WTJU 91.1 FM

New Jazz Adds – 10/9/2018

Dave Anderson – Melting Pot (Label 1): Composer/soprano & alto sax player Dave Anderson pulled together a wonderful group of players to create a “melting pot” of players and compositions. The players include Dave Restivo (piano, Rhodes), Hans Glawischnig (bass), Memo Acevedo (drums), Roberto Quintero (percussion), Need Murgai (sitar), Enron Hanson and Deep Singh (tabla), Bryan Davis (trumpet) and Itai Kriss (flute) and they create many textures as the line-ups shift from one song to another. This set should appeal to a terrific cross section of  music fans. They have identified two songs as Latin Jazz, two as World Music and the remaining piece as fusion. Great set with wonderful rhythms. Click here to listen to the songs on this disc.   

Lindsey Blair Quartet – All Wes All Day (Southernmost): Composer/guitarist Lindsey Blair has had a varied career as a student, teacher, musician and a lifelong fan of Wes Montgomery. He has played with Gloria Estefan & the Miami Sound Machine, The Jaco Pastorious Big Band, Ed Calle, 2 Live Crew, and Arturo Sandoval among others. He is accompanied on this disc by Mike Levine (piano), Waldo Madera (drums) and Nicky Orta (bass) with guests Richard Bravo (percussion), Jon Gilutin (Fender Rhodes), Rose Max (vocal) and Ramatis Moraes (acoustic guitar). Nine of the ten songs are Montgomery compositions and the last is a Carl Perkins composition called “Groove Yard”. I was shocked, too, but this Carl isn’t the rock’n’roller! This one was, in fact, a jazz pianist! This is a wonderful tribute to Montgomery from beginning to end. Click here to listen to samples of the songs on this disc.   

David Dominique – Mask (Orenda): Composer/arranger/flugabone player/vocalist David Dominque offers a decidedly unique musical program full of diverse songs and stretched beyond-centrist musical stretches or pranks that make this disc unusual, a bit crazy and ultimately a good bit of fun. Dominique lives in Richmond and is a music professor at William and Mary. His band includes Brian Walsh (tenor sax, clarinet), Joe Santa Maria (alto sax, flute), Sam Robles (alto sax, bari sax), Lauren Baba (viola), Alex Noice (guitar, electronics), Michael Alvidrez (bass) and Andrew Lessman (drums, drumkat). I admit I was puzzled on my first listen, but now, on my fourth, the magic has taken over. I find it more than a bit crazy, while frequently quite intriguing, very well played and hip as it can get! You can hear it on WTJU, but you can also catch them LIVE in Cville on at 7 pm in Brooks Hall at UVA on November 11 courtesy of the Cville Jazz Society! I regret I am not able to find any samples from this disc, but you can call WTJU and request to hear some of it beginning Tuesday, October 9.

Ensemble Fanaa – Ensemble Fanaa (Self-produced): The liner notes in this disc open with the question: “What is the thread that binds John Coltrane, Moroccan Gnawa, and Sudanese Quran recitation?” This disc is dedicated to exploring the answer. Ensemble Fanaa features Dark Behroozi (alto sax, bass clarinet), John Murchison (gimbri, double bass) and Dan Kurfirst (drumset, frame drums). They “…utilize their thorough experience in these musics to explore the possibilities of applying approaches learned from the traditions of African-American improvisation to an emerging global musical culture. This enables them to blend and shift through a diverse range of music making practices as they continue to develop a new rhythmic, melodic, harmonic, and sonic vocabulary, characterized by polyrhythmic drones, chromaqamatic extemporizations, and arrhythmic grooves. Their sound is often centered around the use of the gimbri, a bass-register instrument from Morocco that is primarily used in traditional Moroccan Healing/Trance music (Gnawa).” (https://ensemblefanaa.bandcamp.com/releases) The music is not as piercing as the most intense music created by Coltrane or the other groups, so it should be more accessible and It is a fascinating presentation. Click here to listen to the songs on this disc.  

Tord Gustavsen Trio – The Other Side (ECM): This is composer/pianist Todd Gustavsen’s eighth release as a leader. He composed seven of the twelve songs on this disc and arranged the remaining five, three from J.S.Bach, one from Ludvig Mathias Lindeman and one traditional song. His supporting musicians are Sigurd Hole (bass) and Jarle Vespestad (drums). The performances are beautiful and moving. The quiet beauty casts a beautiful web that simply entices the listener to linger and drink in its beauty. Click here to listen to samples of the songs on this disc by clicking on the disc cover. 

