Begin the Countdown

Last year I came up with seven categories that served as organizing principles and guideposts for how I hear the music that I hoped would help others understand more or less what to expect from each CD. For that effort, presented on December 12, 2012, I equated the texture and feel of the music to paintings. The categories were:

• Straight Ahead, Right Down the Middle, Mainstream Jazz
• Modern Mainstream Jazz
• Modern Lyrical Jazz
• Modern Impressionistic Jazz
• Modern Abstract Jazz
• New Sounds of New Age Jazz
• Latin Jazz

I will use those definitions again for these listings. [For fun, I also posited another scale during the year equating music to film characters, the James Bond to Lisbeth Salander scale, that could equally apply.]

Okay, so after sorting and sifting and noodling, and then doing it all again, I pulled out 65 CDs that I felt comfortably calling my favorites for the past year. Then after even more noodling and sorting, I actually came up with a very comfortable top 25, those I most enjoyed. Before listing my top 25, which will come in a subsequent post, here is a list of the 22 piano solos or trios from the remaining 40 that represent the "honorable mentions".

• Straight Ahead, Right Down the Middle, Mainstream Jazz (Bond, James Bond)


• Gerry Gibbs Thrasher Dream Trio, "Gerry Gibbs Thrasher Dream Trio" (Whaling City Sound 2013): No thrashing at all, just some tightly played originals and covers by Gibbs and his more famous partners, Ron Carter and Kenny Barron. 
• Harold Mabern, "Live at Smalls" (Smalls Live 2013): Doesn't get more mainstream than hearing an old master like Mabern on tunes like "Alone Together" or "Road Song", let alone a really fun version of "Sesame Street." Seven tunes give everyone a chance to stretch it out and enjoy themselves. 
• Jimmy Amadie Trio, "Live at the Philadelphia Museum of Art" (TPRecordings 2013): Sadly Amadie recently passed away, but not before he played this concert, his first in on the order of 30 years or so. His back story is amazing, and so too is his play. Pure mainstream jazz on 12 classics. Mainstream music does not get any better than this. 
• 
  
• Modern Mainstream Jazz



• Steve Kuhn, "The Vanguard Date" (Sunnyside 2013): Technically I suppose this is a re-issue, but whatever the case its one great outing, with Ron Carter and Al Foster there to make up a classic trio. Its not pure mainstream/down the middle -- there is too much wonderful free-flowing improvisation for me to put it there. Kuhn never disappoints. 
• Bob James, "Alone" (Red River 2013): Yes that Bob James. He is a heck of a pianist as he has demonstrataed in the past when not playing "soft jazz", and as he shows here with some wonderfully soft and lyrical takes on standards, his own songs, and some from modern pop. Very nice. 
• Alan Broadbent, "Heart to Heart" (Chilly Bin Records 2013): Downbeat gave it five stars. It's that good. It's a demonstration of what a piano can do in the hands of an outstanding player. Beauty abounds.  
• The Aperturistic Trio, "Truth and Actuality" (Inner Circle Music 2013): James Weidman on piano, Steve Williams on drums, and Harvie S on bass provide a nice set of modern jazz music in a classic piano trio. 
• Lisa Hilton, "Getaway" (Ruby Slippers 2013): Lisa Hilton has not gotten the credit she deserves as a solid modern jazz pianist and hopefully this will open some minds to her music. With Nasheet Waits on drums and Larry Grenadier on bass, this is a modern set of compositions by Hilton herself. Very upbeat, very classy. 
• Modern Lyrical Jazz

• Marc Cary, "For the Love of Abbey" (Motema 2013): Cary worked with Abbey Lincoln for years and this solo piano outing conveys his love in some beautiful, lyrical versions of her songs. It's magical music. 
• Julian Waterfall Pollack, "Waves of Albion" (Berthold Records 2013): Simply beautiful display of touch and sensuality. A few originals, a few traditional songs like "Shenandoah" and "Amazing Grace." This came real close to the top 25, it's fantastic.
• Alessandro Lanzoni Trio, "Dark Flavour" (CamJazz 2013): From the young artist series by CamJazz, a trio that sounds like they've been at it for a while. Lovely music, taste, and sensitivity, and interesting takes on Monk to boot.  
• Ramberto Ciammarughi, "New Music for Two" (CamJazz 2013): With Miroslav Vitous on bass and Gerald Cleaver on drums, this is a very beautiful and classy live concert full of moving passages and creative improvisations.   
• Modern Impressionistic Jazz


