Sunday, October 28, 2007

Weird Valley





Disc 1:
Four Moons
The Gears
Mars
Sunset Concerto
Cyclotron
October
Under Capricorn
Venus
Lover Man
Spellbound
Transition
A Lion Lives Here
Timepiece
Gingersnap
The Nearness Of You
Lullaby Of Birdland
Ballade For Guitar
Metropolitan
Newport News

Disc 2:
Summertime
Quadrille For Moderns
Five Impressions Of Color: A. Spectrum Violet/B. Sea Green/C. Royal Blue/D. Ebony/E. Spectrum Red
Life Begins At Midnight
Night Train To Wildwood
Threadneedle Street
Weird Valley
The Set Break
Moonlight In Vermont
Long Ago And Far Away
The Arab Barber Blues
Nice Questions

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Blue Note raids the back of its vaults for all four of Melle's long out of print 10" LPs, plus the 12" Patterns in Jazz, in order to place back in circulation a musician who had been nearly invisible to the jazz world for a good three decades. Though Melle's entertaining self-penned liner notes may be outrageously self-aggrandizing, this collection leaves little doubt that he was (and remains) a marvelous saxophonist and an intriguing composer who hasn't been given his due. On the early sides, Melle plays an erudite, relaxed, always musical tenor sax, and "Transition" marks his recorded debut on baritone, which he uses in a thoughtful, even quizzical manner for the remainder of the set. As a composer, Melle was very much the uncompromising cool bopper, but was also equipped with a fascinating mind of his own. His first session is also the most startling: "Four Moons" is brilliant in its Kentonian harmonic way, with vibraphone striking the chords; so is his most famous jazz composition "The Gears," with its Monica Dell scat vocal lead doubled by vibraphone. Further on in the set, Melle does away with the piano in the cool tradition, but gives the lineup an unorthodox twist by using a guitarist (Tal Farlow, Lou Mecca, or Joe Cinderella) in the keyboard role, and a trombonist (Eddie Bert or the swinging, vastly underrated Urbie Green) or even a tuba (Don Butterfield) on the front line. He also employs consistently first-class rhythm sections, with Max Roach and a young Joe Morello among the drummers. For those super-collectors who may have the extremely rare originals (now worth hundreds of dollars each), there is one unreleased track, "The Nearness of You"; the digitally remastered sound, flaws in the master tapes aside, is excellent.

~Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide
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Friday, October 26, 2007

Laid back Northern California sunshine groovin'....



Now here's a totally unique little band from the the Bay Area. The blend jazz, blues, folk, Afro-pop with a little funk thrown in for good measure. If you dig some of Frisell's more recent work or acoustic Bela Fleck, but with a sunny groove with a few odd quirks in the mix, this could be up your alley. Give it a chance. It really grew on me and live these guys are really outstanding. The leader Jack West plays a custom 8 string acoustic guitar. What's remarkable is that at times he's playing bass parts, slide guitar and fingerpicking all at the same time. The band also employs the marimba lumina, a 14 string pedal steel guitar, drums and some percussion. This should be heard for its distinctly original concept.

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"[Big Ideas is] a remarkable outing of cool curves, gently sloping musical parabolas, & wondrous bends in compositional structure. With rhythm at the fore West offers unusual sound colors, fluid slide work, & percussive attack" - Down Beat

"A fertile blend of acoustic blues, progressive jazz, and an international folk music feel, Curvature's music bristles with instrumental virtuosity and a freewheeling improvisational spirit." - SF Bay Guardian
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Curvature's new release, Around About Now, is a dynamic collection of smokin' tunes - definitely Curvature at their most gregarious. Produced by Jack West with generous assistance from Lee Townsend, Curvature's fifth CD showcases seven of West's new compositions presented by the ensemble on unusual and wonderful instrumentation. Around About Now integrates West's unique take on acoustic jazz and blues with elements of country, electronic music, hip/hop and gospel brought in by the ensemble. Featuring Jack West on 8-string acoustic guitar, Joel Davel on electronic marimba, David Phillips on 14-string pedal steel, and drummer Darian Gray. These world-class musicians have developed masterful improvisational techniques and tight ensemble timing.

