New Releases Only

[kevt]

Originally Posted by robmid

Abercrombie with Loe Lovano sounds like the real deal! I've felt his releases were a little soft-centered for some time. Maybe Joe will add a little fire!

Cheers,

Judging by the sound clips at the link below, prepare for more soft-centredness...despite Lovano's presence. Abercrombie's Gateway days feel ever more distant...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Within-A-Son...65860&sr=301-1

[jcam_44]

New Christian Scott coming July 31st!!!! 2cd set title "Christian A Tunde Adjuah"

I'm super amped about this!!

[robmid]

Originally Posted by kevt

Judging by the sound clips at the link below, prepare for more soft-centredness...despite Lovano's presence. Abercrombie's Gateway days feel ever more distant...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Within-A-Son...65860&sr=301-1

Well, yes, it is rather mellow isn't it? I guess mellow jazz sells better than raucous chance. I like a little more spice in my jazz.

Cheers,

[robmid]

Originally Posted by jkelman

Hoping to get around to reviewing this...it's a strong effort from a name new to me.

Well, somebody gotta explain this to me because I don't get it. I can take about 30 seconds of it at a time.

Cheers,

[jkelman]

Originally Posted by robmid

Well, yes, it is rather mellow isn't it? I guess mellow jazz sells better than raucous chance. I like a little more spice in my jazz.

Cheers,

It's ECM, Rob, so truthfully that is not a consideration....like it or not, sure, but it has nothing to do with selling; I guarantee you it's exactly what Abercrombie wanted to do...

[robmid]

Originally Posted by NewJazz4Mike

Agreed! If for no other reason than one needs to hear the playing of Wayne Escoffery, arguably one of the most exciting sax players out there, at least he is imo. Escoffery alone is worth the price of admission for any album he's featured on, and then you combine him with Harrell and the combination is not to be ignored. The dialogue with Harrell, their textural sounds, the contrast in improvisational styles with Escoffery improvising over Harrell's ever-brilliant arrangements, are all as compelling to me as anything being being released today. I'm just sorry - now that I hear they've released new music- that I recently missed out on hearing them down at the Village Vanguard.

Hi guys, you know, I like Harrell's sound and his playing, but I don't love his compositions. His music often feels like a throwback to the Blue Note era. Don't get me wrong, I love Blue Note, but that era was over 40 years ago and now is now. It all feels like I've heard it before. Like you, new jazz for me.

Cheers,

[jkelman]

Originally Posted by robmid

Hi guys, you know, I like Harrell's sound and his playing, but I don't love his compositions. His music often feels like a throwback to the Blue Note era. Don't get me wrong, I love Blue Note, but that era was over 40 years ago and now is now. It all feels like I've heard it before. Like you, new jazz for me.

Cheers,

The new album may surprise you then, Rob; a couple of tunes that are surprisingly free - and given your proclivity for edgy below (), may be more impressive...

As per NJ4M, Escoffery is tremendous, and the album certainly capitalizes on the strength, chemistry and longevity of this trio; but equally it takes the group a little out of its comfort zone (not that it's a bad place, imo)...

Cheers!
John

[KBerube80]

Originally Posted by xybert

In other new release news, while not yet available for pre order the new Henry Threadgill album is showing up on the Pi site:



Tomorrow Sunny / The Revelry, Spp (scheduled for release June 2012).

Read about it here: http://pirecordings.com/album/pi43

I'm beyond excited for this. Threadgill is one of my favourite artists and his recent work in particular has been nothing short of transcendent. I seriously give thanks that his music is been further documented in recorded form.

Doesn't seem to be many Threadgill devotees on the board, but i know there are a lot of Frisell fans (myself included) and they may be swayed by Frisell's words:

Whoa! I wasnt aware of this! Thanks for the heads up!

[KBerube80]

Originally Posted by xybert

New Alexander Hawkins (Convergence Quartet) album 'All There, Ever Out' can be listened to and purchased here: http://babel-label.bandcamp.com/albu...there-ever-out

GREAT album here.

[KBerube80]

Been playing the hell out of the new Halvorson album lately. Never got much into her prior releases but this recording is phenomenal!

