afterwards, she was asked to record and tour with the quartet. Melford composed for this group during 2020's COVID-19 quarantine, and it was recorded in 2021 at Firehouse 12's New Haven, Connecticut studio. Melford wrote from the developmental core of a multi-part work inspired by the drawings of artist Cy Twombly, and her work will be further developed and expanded upon while touring. This installment uses the visual artist's Gaeta Set (For the Love of Fire and Water) drawings as inspiration.

Rogue Art divides the continuous 44-minute work into ten numbered selections for listening convenience, but it's performed continuously. The intro section finds Melford laying percussively wrought chord clusters for a couple of minutes before Reid enters to dialogue with her. Ibarra joins halfway through, rolling, accenting, and filling the space between. Laubrock joins a minute later, adding blips, trilled lines, and interjections in direct conversation before Halvorson appears with multi-note runs and a solo supported by rumbling undercurrents from her bandmates. A syncopated four-chord piano pulse introduces a melody in "II" played by the saxophonist and guitarist, who weave solo interactions throughout post-bop and modal blues as the piano and drums pace them. Reid offers tonal fluidity and physical energy in the middle section, pushing the group toward free interplay. The delicately articulated and gorgeously restrained processional pace of "IV" gives way to "V"'s interlude-like splintered piano chord voicings and bleating sax in a mirror image of its preceding section. "VI" is rendered abstractly as Halvorson and Melford pluck and rub their strings and Laubrock airlessly fingers the holes in her horn with a fixed, pulse-like steadiness. Shard-like guitar chords emerge suddenly and disappear just as quickly as Ibarra taps brushes and sticks over the metal frames on her kit. Reid joins during the final third, playing arco in drone-like accompaniment before Ibarra adds resonance on detuned gongs. "VII" crisscrosses free jazz and blues as Halvorson bends strings while laying down rock chords over wonky rhythmic piano accompaniment. Laubrock joins the dialogue, then assumes the spotlight. "VIII" begins with syncopated handclaps before Reid and Ibarra deliver a kinetic dialogue rich in dynamics. The final section is a beautifully articulated ballad drawn from classical, Italian folk, and flamenco sources. As Halvorson, Reid, and Laubrock add poignant, gorgeously abstract, gently dissonant solo flourishes, Melford anchors the harmonic melody as her band jointly embellishes and complements her playing at will, with a gentle, yet dramatically poetic finish. Whether or not For the Love of Fire and Water is appended by additional thematically related works is immaterial. It stands alone as an entire universe in sound, musical virtuosity, and intimately balanced communication. For now, Melford makes use of all that her quintet has to offer.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1    I    7:53
2    II    2:11
3    III    3:17
4    IV    5:21
5    V    2:40
6    VI    4:26
7    VII    6:25
8    VIII    2:56
9    IX    4:16
10    X    4:50
Credits :
Cello – Tomeka Reid
Drums, Percussion – Susie Ibarra
Guitar – Mary Halvorson
Piano, Melodica, Composed By [All Compositions By] – Myra Melford
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Ingrid Laubrock