What Are You Listening To (Jazz) 2013

[HutchFan]

Pee Wee Russell - Salute to Newport

[Ian Thumwood]

Originally Posted by Alypius

After catching a superb recent concert by Donny McCaslin:

Perpetual Motion (Greenleaf, 2010)



Picked this up at the concert. Already had his older In Pursuit (2007) and his latest Casting for Gravity (2012). The latter was one of the best of the year and was the focus of the concert:

Alypius

Interested to see your comments about Donny McCaslin. Having discovered his playing through Dave Douglas' quintet, I've been regularly acquiring his records. "In pursuit" was my starting point and I was absolutley bowled over by how good it was. Afterwards I've acquired the brave "Recommended tools" which dispenses with a harmony instrument and then followed this up with "Perpetual motion." The latter was a bit of a slow burn as far I was concerned. On first listen, it seemed a bit tame but it became increasingly rewarding after subsequent playings. I'm now in two minds as to whether it is actually even better than "In pursuit" and I would certainly have to say that "Firefly" remains my favourite composition of his with "Claire" opening up with the kind of gusto you rarely get on studio sessions.

This brings me to the recent disc which is probably one of the worst jazz albums I've encountered for years. It is a huge let down. For me, McCaslin thrives by playing over interesting rhythms but the group he fronts on this CD just churns out crunching jazz rock. The tenor playing remains terrific yet he doesn't spark or bounce off his fellow musicians who sound leaden to me. It's like a 1980's fusion record of the kind that Chick Corea would put out. A track like "Alpha and omega" isn't even jazz and musically goes nowhere.

I was curious to read McCaslin's enthusiasm for performing with this group on a AAJ interview and I wasn't hearing the kind of interplay and adventurousness that I have heard on his other records. I must admit that anything that goes too much towards rock / fusion / electronica, etc does bore me but the fact that the exceptional David Binney helped produce this seemed even more strange. "Casting for cravity" totally lacks the creativity and ability to re-think jazz which makes something like Binney's "Graylen Epicentre" one of the best jazz albums of the 2000's.

Sorry to disagree with you on this one!!

[Tom 1960]

[Asimov]

Ben Webster - At The Renaissance

[Asimov]

Charles Mingus - Mingus Moves

[Moreno]

Buddy DeFranco Quintet feat. Sonny Clark, Tal Farlow:
Cooking the Blues & Sweet and Lovely (Lone Hill)

[Alypius]

Originally Posted by Ian Thumwood

Alypius

Interested to see your comments about Donny McCaslin. Having discovered his playing through Dave Douglas' quintet, I've been regularly acquiring his records. "In pursuit" was my starting point and I was absolutley bowled over by how good it was. Afterwards I've acquired the brave "Recommended tools" which dispenses with a harmony instrument and then followed this up with "Perpetual motion." The latter was a bit of a slow burn as far I was concerned. On first listen, it seemed a bit tame but it became increasingly rewarding after subsequent playings. I'm now in two minds as to whether it is actually even better than "In pursuit" and I would certainly have to say that "Firefly" remains my favourite composition of his with "Claire" opening up with the kind of gusto you rarely get on studio sessions.

This brings me to the recent disc which is probably one of the worst jazz albums I've encountered for years. It is a huge let down. For me, McCaslin thrives by playing over interesting rhythms but the group he fronts on this CD just churns out crunching jazz rock. The tenor playing remains terrific yet he doesn't spark or bounce off his fellow musicians who sound leaden to me. It's like a 1980's fusion record of the kind that Chick Corea would put out. A track like "Alpha and omega" isn't even jazz and musically goes nowhere.

I was curious to read McCaslin's enthusiasm for performing with this group on a AAJ interview and I wasn't hearing the kind of interplay and adventurousness that I have heard on his other records. I must admit that anything that goes too much towards rock / fusion / electronica, etc does bore me but the fact that the exceptional David Binney helped produce this seemed even more strange. "Casting for cravity" totally lacks the creativity and ability to re-think jazz which makes something like Binney's "Graylen Epicentre" one of the best jazz albums of the 2000's.

Sorry to disagree with you on this one!!

