15-06-2019 JAZZ_MiX # 33 jazz tracks on the the JAZZ_line 2008-2019

15-06-2019 # 33 jazz tracks on the the JAZZ_line 2008-2019 # Avishai Cohen Trio, W. H., Trombone Shorty, Tonbruket, Donny McCaslin, Noah Preminger, Black Flower, Robert Glasper, Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom, Jerry Douglas, Marcus Strickland's Twi-Life, The Comet Is Coming

J A Z Z   M U S I C

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2008-2019

Bassist who has often combined Middle Eastern and Israeli music with both electric and acoustic jazz. 
Avishai Cohen Trio
Seattle (Avishai Cohen) 2:50
Lo Baiom Velo Balyla (Traditional) 5:25
from Gently Disturbed 2008
Avishai Cohen has established himself over the past decade as one of the more versatile and curious bassists around. For Gently Disturbed he hooks up with the young pianist Shai Maestro, a fellow Israeli, and drummer Mark Guiliana, on a set that is never less than exciting, always seductive, and often quite challenging. The gently playful opener, "Seattle," is a teaser: a waltz-inspired rhythm percolates underneath, but its simple foundation is often obscured by the trio's complex interplay... Of course, Cohen makes sure to step into the spotlight often enough to reassure that he is in fact the leader here, and on tracks such as Cohen's own neo-classical "Variations in G Minor" and the traditional Israeli song "Lo Baiom Velo Balyla," Cohen's intricate maneuvering reveals once again the ceaseless creativity of his musicianship.

The formation of W.H. was initiated in 2006 by cellist/composer Albert Márkos, with the aim to place the sonnets of William Shakespeare into the musical environment of present times. The name refers to a monogram used in the 1609 Quarto-edition of Shakespeare’s Sonnets, which was mysteriously dedicated to a certain Mr W.H... The band’s members are all celebrated artists in the Hungarian music scene... 
W. H.
XII 3:05
XXV 3:50
from Shakespeare's Sonnets 2009
Utilizing Hungary’s top hip-hop diva MC Sena’s vocal skills and the three musicians’ improvisational aptitude together with Shakespeare’s lyricism, the group is determined to go against the grain of all popular conventions to exhibit a new form of entertainment, infused with education. Hence it is not easy to describe the outcome of the production, as the pieces display characteristics of different genres, such as klangfarbe musik, free jazz, contemporary improvisational music, abstract hiphop, spoken word. All of this eventually intermingles into an incomparable sound and an absorbing show indeed, with the greatest respect and decorum to the ever-living artistry and magnitude of William Shakespeare...

New Orleans trombone and trumpet player, born into a music-rich family, who became a figurehead for modern jazz. 
Trombone Shorty
Hurricane Season (Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews) 3:20
Backatown (Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews) 2:46
from Backatown 2010
Backatown, the Verve debut from New Orleans composer, bandleader, and trombone and trumpet boss Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, was one of the most hotly anticipated recordings of 2010. Given the well-deserved reputation Andrews and his Orleans Avenue band have for incendiary live performances, one had to wonder if it would translate in their studio offerings for independent labels. It didn't because they'd never had the budget to get the vibe right. Backatown is the first time that Orleans Avenue -- Dwayne "Big D" Williams (percussion), Mike Ballard (bass), Joey Peebles (drums), Pete Murano (guitar), and Dan Oestreicher (baritone sax) -- have had an actual budget to capture the Trombone Shorty experience, and they've made a studio record that offers a real taste of the live show's excitement. Shorty calls his music “supafunkrock,” and it's an accurate term for the aural gumbo on this fingerpopping, butt-shakin' mix set...

