Matana Roberts - COIN COIN Chapter One: Gens de couleur libres

Independent rock labels have made great headway in turning on listeners to challenging, cutting-edge jazz. Homestead and Henry Rollins’ defunct 213 and Infinite Zero labels helped expose David S. Ware, Matthew Shipp, and William Parker to more casual jazz fans in the early 90s, and these and other avant jazz artists have been doing great work for Thirsty Ear’s Blue Series over the last decade. The fact that alto saxophonist and composer Matana Roberts’ extraordinary new album COIN COIN is released on Constellation, a label better known for serious, somber rock, tells us Roberts knows this music deserves and can net a wider audience than more traditional jazz records would reach. In fact, the Chicago-born Roberts was already something of a post-rock fellow traveler, playing on Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s Yanqui U.X.O. and inviting members of Tortoise to guest on one of her albums. She was also in jazz trio Sticks and Stones alongside Josh Abrams and Chad Taylor, two other players active in Chicago’s cozy jazz/rock/whatever milieu. But in the end, making these connections primarily serves to pique curiosity and draw in listeners, as COIN COIN is a pure celebration of jazz.

COIN COIN was recorded live in the studio of Montreal’s Hotel2Tango last July with Roberts leading a group of 15 musicians playing multiple saxophones, two trumpets, two basses, two violins, a cello, piano, prepared guitar, drums, musical saw, and doudouk. That’s a large group, and the inclusion of the last two instruments especially might lead one to think the arrangements are needlessly crowded or exotic, but it certainly never feels like that. Edited down from a 90-minute performance to an hour, the music can be busy, even noisy, but these passages fit smartly within a larger compositional whole.

The album begins with a scorching solo burst of saxophone that recalls the fire music cries of Albert Ayler, Archie Shepp, and late-period John Coltrane. What follows over the next six minutes of opening track “rise” is a composition that references multiple styles of jazz, then detours into wholly original territory, most notably during Roberts’ theatrical spoken word/half-sung portions. These vocals, featuring Gitanjali Jain alongside Roberts, appear throughout the album, with a narrative that concerns the history of slavery in America and how it continued to affect and inform the lives of African Americans throughout the 20th century. Some sections offer stronger images and impressions than others, while Roberts and Jain’s intertwining vocals often favor ambiguity and emotional resonance over clarity and pedagogy. While I personally tend to shy away from spoken word or vocalese in jazz, these vocals are essential to its success.

COIN COIN’s middle section serves as a self-contained example of what Roberts and her band have accomplished on a larger scale. “kerasia” begins with a repetitious modal vamp before the music softens to allow Roberts’ and Jain’s vocals to dominate the track. The instruments soon come back on full blast, with Roberts leading the pack, picking the opening theme back up before sliding into a Dixieland romp that eventually mutates into a free jazz spree. This then segues into the centerpiece of the album, “libation for Mr. Brown: Bid em in…,”a soulful a cappella gospel blues chant that recalls a slave auction. In just 15 minutes, these tracks cover an astonishing amount of musical ground, highlighting Roberts’ skill as both composer and performer.

By the time the album nears its end, you may feel like you’ve already been on an exhausting, emotionally charged trip, but the most intense music is saved for last two tracks. “i am” features stunning wordless vocals over rambunctious musicianship, while “how much would you cost?” closes out the album with a moving dedication to Roberts’ mother. The exuberant cheers and applause from the small studio audience at performance’s end remind you that what you’ve just heard has happened in real time, making it all the more impressive.

COIN COIN, the first half of a larger politically-charged and personal work, is one of those records you didn’t know you were waiting for, couldn’t expect you wanted or needed to hear. It’s already grabbed the attention of both jazz aficionados and its more casual fans, impressing both in equal fashion. This is complex, life-affirming music that’s both serious and playful, steeped in tradition yet as highly original and forward-thinking as anything you’re likely to hear this year.

01. rise
02. pov piti
03. song for eulalie
04. kersaia
05. libation for Mr. Brown: Bid em in…
06. lulla/bye
07. i am
08. how much would you cost?