Ian, I guess we disagree. For me, there isn't fusion per se. There's bad fusion and good fusion. Some I like, some not. Also I'm willing to let artists go where they feel they need to go. I listen to a fair amount of indie rock -- and so I hear McCaslin's current project as one in dialogue with segments of the indie rock community. I don't read this current project as a throw-back to the 80s. He's talking, partly, to people who like Aphex Twin, for instance, or to the Boards of Canada. (My students enjoy both -- even though both of those are, technically speaking, "retro" from my students' vantage point). Also, I read McCaslin as doing things the way his mentor (and record owner) Dave Douglas does things -- music needs to change from record to record. It is better to see his discography as a whole rather than let one album define his trajectory. McCaslin already has established his straightahead spurs. So the question is: what territory does he want to explore now? The drummer in his current band is, to my ear, the strongest of the group he now leads -- he plays with the hard drive of a rock or hip hop drummer, but has amazing versatility in playing counter-beats, alternate meters, polyrhythms -- things only a jazz drummer can do. My friend who attended the concert with me thought the keyboardist (fender rhodes, synth, acoustic piano) was the strongest. I thought the electric bassist was the least interesting.

One point that came up a few times in the concert: McCaslin is a proud father of two. He talked repeatedly of his kids. "Perpetual Motion" was an account of being a father of an infant. "Henry" on the newest record is a homage to his young son. My guess is that "Claire" is a homage to his daughter (or his wife?).

You didn't mention his fine record right after In Pursuit, namely,Declaration (Sunnyside, 2009). It keeps some of the Latin rhythms and textures heard on In Pursuit. It has some excellent electric guitar from Ben Monder (not rock-ish), and a terrific backing group: Antonio Sanchez on drums, Edward Simon on keyboards, Scott Colley on bass, Alex Sipiagin on trumpet. It is not as coherent in its sound as In Pursuit, but lots of interesting things. All this brings up a point. To be a bit sweeping in terms of generalization, McCaslin's earlier sound is alternately fierce and lyrical in dialogue with Latin jazz, whereas his current sound is similarly fierce and lyrical but in dialogue with indie rock and electronica. While he grew up in the fusion era and acknowledges his fondness for early fusion, his current sound is not your father's fusion.

One interesting point of comparison to his current group is the Paris-based group The Kandinsky Effect, a sax-bass-drum trio. They too are in dialogue with Aphex Twin. I love their self-titled debut. They have a new record, Synesthesia, released in late January. It's on my wishlist at the moment, but I'll get it eventually.

[Ian Thumwood]

Alypius

Thanks for your detailed and informative response. I don't have "Declaration" although I did mull it over at the time.

You make some valid points which reflect a conversation I had with a woman who was involved in organising a jazz festival in Belgium at the time that the Nu-jazz movement was gaining a lot of currency. (Whatever happened to that?!!) She made the point about jazz finding a younger audience whose tick list of what is good or bad is markedly different from the generation of musicians I grew up listening to in the 1980's. I didn't really agree with her yet I think that the notion of jazz borrowing from Techno is just a modish thing which I can't see really adds to jazz. For me, the developments that are salient in the music at the moment seem very much down to composition where jazz seems to be making leaps and strides. To my ears, McCaslin is a pretty "conservative" soloist who is consolidating the tradition in a fantastic manner. "Casting for gravity" won't stand up to future examination like his better offerings to my ears and I'm not sure if something like the Aphex Twin (only aware of their music from late junction on BBC Radio in the 1990's) can add to jazz quite like other extenral influences whether it be Claude Debussy or Jimi Hendrix.

Not aware of the French group you mention but will look out for them. I do listen to quite a bit of French jazz (especially when at a particular jazz festival each summer) but in my opinion is the likes of the Belmondo Brothers and Christophe Del Sasso who are ticking the correct boxes.

[walkin]

[Chutai]

Dave Murray Octet – Murray's Steps'

[Chutai]

Jeff Hamilton , Bill Cunliffe , Jim Hershman – Partners in Crime

[Tom 1960]

[Tenor Titan]

[bluemonkey]

Al Cohn Meets The Jazz Seven: Keeper of the Flame

[jcam_44]

Michael Bisio & Matthew Shipp - Floating Ice