Although West is hesitant to categorize his music, he defines it as "modern American music by a musician from Georgia that's living in the diverse cultural landscape of California." Residing in the San Francisco Bay Area has allowed Jack to experiment with unusual combinations of instruments that give shape to his compositions and have helped him develop his style. It has also given him a chance to work with a slew of top Bay Area artists: Mike Marshall, Calder Spanier (formerly with Charlie Hunter Quartet), Scott Amendola, Jon Evans, George Brooks (Zakir Hussain's Rhythm Experience), Jenny Scheinman, Mark Summer (Turtle Island String Quartet), and many others.

Make no mistake, Jack West is on the path less taken. It's not only that he plays the eight-string acoustic guitar, a unique instrument that he had specially constructed while searching for the sounds he had been hearing in his mind. West is a musician dedicated to exploring uncharted territory, mapping stunning, minutely detailed soundscapes that feel uncannily familiar and yet completely fresh. This is heady music and there is a rigorous sense of structure to many of West's tunes. But in the fine-grained textures he creates with his quartet, there's also an intuitive sense of interplay and generosity of spirit found in the finest jazz ensembles.

"My main goal as a writer has always been to try and create music that sounds like something I haven't heard," says the Oakland-based guitarist. "For me, song writing is usually a process of following. I never sit down to intentionally write a tune-I just start to play, then as new ideas happen, I try to follow the ones that surprise me...the ones that don't sound like anything I've ever heard before."

A mostly self-taught musician, West, 35, grew up in Savannah, Georgia and moved to California for college. After 7 years of playing mostly original rock, blues, and Afropop, he decided to work in an acoustic vein. Even before he hired Santa Cruz guitar-maker Jeff Traugott to build his eight-string instrument, West had developed a highly personal sound using unusual tunings and a dazzling combination of bluesy slide work, finger-picking, and unorthodox percussive techniques. The extra strings, a low A and a high A, have enabled West to further expand his bag of tricks, for instance slapping a percussive line on the extra bass string while simultaneously playing slide or creating screaming-high octave slide runs with his first and third strings.

West's innovative yet accessible compositions combined with Curvature's dynamic concert performances are rapidly creating a buzz on both coasts. Though he may be an artist with big ideas, there's nothing academic about Curvature's sound. West's music is as emotionally vibrant and pulsing with life as any being created today. And his rapidly growing fan base in the jazz, acoustic, and jam communities is a testament to the timeless appeal of the curved musical reflections of this honest and talented rising star.
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1. Backwards Over Bend
2. Deliverance
3. Balance Like This
4. Conversation #3
5. What Next To What?
6. Not What You Think
7. Christina's Song


Jack West: 8-string acoustic guitar, slide
Joel Davel: marimba lumina, percussion
David Phillips: 14-string pedal steel guitar
Darian Gray: drums
Peter Valsamis: percussion

Sunday, October 7, 2007

A Pool of Rivers...



Sam the man.

More madness from Norway...




For all you Atomic fans out there. This is one sweet little avant-bop trio.

LSB-Fungus
Released 14/11, 2003

Fredrik Ljungkvist: Tenor & Baritone Sax, Clarinet
Raymond Strid: Drums
Johan Berthling: Bass
01.Fredriks Hörna
02.Muskarin
03.Funghi
04.Utah
05.Broken Shadows
06.Riska
07.Kremla
08.Mothers of the Veil
09.LSB-Vals

All songs by LSB except #1, 9 by Fredrik Ljungkvist; #4 by Steve Lacy and #5, #8 by Ornette Coleman.
Recorded at SAMI June 5-6, 2003
Recorded by Gert & Erik Palmcrantz
Mastered by Andreas Berthling
Cover Art by Inger Arvidsson
Graphic Design by Mattis Cederberg
Produced by LSB
Executive Producer: Jonas Kullhammar

Friday, October 5, 2007

Bill Evans gone groovy...