Tonbruket is a band that defies categorization. The Swedish band's name roughly translates into English as "Tone Workshop," and they describe their music as "sticking closely to the essence of a composition's tone, melody, and groove."
Tonbruket
Vinegar Heart 8:59
Dig it to the End 3:31
from Dig it to the End 2011
For its eponymous debut (ACT, 2010) , this band was called Dan Berglund's Tonbruket. It was a new outfit, the first new venture by a member of Esbjorn Svensson after pianist Esbjörn Svensson's death in 2008, pretty much an unknown quantity. For Dig It To The End, bassist Berglund remains as an emphatic presence, but the band is simply Tonbruket... The somewhat scary cover illustration of Dig It To The End—Leatherface meets Elephant Man meets the Phantom of the Opera—might suggest a doom-laden collection of metal-infused tunes. The opening bars of "Vinegar Heart" sound like that's the direction things are heading. Then there's a sudden transition to the calmness of Johan Lindstrőm's guitars and Andreas Werliin's gentle percussion, and suddenly an Americana sensibility pervades the music...

An immensely talented jazz saxophonist and flautist with limitless expertise and expressive improvising technique... best recognized by the music-loving public for his contributions to Blackstar, David Bowie's final studio album in 2016
Donny McCaslin
Stadium Jazz ((Donny McCaslin) 7:17
Losing Track of Daytime (Donny McCaslin) 7:38
Tension (Donny McCaslin) 5:47
Casting For Gravity (Donny McCaslin) 3:56
from Casting For Gravity 2012
If saxophonist Donny McCaslin stuck a toe into the ocean of electric jazz with his previous album Perpetual Motion (Greenleaf, 2010), then with Casting For Gravity he dives headfirst into the sea. But don't worry, with his musical dexterity and adeptness on horn, he is in no danger of sinking. In fact, he takes to these waters like a thirsty horse... The saxophonist surrounds himself with talent here, starting with producer/saxophonist David Binney, a fellow saxophonist and former member of the 1990s collective Lan Xang, with McCaslin. The album opens with the oxymoronic "Stadium Jazz," a melodic burner with ever- changing rhythms, and finds drummer Mark Guiliana powering all things ablaze. The pair feed off each other throughout, trading rounds on "Tension," as electric bassist Tim Lefebvre tinkers in thunder-making.

Of Brooklyn-based saxophonist Noah Preminger, The New York Times declares: “Mr. Preminger designs a different kind of sound for each note, an individual destiny and story.”  Preminger, just 32 and the winner of Downbeat Magazine’s Rising Star Best Tenor Saxophonist, has recorded over twelve critically acclaimed albums...
Noah Preminger
Morgantown 6:26
Tmorrow 3:11
Don't Drink the Water 5:24
from Haymaker 2013
...Preminger is also an avid amateur athlete who actively pursues boxing, skydiving, and skiing. Boxing is Preminger's chief passion these days, as evidenced by the title of his new album, Haymaker, also his third solo recording. Here, he leads a highly skilled quartet through a set of engaging original tunes, including one by guitarist Ben Monder, a standard of sorts ("Tomorrow"), and a cover of Dave Matthews' "Don't Drink The Water." Frankly, any recording with Ben Monder on guitar has my interest. He's an engaging soloist with an interesting approach to his instrument and a real personal sound. The revelation here is drummer Colin Stranahan: his drums are tuned high and crisp and you can hear everything he's doing. His extraordinarily busy playing never seems to get in the way of the music or the soloists. If anything, he pokes and prods them to greater heights. Bassist Matt Pavolka digs in right behind Stranahan, constituting a formidable rhythm tandem...

Belgian globalistas Black Flower follow a holistic approach to their take on Ethiopian jazz and funk, stirring in solid Afrobeat grooves, free-jazz flourishes and Middle Eastern and Balkan dub essences to create an organic synergy that simply connects.
Black Flower
Solar eclipse 6:38
I threw a lemon at that girl 5:19
Abyssinia afterlife 7:45
from Abyssinia Afterlife 2014
Let me lay my stall out very early doors – this is a blisteringly good album. From the first whispery tones of the sax on album opener Solar Eclipse to the title track closer’s wavy surreality, Abyssinia Afterlife packs in everything good from afrobeat, jazz, funk, ethiojazz and more to lift it way beyond. The Belgian band recorded the album in Ghent at the start of last year but it finally releases in the UK this Friday (28th August) via Zephyrus Music and De Werf Records.
Solar Eclipse’s groove at the start is elephantine, swaggering and a little staggering with spirals of cornet coming from ex-Beck and dEUS cohort Jon Birdsong that dual with the band’s composer Natham Daems’ sax. In fact, the track is a perfect showcase for five-piece band’s brilliant musicianship – rumbling, groove-locked bass from Filip Vandebril, rolling tight drumming from Simon Segers and stabbing, swirling psychedelic keys from Wouter Haest.