Joel Harrison – Angel Band: Free Country Volume 3 (HighNote): Joel Harrison returns with his third Free Country collection with the Angel Band, a group whose purpose is “to arrange country and Appalachian music for a jazz group in new and unusual ways.” (Liner notes) So when you see “America The Beautiful”, “Ring Of Fire” and “Blue Eyes Cryin’ In The Rain” among others expect something new and on the edge. The main group features Harrison (guitar, dobro, 6 string banjo, national steel, vocal); David Binney (alto sax); Jon Cowherd (piano, Hammond B3, Wurlitzer); Uri Caine (piano, Fender Rhodes); Chris Tordini and Stephan Crump (upright  bass); and Brian Blade and Allison Miller (drums). The set is intended for those seeking significantly new arrangements for “country” bands and/or expanding where these melodies might go. Click here and scroll down to listen to samples of the songs on this disc.   

Willie Nelson – My Way (Legacy): Willie Nelson has basically done it his way for most of his career and he’s not about to stop now! This set includes eleven standards ranging from Bart Howard’s “Fly Me To The Moon”, Johnny Mercer’s “One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)”, the Gershwinn’s “A Foggy Day” and Leigh and Richards’ “Young At Heart” among others and, even at his age, he is still the Willie Nelson we have listened to for all these years. There are numerous backing musicians, including long termer Mickey Raphael (harmonica) with steel guitar, brass guitars, organ and piano who provide just the backing that suits the man so well. Click here to listen to the songs on this disc.   

Madeleine Peyroux –Anthem (Verve): Singer/songwriter/guilele player Madeleine Peyroux’s newest release features ten songs co-written by Peyroux and David Baerwald, Larry Klein, Brian MacLeod, and Patrick Warren; one poem, “Liberte” by Paul Eluard,  set to music by Peyroux and Larry Klein; and Leonard Cohen’s “Anthem”. The music is mostly folk or pop with occasion horns. The musicians participating on this disc are Larry Klein (bass, keys, percussion, guitar), Dean Parks (electric and acoustic guitar, pedal steel, guilele); David Baerwald (electric guitar, acoustic guitar); Brian MacLeod (drums, percussion); Pete Kuzma (Hammond organ); Patrick Warren (piano, Wurlitzer piano, dulcetone, harmonium); Gregoire Maret (harmonicas); Jivan Gasparyan (duduk); Andy Martin (trombone); Chris Cheek (tenor sax, bari sax); John “Scrapper” Sneider (trumpet); Gabriel Johnson (trumpet); Luciana Souza (percussion); with Jay Bellerose (drums & percussion on one song). The music is varied and warm sounding though certainly melancholy at times. Click here to listen to the opening song on this disc.   

Cecile McLorin Salvant – The Window (Mack Avenue): This is singer Cecile McLorin Salvant’s fifth release. In 2016, her third release, For One To Love, won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album and her fourth release, Dreams and Daggers, won a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2017. She has a very expressive and unique vocal style. The songs on this disc include one original composition and six songs from the Great American song list and a variety of other songs ranging from R&B of the 50s and 60s and beyond. She is supported by Sullivan Fortner (piano, organ) throughout the disc with a guest appearance by Melissa Aldana (tenor sax) on “The Peacocks”. I regret I am unable to find a sample from this disc.

Joe Sinnett – The Americana Groove Project (Self-produced): Drummer/composer/singer Joe Sinnett landed in Virginia courtesy of the US Navy in the 70s and has lived here ever since. He has released fourteen discs since 1986. This is his first release singing, which he does on five cuts and adds a rap on one. His band includes Terry Burrell (bass), Jay Rakes (guitar) and Weldon His (Hammond organ) and there are guest appearances on this disc by Justin Kauflin (piano, keys on five songs) and Jennifer Gammill (backing vocal on one song). Sinnett is also a deejay on a PBS station in Norfolk. This disc is jazzy at times but slides into more of a rock/soul/funk mode quite frequently. Any fans of rock/jazz/funk should check this out. Click here to listen to samples of the songs on this disc.   

Mark Turner / Ethan Iverson – Temporary Kings (ECM): “The initial musical connection between saxophonist Mark Turner and pianist Ethan Iverson was made in 1990s jam sessions in New York City, with both going on to individual success Iverson in hit trio The Bad Plus and Turner as a solo leader and in such groups as the trio Fly (recording in both capacities for ECM). A decade after their first meeting, the saxophonist and pianist began an association in the Billy Hart Quartet…” and their interaction has led them to continue playing together. (https://www.amazon.com/Temporary-Kings-Turner-Ethan-Iverson/dp/B07F7TYLQ5) This is their first release as a duo. Six of the songs were composed by Iverson and two by Turner. They also perform Warne Marsh’s “Dixie’s Dilemma”. Their interaction is wonderful. Click here and scroll down to listen to samples of the songs on this disc.  

Kopasetically,

Professor Bebop