New Releases Only

[jkelman]

Originally Posted by Alypius

Just stumbled upon this:

Chris Potter, The Sirens (ECM, 2013): To be released Jan. 29, 2013.



While Potter has recorded with ECM as a member of Dave Holland's group, this is, to the best of my knowledge, his ECM debut as a leader. I wonder how this might differ from his usual high-energy sound--or will he bring it to this date?

He will and he does. As you know I have issue with folks who think that ECM somehow pasteurizes the music. This record burns, but there are differences, too, if not only for the appearance of two pianists - Craig Taborn as "standard" pianist and David Vierielles on prepared piano, celesta and harmonium. But Potter smokes, have no fear.

We'll be seeing a lot of Taborn next year, and Moran. There will be a duo record with Moran and Charles LLoyd (haven't heard); a Stanko record with a NY group including David Vierelles (which I have and is wonderful); a Craig Taborn trio record (haven't heard) and a Ralph Alessi record (have heard a couple tracks) that's also wonderful.

Right now, it seems that Eicher is finding much to love in New York, and that will be reflected in next year's release schedule, though there will, of course, be plenty of music from elsewhere in the world, including a new record from Stefano Battaglia's trio (last year's River of Anyder) that sounds terrific.

Anyway, the Potter is well worth looking forward to. I'll be writing my review in the next week or so.

I'll also be covering his show in Montreal in February.
Happy New Year guys!
John
PS: and yes, it is Potter's ECM leader debut.

[jkelman]

Originally Posted by HutchFan

Coming out in February 2013:


Quest - Circular Dreaming (Enja)
Mostly features Shorter tunes from Miles' "Second Great Quintet."

My review coming in next couple weeks. It is, in a word, terrific.

[jkelman]

Originally Posted by JETman

Naxos has been doing jazz for at least 15 years.

Well, not really much any more. There was a period around the turn of the millennium where they'd recruited Mike Nock as an executive producer and from the mid-'90s to mid-00's they put out some top notch stuff at bargain prices (there's a story behind that, but for another time), but sadly that stopped around 7-8 years ago.

Best!
John

[robmid]

Hi John, Happy New Year and thanks for your preview of things to come for ECM. Sounds like good stuff. I'm always open!

I have a question for you, and a comment. In the past year, The AAJ reviewers have had the option to put a little fire sign beside their reviews of releases they think are "hot."

The comment is: This makes zero sense. It creates a division between those releases that are "hot" and those that are "not." There is no sense of scale whatsoever. And sometimes I get the sense a reviewer puts a hot sign on his review to get more attention for it; I don't know.

Anyway, it's certainly not very useful as is the Downbeat 5-star system. I personally find it annoying.

The question is: Can you use your considerable powers of persuasion and influence to get together with the powers that be and come up with a new rating system for AAJ album releases?

Cheers, Robert

[jkelman]

Originally Posted by robmid

Hi John, Happy New Year and thanks for your preview of things to come for ECM. Sounds like good stuff. I'm always open!

Back at ya! And thanks!

Originally Posted by robmid

I have a question for you, and a comment. In the past year, The AAJ reviewers have had the option to put a little fire sign beside their reviews of releases they think are "hot."

Actually, no, it's not the reviewers who make the choice, it's a programmed thing that says, if a review goes over a certain number of reads in a certain period of time (can't recall, something like 600 reads within the first week), it's flagged as hot - not reflecting that it's a 5-star record, only that it's being heavily read, sort of the way Billboard charts reflect rapidly rising titles "with a bullet" (if they still do that). Hope this clarifies.

Originally Posted by robmid

The comment is: This makes zero sense. It creates a division between those releases that are "hot" and those that are "not." There is no sense of scale whatsoever. And sometimes I get the sense a reviewer puts a hot sign on his review to get more attention for it; I don't know.

Anyway, it's certainly not very useful as is the Downbeat 5-star system. I personally find it annoying.

Sorry, now that you know what it is, maybe that helps; if not, just ignore.