Pianist with recordings for Blue Note, well-versed in jazz history as well as the modern sounds of R&B and hip-hop. 
Robert Glasper
Reckoner (Colin Greenwood / Jonny Greenwood / Ed O'Brien / Phil Selway / Thom Yorke) 5:07
In Case You Forgot (Robert Glasper) 13:01
Stella by Starlight (Ned Washington / Victor Young) 4:37
from Covered: The Robert Glasper Trio Recorded Live at Capitol Studios 2015
Four months after winning his second Grammy Award in the R&B category for Black Radio 2, pianist Robert Glasper re-assembles the acoustic jazz trio that played on his first two Blue Note recordings. Bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Damion Reid assist the pianist in a live audience recording from Capitol's famed Studio A. Covered is far from a return to an acoustic piano trio for Glasper. Instead, it's an acoustic approach to the directions he employed on his early Blue Note dates, and the R&B and hip-hop engagements on Black Radio...The rhythm section's intro to Radiohead's "Reckoner" is lithe and almost funky before Glasper uses the melody's limited palette as a circular, restrained, yet emotionally moving exploration of its possibilities. The album's centerpiece is the 13-minute "In Case You Forgot." It begins with a knotty, angular solo piano intro (check "Silly Rabbit" from 2007's In My Element), with single-note syncopations and mid-register arpeggios cascading around a four-note bassline with classical embellishments... An example is "Stella by Starlight," whose canny arrangement simultaneously celebrates, decodes, and cracks open Bill Evans' lyricism atop triple-timed brushed snare -- think drum'n'bass -- and a bumping bassline...

Adventurous jazz and modern creative improvisation ensemble led by drummer Allison Miller.  Boom Tic Boom is a forward-thinking jazz outfit led by drummer Allison Miller. The group first grabbed audiences with its eponymous debut, Boom Tic Boom, in 2010.
Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom
Fuster (Allison Miller) 7:12
Slow Jam ((Allison Miller) 5:26
Shimmer (Allison Miller) 5:58
from Otis Was a Polar Bear 2016
... It's as if all of the tension of the past few years was suddenly released in a set of lithe, highly unpredictable songs. Helping to draw out this childlike energy are her longtime bandmates pianist Myra Melford, violinist Jenny Scheinman, and bassist Todd Sickafoose. Also augmenting the ensemble this time out is the gregariously talented front line of cornetist Kirk Knuffke and clarinetist Ben Goldberg. Many of the tracks on Otis Was a Polar Bear have a mutative quality as the ensemble winds its way through different feelings and textures in a given track... "Fuster" fuses Eastern European folk music with a dance-inducing Latin montuno-driven midsection...  the sultry funk of the aptly titled "Slow Jam" marries angular R&B tension with a film noir melody... "Shimmer" sounds like the inner workings of a mechanical clock set to music. Ultimately, Otis Was a Polar Bear feels like the work of a band whose members have weathered a storm together and emerged more united and joyful than ever.