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lawrence butch morris - testament a conduction collection

lawrence butch morris - testament a conduction collection (flac)

the definitive document of one of the most weird adventures in the history of free improvisation.

all details in the booklet.

enjoy!

crocojazz

Otomo Yoshihide - Plays Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch

Eric Dolphy’s final studio album is hailed as one of the finest examples of mid-‘60s post bop. Its reputation is purely one of backwards significance. Dolphy, having recorded the album in February 1964, was in Europe less than six weeks later and was dead less than two months after that. Though likely he never held a copy in his hands or heard any critical opinion of it, it marked his last flurry of original compositions and is considered his apex. It is fascinating to consider whether he would had moved past or away from the album in 1965, had he lived.

Though Dolphy should not be considered an avant garde musician by the term’s most common definitions, most interpretations of Out To Lunch have been done by players working squarely in that area. So it is with this album, the most ambitious thus far in its recreation of the five-tune disc (with one original added to the final Straight Up and Down, extending the piece to almost thirty minutes) through the lens of fifteen Japanese and European musicians.

The New Jazz Orchestra is not a big band, but a loose amalgamation of distinct voices. This distinction is important, since a big band arrangement of Dolphy would sap the life out of his quirky, almost inconoclastic music. Here the intent is to bring a new meaning to the music, much like Warhol’s soup cans. Though the instrumentation of the original is represented (bass clarinet courtesy of Alfred Harth, one of the Europeans possibly influenced during Dolphy’s trip), also added are guitar, baritone sax (by the inimitable Mats Gustafsson), sho (a rare Japanese reed instrument played by international virtuoso Ko Ishikawa), electronic devices and piano. So while the melodies and spirit are in full attendance, there are often disturbing subtexts.

At times, the feeling is that of listening to the original Out To Lunch while a séance is going on to contact Dolphy’s ghost, with supernatural sounds swirling around the stereo. The effect is disconcerting, as is the post-apocalyptic cloud hanging over the arrangements, but it makes the effort more than an unnecessary tribute album. Instead, Dolphy is transported into the 21st Century and allowed to romp through modern developments in music. An inspiring concept and an album that will stretch the boundaries of anyone who comes into contact with it. allaboutjazz

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Steve Reid - Rhythmatism

Lot of you appreciated Nova from Steve Reid. This time another great album from the '70s.

Arthur Blythe - Sax (Alto)
Chris Capers - Trumpet, Guest Appearance
Michael Keith - Trombone, Trombone (Tenor)
Steve Reid - Drums
Melvin Smith - Guitar
Charles Tyler - Sax (Baritone)
Les Walker - Piano
David Wertman - Bass

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defunkt - avoid the funk...

There are certain albums where superlatives are not enough and yet unaccountably remain obscure - this is one of them.

This collection of early Defunkt mostly features their arguably classic line up. Kim Clarke's wonderful, unique, wide-freqeuncy sound on bass (Music Man Stingray?) slipping seamlessly from finger to slap can only be described as 'riotous' - it sounds like improvisation to me with endless ideas woven around a rock solid funk riff. Kelvyn Bell's guitar likewise has this impro feel about it and yet is funk solid - his hard sound and jazz-modal solos add to the overall 'angular' sound of Defunkt and is no surprise he went on to play in Steve Coleman's Five Elements. Kenny Martin on drums - well, it takes something very special to simultaneously add to this riot of a thousand-riff's-a-minute rock funk and still keep a bed rock groove (this man has eight arms surely)! All this is the perfect underpinning for Joe Bowies' proclamation vocals and strident, explosive, modal brass.

It's common knowledge that from the late sixties through the seventies, jazz musicians crossed over to dance music but commercial pressures kept their 'jazz' on a leash - unleash a modal, angular, style of jazz, add a hard, rock edge, root it in 'the-spaces-are-as-important-as-the-notes' pure funk, and you've got Defunkt - don't hesitate to buy this, their eponymous CD, and 'In America' if you can find it. Russell

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