[Justin V]

Originally Posted by jkelman

A number of surprises on this one:
1. First quintet album on High Note to feature a mix of solo, duo, trio, quartet and quintet tracks;
2. First quintet album on High Note to feature some non-originals
3. First quintet album on High Note to feature some pretty free playing.

There's one more surprise; but I'll let you find that one out when you pick up the disc.

And you should pick up the last one too, Rob..it's as good as the rest of 'em. But this one is definitely a different beast, while still capitalizing on the chemistry that's evolved with this marvelous band.

I've missed out on the last two Tom Harrell albums for some reason, but you've piqued my interest. I saw the group a couple weeks before they recorded Prana Dance (my most recent Harrell album), and can only imagine how the group has grown since then.

For the Tom Harrell fans out there, we'll soon be launching a giveaway for the new albums by Johnathan Blake and Wayne Escoffery.

[brijazz123]

Originally Posted by kevt

Judging by the sound clips at the link below, prepare for more soft-centredness...despite Lovano's presence. Abercrombie's Gateway days feel ever more distant...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Within-A-Son...65860&sr=301-1

One can hear the complete opening track here, for those interested:

http://player.ecmrecords.com/abercrombie/music#

[xybert]

Originally Posted by KBerube80

Been playing the hell out of the new Halvorson album lately. Never got much into her prior releases but this recording is phenomenal!

It arrived in the mail for me yesterday... starting to really get into it now; it's definitely cut from the same cloth as Saturn Sings, and while i don't perceive any overt forward leaps, composition an arrangement wise there is progress and an overall feeling that the group is more settled and the performance is more emphatic... anyway, another great record.

This has been mentioned earlier in the thread but also arrived in the mail for me recently:



Chick Corea - The Continents: Concerto For Jazz Quintet & Chamber Orchestra

Even on my current Corea bender i still wasn't that interested in this, on face value. What piqued my interest was discovering that Marcus Gilmore played drums on it (just had a thought; considering his grandfather Roy Haynes' history with Corea he's probably been acquainted with Corea more or less in some capacity for some time).

There is much more to this than a 'jazz with strings' album. 'Jazz with strings' often conjures images of middle of the road jazz with superfluous string padding in the background, but again, that has nothing to do with this, other than the fact that it does feature strings. This gives you exactly what it says on the box: a Concerto For Jazz Quintet & Chamber Orchestra. It is not dark; it is brimming with Corea's playful lyricism and optimism but neither is it 'light as a feather'.

Anyway, Corea fans should give this a listen. It's a two disc set: Disc one is the the Concerto For Jazz Quintet & Chamber Orchestra. Disc two is basically split into two halfs: the first half being four tracks from the Quintet minus the Chamber Orchestra, the second half is Corea doing solo piano improvisations. It really is a great, well rounded package. I'm not going to get too much into it at the moment; i'm going to save my blabbering for the 'best of 2012' thread at some point.

[Alypius]

There was an earlier discussion of Wayne Escoffery's contribution to Tom Harrell's band, and especially to Harrell's forthcoming release. I don't think that anyone's mentioned the new release by Escoffery himself, The Only Son of One (Sunnyside), released: Apr. 20, 2012.



You can listen to it in its entirety on Sunnyside's bandcamp site:
http://sunnysidezone.com/album/the-only-son-of-one

I've only had a chance to listen to it once through, but overall it seems very good.

[jkelman]

My review of Farmers Market's Slav to the Rhythm, today at All About Jazz.

Continuing its cornucopia of musical interests, this Norwegian/Balkan hybrid continues the path charted by its first four discs, but has never sounded this muscular. In particular, drummer Jarle Vespestad (Supersilent, Tord Gustavsen) and bassist Finn Guttormsen.

But at the heart of the group is multi-instrumentalist Stian Carstsensen, who contributes no less than 22 instruments to this date, and seems to have an intrinsic understanding of all of them, whether it's trading furious fusion licks with fellow guitarist Nils-Olav Johansen or playing the kaval (Bulgarian flute).

Farmers Market's best record to date, review here.