Jerry Douglas is widely renowned as perhaps the finest Dobro player in contemporary acoustic music. His main foundation is bluegrass, but Douglas is an eclectic whose tastes run toward jazz, blues, folk, and straight-ahead country as well, and he's equally capable of appealing to bluegrass aficionados or new agers with a taste for instrumental roots music.
Jerry Douglas
Cavebop (Jerry Douglas) 4:51
Hey Joe (Billy Roberts) 4:19
2:19 (Kathleen Brennan / Tom Waits) 4:19
from What If 2017
Jerry Douglas is one of the world's most beloved musicians, and he became one the hard way: He's pushed through every boundary facing him, thwarted all expectations along the way, and practiced a work ethic that is staggering -- he has played on over 2,000 albums as a session player or leader. The Jerry Douglas Band is a three-year-old virtuoso septet that includes electric guitar (Mike Seal) drums (Doug Belote), horns (Jamel Mitchell and Vance Thompson on saxophone and trumpet, respectively), fiddle (Christian Sedelmyer), and bass (Daniel Kimbro), alongside his Dobro and lap steel. As a unit they careen across jazz, rock, bluegrass, folk, blues, and R&B with abandon... The cover of Tom Waits' "2:19" is a steamy, swinging, jump blues with Douglas' late-night vocal growl amid stinging lead guitars, honking saxophones, and backing harmony chorus. Douglas first covered Billy Roberts' "Hey Joe" on 1992's Slide Rule, but it didn't sound anything like this choogler. Tight flatpicked dobro, squalling fiddle, ripping electric guitar, and double-timed drums cook right out in front of the souled-out horns...

A sextet headed by the saxophonist and composer, assembled to record his debut as a leader for Blue Note. 
Marcus Strickland's Twi-Life
Relentlessness (Marcus Strickland) 5:47
Black Love (Marcus Strickland) 4:15
Aim High (Jermaine Holmes / Marcus Strickland) 7:33
from People of the Sun 2018
...Since then, Strickland has toured the globe as a headliner with Twi-Life (keyboardist Mitch Henry, bassist Kyle Miles, and drummer Charles Haynes) and as part of the Blue Note All-Stars. On many levels, People of the Sun picks up where Nihil Novi left off, but goes deeper and wider. The previous set was deeply influenced by Strickland's cultural and musical upbringing. As a child he was exposed to both Afro-Caribbean traditional and popular sounds as well as Southern rap, Motown, John Coltrane, and George Clinton's P-Funk enterprise. Those sounds and many others entwine inside groove-laden post-bop, modal, and contemporary jazz frameworks while extending and subverting the entire jazz tradition. In addition to his bandmates, Strickland enlisted close collaborator and trumpet ace Keyon Harrold and Cuban session percussionist Weedie Braimah...

"Apocalyptic space funk" trio from London, England, signed to the Leaf Label. Identified as Betamax Killer, Danalogue the Conqueror, and King Shabaka -- aliases of drummer Maxwell Hallett, keyboardist Dan Leavers, and saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings -- the Comet Is Coming describe their sound as "apocalyptic space funk," consciously and purposefully melding jazz, funk, electronica, psychedelia, hip-hop, and improvisation. Named after a BBC Radiophonic Workshop recording, the boundary-shattering trio woodshedded for a few months and emerged fully formed on South London's fertile, highly collaborative, slipstream jazz scene and began recording almost immediately.
The Comet Is Coming
Because the End Is Really the Beginning (Betamax / Danalogue / King Shabaka) 4:48
Summon the Fire (Betamax / Danalogue / King Shabaka) 3:55
Timewave Zero (Betamax / Danalogue / King Shabaka) 5:20
from Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery 2019
England's sci-fi jazz trio the Comet Is Coming have been exploring the cosmos since 2015 when drummer Maxwell Hallett (Betamax) and keyboardist Dan Leavers (Danalogue) were playing a gig as futurist duo Soccer96 when they encountered Shabaka Hutchings (King Shabaka) hanging near the stage with a saxophone. They invited him up and improvised. Received enthusiastically, the trio formed the Comet Is Coming to explore a mutual love of Sun Ra, John and Alice Coltrane, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and future-forward electronica...  Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery picks up where Channel the Spirits and its follow-up EP Death to the Planet left off as it attempts to "envisage a 21st century take on spiritual jazz that is part Alice Coltrane, part Blade Runner." Their association with the legendary American label -- home to many of their influences -- raises expectations that are both warranted and met.