I am not a fan of star ratings, because it is not something that can be empirically defined. We actually use a start system internally (not for public use) to help decide what albums get chosen for the "Featured Release" tab, and for some folks it's useless, as they give everything they review five stars. So I am not frankly a fan of star systems, and for us, hot just means there appears to be a lot of interest in the review and, therefore, the release.

Originally Posted by robmid

The question is: Can you use your considerable powers of persuasion and influence to get together with the powers that be and come up with a new rating system for AAJ album releases?

Hope this now clarifies and that there's nothing to lobby for...

But happy to listen and explain, always!
Best!
John

[jkelman]

My review of Eberhard Weber's Résumé, today at AllAboutJazz.

With his 2007 stroke preventing him from playing bass (though he is doing much better, he just doesn't have the strength on his left side to play the instrument), Weber has moved in a different direction, taking a series of bass solos recorded over 25 years with the Jan Garbarek Group as connecting threads between songs, and using them as grist for recomposition. Playing keyboards and, on a few tracks, inviting saxophonist Garbarek and drummer Michael Di Pasqua to contribute, he's shaped those solos into discrete compositions with clear and compelling form.

I'll be interviewing him tomorrow, so there will be an article in a few weeks that goes into greater detail about how he is continuing to make music after the serious stroke that happened nearly six years ago, when he was on tour with Garbarek. Until then, you can read the review here.

[Paul Marangoni]

Originally Posted by jkelman

the Potter is well worth looking forward to.

Thanks for alerting me to this. I just ordered the CD.

I don't see it mentioned on the ECM website.

[Homer]

Who recommended Russafa Ensemble? This is one incredible jazz orchestra session.

I can't seem to paste images...must be my office blocking me again.

http://www.emusic.com/listen/#/album...ble/13712872/:

[dsschicago]

Originally Posted by Homer

Who recommended Russafa Ensemble? This is one incredible jazz orchestra session.

I can't seem to paste images...must be my office blocking me again.

http://www.emusic.com/listen/#/album...ble/13712872/:

It was one of my recs for my weekly Jazz Picks column at eMusic, but I can't say for sure if I'm the one who you learned of it from.

You can stream an album track at the label site (Comboi Records")...

http://www.comboirecords.com/album/a...safa-ensemble/

I'll be posting a review, likely to hit in February.

Cheers.

[jkelman]

My review of Anglo/Norwegian duo Food's latest, Mercurial Balm, today at All About Jazz.

Since trimming back to a duo (saxophonist Iain Ballamy/percussionist Thomas Strønen) in 2004, the group's releases have been family/friendly affairs, inviting various guests to perform, but invariably to expand the electro-acoustic improvising duo into a trio. On four tracks of Mercurial Balm--the group's seventh record, third as a duo and second for ECM following 2010's Quiet Inlet--Strønen and Ballamy flesh out to a quartet, with the varied participation of guitarists Eivind Aarset and Christian Fennesz, trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær, and, in what perhaps represents the biggest stylistic expander, Indian lap steel guitarist/vocalist Prakkash Sontakke.

It's an inspired set of ambient soundscapes, more propulsive landscapes and the kind of deep interaction in pursuit of new avenues that has made Food such a reliable group since its inception in the late 1990s.

Review here.

[jkelman]

My review of Quest's Circular Dreaming, a tribute to Miles Davis' mid-'60s second great quintet with Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams, today at All About Jazz.

Of course, any tribute from a group as strong and with such longevity as Quest - saxophonist Dave Liebman, Richard Beirach and bassist Ron McClure going back to the early '70s in Lookout Farm, and Hart hooking up with them for Quest's second album in the mid-'80s - means this will be no mere imitative session. Instead, the particularly deep language that Libeman and Beirach have evolved over decades continues to distinguish any project in which they're involved, McClure continues to be a perennially undervalued bassist, and Hart is, well, Hart.

A great set that focuses largely on Shorter's compositional contributions to Davis' group, plus one tune by Williams and two originals - one from Liebman, the other from Beirach - make Circular Dreaming one of Quest's best records since reigniting (with this group's energy, the right word) in 2005 for what would ultimately become Redemption - Quest Live in Europe.

Review here.

[jkelman]

My review of Enrico Rava's Rava on the Dance Floor, today at All About Jazz.