• K-Trio, "Meatball Evening" (Dimma 2013): There's a pretty lively jazz scene in Iceland and K-Trio is at the heart of it. It's a bit abstract, a bit moody at times, and a lot of fun is had by all. 
• Aaron Parks, "Arborescence" (ECM 2013): Not the Parks we know from his more mainstream outings, this one is more in the realm of creative modern classicism, and its a beauty. By the way, a more mainstream Parks can be found on his website in a free download-only concert from Japan, and it too is recommended. [And another by the way, by the time all my lists are completed, I believe i will have had 12 ECM productions on them. It was a heck of a year for the label.]
• Iiro Rantala, Michael Wollny, Leszek Mozder, "Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic I " (ACT 2013): Some solos, some duos, and one trio with all three players at once pouring their hearts into a mix of jazz classicism. Jazz variations of Bach, a rhumba by Chick Corea, Svantetic from Komeda and a number of originals. Beautiful music. 
• Sunna Gunnlaugs, "Distilled" (Sunny Sky Records 2013): Perfectly balanced trio with husband Scott McLemore on drums and Porgrimur Jonsson on bass. Another Icelander, perhaps the most famous in the jazz world. This is beautiful stuff full of magic and sensuality. 
• Tingvall Trio, "In Concert" (Skip Records 2013): Another one of the modern piano trios that are popping up in Europe and following the path blazed by est and others. The trio have several other CDs out, each of which is great, and this captures them live playing some of their best tunes. 
• Modern Abstract Jazz


• Eric Revis, "City of Asylum" (Clean Feed 2013): Creative abstractions with Kris Davis on piano and Andrew Cyrille on drums.
• Matthew Shipp, "Piano Sutras" (Thirsty Ear 2013): Shipp was prolific in 2013. This is a solo outing of 13 small compositions that can be at times angular, at others lyrical, and always fascinating. It's definitely outside the box, but also it's definitely Shipp, and that's good. 
• Craig Taborn, "Chants" (ECM 2013): Not sure if this should be in the modern impressionistic group or this one. Either way it is an exercise in creative listening among three partners that we should be glad to be in on. Engaging, mellow and interesting. 
• Hot Eskimos, "Songs from the Top of the World" (JR Music 2013): Another young jazz trio from Iceland rethinking a number of modern pop tunes from groups like the Sugarcubes and from Bjork. But if you didn't know the sources, and I don't, you'd be fine. It's another in the line of modern piano trios seeking new sources and ideas to bring to the table.
• In the Country, "Sunset Sunrise" (ACT 2013): Yet another in the fine line of European piano trios, Very expressive players with a sweeping vision of their jazz.   
• New Sounds of New Age Jazz (Lisbeth Salander)
• none
• Latin Jazz
• none

My next post will be of the other 18 "honorable mentions". 

So Much New Music!

Tons of good stuff in the last couple of months that I have not written about. Some big CDs from big names -- Brad Mehldau, Houston Person, Lee Konitz and friends, Anat Cohen, The Bad Plus just to name a few-- that I would recommend any time, but also a lot of CDs from some noteworthy but lesser known, or even in many cases unknown and new players. So without further ado, I have selected a few CDs from players you may have heard of to report on in this post, to be followed with others in succeeding days or weeks.

I'll start with two veterans, Marc Johnson and Eliane Elias, who have released an absolutely exquisite disc, "Swept Away" (ECM 2012). Johnson on bass and Elias on piano are accompanied by Joey Baron on drums and a very lyrical and somewhat subdued Joe Lovano on tenor saxophone. Eleven pieces of which ten are by Johnson and/or Elias, everyone lyrical and deeply moving, with stronger melodies and standard rhythms, and more richness than many might associate with ECM recordings. It kicks off right away with the title piece and, after the piano interoduces the song, a long and lovely solo passage by Johnson. the piece sets the mood of the disc -- romantic but not cloying, rich textures, and elegant. As a trio the group is great, and when Lovano joins in sublime. Lovano melds beautifully into the group sound, with a restrained, smooth tone. This is an elegant, must listen CD that will please anyone who likes the classic form and sound of a piano trio playing originals.  

Next, not new but new to me, and still pretty much down the middle with more well-known tunes, a European master of the bass, Mads Vinding, joins with two other masters of whom I recently wrote, Enrico Pieranunzi on piano and Alex Riel on drums for the CD "The Kingdom (Where Nobody Dies)" (Stunt 1997) and the trio delivers a bravura performance. This is not a CD with a lot of surprises or unusual touches, just one with three masters of their instruments playing some standards -- "Someday My Prince Will Come", "My Foolish Heart", "I Remember Clifford" -- and some Pieranunzi compositions with all of the class and grace one would expect from them. The three blend seemlessly and while Pieranunzi leads the compositions from his bench, watch for some nice soloing byVinding, particualry on "My Foolish Heart." Riel is subtle but always maintains firm control over the tempo from the back. Really wonderfully relaxing music, first rate.