Living Time (with George Russell Orchestra)
1972 CBS/Sony Group (Tokyo)

The sound on here is a little iffy and I'm not so sure you could classify this as a bonna fide jazz classic, but it is certainly an interesting aside in the career of Bill Evans.



Check out Bill on Youtube talking about Living Time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93Wq9PFktzY

Effortless mastery? You be the judge...


Oh, this is a goodie! Few piano trios play with this much gusto. I don't have a lot to say about this. It's a nice record of standards played at a very professionally high level. Werner has a way of taking a song places you just could never hope to expect. To me though, you really have to catch Kenny live to see what his brand of magic is like. Here's a document of one such evening.

tracks:

Stella By Starlight -
Fall
All The Things You Are -
Blue In Green
There Will Never Be Another You
Blue Train
Windows
Soul Eyes
I Hear A Rhapsody


personnel:

Kenny Werner - Piano
Ratzo Harris - bass,
Tom Rainey - drums

Enjoy!

A modern jazz classic...





This title has unfortunately been deleted. The recording you are about to hear is IMHO a peak example of a 90's post-bop recording session. Firstly you can't go wrong IMO with Bill Stewart workin' the kit. But outside of the wonderful snakey grooves, the horn arrangments really shine and the individual solos are bubbling with vigor and creativity. I had the good fortune to catch this short-lived band live and they simply tore a hole through the sky. The audience was in a trance.
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The short-lived Blue Note All-Stars came together in late 1995 when WNET had a special radio report on young up-and-coming musicians and requested interviews with some of Blue Note's artists. Since trumpeter Tim Hagans, tenor-saxophonist Javon Jackson, altoist Greg Osby, pianist Kevin Hays and drummer Bill Stewart were all available (and had recently played with different groups at the Mt. Fuji Jazz Festival) they were interviewed and (at the request of WNET producers) played a few songs together (along with bassist Doug Weiss). When the resulting music was stronger than expected, Blue Note's Bruce Lundvall arranged for the band to record and play some concerts. With Essiet Essiet on bass completing the band, they recorded Blue Spirit (their only CD) and toured across country (in addition to playing some New York gigs) before going their separate ways. Despite the group's name, they did not perform older Blue Note classics but instead concentrated on original material. Most interesting was hearing the contrast between the adventurous free funk altoist Osby and the Joe Henderson-inspired hard bop tenorman Jackson and how they were indirectly influencing each other. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

Thursday, October 4, 2007

27 Year Old Sax Wonder (essential download)...



I did the math and it looks right. This Jonas Kullhamma kid was born in 1978 and the album was recorded in '05. Here you have a nice little Swedish trio (though some of the band members may be from Norway) playing choice selections written by Americans including Trane, Charles Lloyd, Sonny Rollins and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. I believe these guys usually play more avant garde oriented music, but what you have here is pure Coltrane inspired bliss that fits into the post-bop/free-bop mold. The swing is ferocious. Take note that this is a live session as well. The smoke and fire is highly apparent in the room. Just burin' stuff here folks.

Fredriksson, Kullhammar & Zetterberg
GYLDENE TIDER VOL.1


Daniel Fredriksson - Drums
Jonas Kullhammar - Tenor Saxophone
Torbjörn Zetterberg - Bass
01 One Down One Up (Coltrane)
02 Have Horn, Will Blow (Davis)
03 Body And Soul (Eyton, Green, Heyman, Sour)
04 Apex (Lloyd)
05 Blessing In Disguise (Rollins)


Recorded live at Glenn Miller Café by Göran Stegborn, 1/2 2005. Mixed by Göran Stegborn
Mastered by Lino Larsson
Produced by Fredriksson, Kullhammar & Zetterberg
Executive pruducer: Ludi McSkank
Graphic Design by Mattis Cederberg


Oh, and this is what Jonas really looks like (not the kid on the CD cover):



Do it NOW!