The opening sentences of the review say it all:

Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava doing a tribute to the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson? Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava doing a tribute to the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson, on ECM?

Turns out that, shortly after the King of Pop's death, Rava - who'd not previously paid attention - found his wife watching a live performance on DVD and was smitten. Rava on the Dance Floor is the result; a large ensemble recording that pays tribute with a certain degree of reverence, but healthy doses of irreverence, too, taking Jackson's music places the deceased King of Pop could never have imagined...and is a record that, once again, demonstrates ECM's ability to surprise by doing the unexpected and releasing a record that many would think, at least on paper, to be unsuitable. In reality, however, it fits perfectly and is another indicator of the label's breadth, depth and never-ending search for good music, wherever it's to be found and regardless of the context/premise.

Review here.

[callumau]

Just a quick heads-up on a brand new release: my big band, the Callum Au Big Band, has just launched its debut album, entitled 'Something's Coming' - now available to order via the Callum Au Big Band's website -http://www.callumaumusic.com/callum-au-big-band/album/ . You can see a short teaser trailer of a few of the album's highlights here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbOCDiGQWuU.



This album was recorded at Angel Studios, London in late 2012, and fully features the 17 members of the big band, alongside special guests: vocalists Emma Smith and Iain Mackenzie, flautist Gareth Lockrane, and saxophonists Peter Long and Nigel Hitchcock. The trumpet section on the album is 4 of the UK's finest young jazz players: Tom Walsh, George Hogg, Freddie Gavita, and Henry Armburg Jennings.

The centrepiece of the album is Callum’s new West Side Story Suite for Big Band – a continuous work in six movements based on some of the most famous melodies from Leonard Bernstein’s musical. It reinvents the well-known and popular music from the show, with each movement giving a new big band twist to Bernstein’s melodies.

In addition to the suite, the album features a set of new commissions specially written for the band: Callum Au’s ‘Gentleman Jack’; Freddie Gavita’s ‘Beloved’ and UK flute virtuoso and master composer/arranger Gareth Lockrane’s ‘Roots’. The album’s first track, Callum’s arrangement of the Harry Warren standard “September in the Rain”, is a very conscious tribute to the great American big bands of Count Basie, Nelson Riddle, and Thad Jones, some of the band’s greatest influences.

Cheers!

Callum

[robmid]

Originally Posted by jkelman

My review of Quest's Circular Dreaming, a tribute to Miles Davis' mid-'60s second great quintet with Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams, today at All About Jazz.

Of course, any tribute from a group as strong and with such longevity as Quest - saxophonist Dave Liebman, Richard Beirach and bassist Ron McClure going back to the early '70s in Lookout Farm, and Hart hooking up with them for Quest's second album in the mid-'80s - means this will be no mere imitative session. Instead, the particularly deep language that Libeman and Beirach have evolved over decades continues to distinguish any project in which they're involved, McClure continues to be a perennially undervalued bassist, and Hart is, well, Hart.

A great set that focuses largely on Shorter's compositional contributions to Davis' group, plus one tune by Williams and two originals - one from Liebman, the other from Beirach - make Circular Dreaming one of Quest's best records since reigniting (with this group's energy, the right word) in 2005 for what would ultimately become Redemption - Quest Live in Europe.

Review here.

Very nice Review, John. I can't wait to hear this one. Along with the Chris Potter. By the way, also read your review of the new Eberhad Webber, Resumé. I judge new albums by samples. If they don't grab me, I don't but it. But with this album every single song grabbed me immediately. Sounds like a true masterpiece. Downloading it as I type!

Cheers, Robert

[jkelman]

Originally Posted by robmid

Very nice Review, John. I can't wait to hear this one. Along with the Chris Potter. By the way, also read your review of the new Eberhad Webber, Resumé. I judge new albums by samples. If they don't grab me, I don't but it. But with this album every single song grabbed me immediately. Sounds like a true masterpiece. Downloading it as I type!

Cheers, Robert

Glad you're diggin' on the Eberhard, and thanks for the kind words on Quest. In case you missed it, I interviewed Eberhard this week, so look out for the article around the end of the month.

Thanks again, Robert!
Best!
John