Roberta Piket is a name well known in New York jazz circles, a veteran player and teacher and marvelous pianist with several recordings to her name. On her latest, "Solo" (Thirteenth Note Records 2012) she does just that, playing eleven pieces from a number of sources, including two she penned herself. Other compositions are by such luminaries as Thelonious Monk, Billy Strayhorn, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, Marian McPartland, and Sam Rivers, and by the names alone it is clear that these solo explorations are wide ranging, from standards to free jazz. Piket makes the most of the compositions and opportunities, beginning first with a very subdued and beautiful playing of "I See Your Face Before Me," but not before she interduces it with the opening left-hand bass notes from Eric Satie's Gymnopedies. Monk affords her great flexibility for the next two pieces, one her own composition modelled upon the freedom he displayed in his work which allows her some free rein across the keyboard, some unusual harmonies and a range of dynamics; and one interpreting the classic "Monk's Dream" in a very gentle fashion. Assured, relaxed, and creative, Piket demonstrates a sense of restraint on some of the most beautiful compositions, like "Something to Live For" (Strayhorn) to allow the song to speak for itself; and a fertile mind for improvisation on others as she takes tunes such as "Nefertiti" (Shorter)  and "Litha" (Corea) to new places through her explorations. I have many of her earlier CDs, but this one stands out as she expands her vocabulary with this solo outing. Piket's explorations are marvelous and easy on the ears, never too much "in your face", making this a CD that can be appreciated by traditionalists as well as moernists alike.

The next disc worth listening to definitely takes listeners out of the box and into the area of modern creative jazz. The duo of Michael Bisio (bass) and Matthew Shipp (pianist) jointly composed, or in some cases freely improvised, the seven pieces on this recording, "Floating Ice" (Relative Pitch Records 2012). Shipp is the better known of the two players and throughout his body of work has demonstrated his interest in exploration of sounds, both of his instrument as well as of duos, trios, and beyond. Melodies are more angular and shifting, rhythms varied, and the two freely combine soothing harmonies with dissonance within the same pieces. But both also demonstrate a keen ability to play together, to supporting one another, and to trading off solos effortlessly in search of their perfect sound. Interestingly, the liner notes do not distinguish written forms and improvisations, and simply describes the music as magic. Shipp jumps right in with "Floating Ice" a two handed exploration of the lower octaves of the piano with a lot of clustered chords under a running right hand melody line. There is no real tune here, just fantastically interesting blends, sometimes dissonant, sometimes harmonious, sometimes legato and gentle, and at other times heavily played and forte. Bisio takes over midway thorugh the piece and his bass solo is far from traditional but interesting as well. The music is really hard to describe accurately as it moves quickly from passage to passage, heavy hands to light touches, strong melodies to impressions, etc. Sometimes Shipp is too far out there for me --- his duet "Cosmic Lieder" (AUM Fidelity 2011) with Darius Jones is just one example that is too modern for my taste -- and sometimes his experimentation hits me right, like the recent "Elastic Aspects" (Thirsty Ear 2012) or "Art of the Improviser" (Thirsty Ear 2011), both trio CDs with  Bisio.  Here is one that hits the sweet spot for me -- experiemental, different, and yet structured enough to appeal to my sensibilities.

Finally, moving back towards the middle once more, we have Scott McLemore, an American ex-pat drummer living in Iceland, whose new CD is  "Remote Location" (Sunny Sky Records 2012) is a tribute to his various homes -- Virginia, New York, and Iceland. McLemore is accompanied by an all-star group of Icelanders, the best known of whom is Sunna Gunnlaugs on piano. The others are Oskar Gudjansson on tenor sax, Andres Thor on guitars, and Robert Porhallsson on bass. McLemore wrote all 11 pieces, which are very lovely, subdued impressionistic gems. I feel a great kinship to the music, not only because it is lovely, appealling music, but also becaause I feel a kinship to Charlottesville where my kids went to college ("Charlottesville" is the fifth track), to nearby New York City, and to Iceland, where we visited last year and expect to visit again soon. Just an unbelievable place of natural beauty, wonderful people, and amazing open space. McLemore captures all of our emotions about all of the places he cites with lovely melodies and great soloists. His own play is subdued but omnipresent as color, setting tempos, or creating accent points along the way. This is recomended to you as modern creative in-the-pocket jazz by a seamless quintet. And by the way, Iceland truly has an amazing jazz scene for such a tiny place, has an annual jazz festival that draws from Northern Europe in particular, and has a new concert hall that is magnificent.

So there we have it, five CDs of note, from the inside music of Vinding/Pieranunzi/Riel and of Johnson/Elias to the outside sounds of Bisio/Shipp. All very good, I hope you will try some and that you enjoy.