Best of 2004

[Nate Dorward]

Yes, I know it's only mid-February, I know it's ridiculously early, but so what. I've already started to jot down the odd title so I don't forget anything by the end of the year. Here's three strong discs that will be in the running then--

Dead Cat Bounce, Home Speaks to the Wandering (Innova). I suppose it sounds like a backhanded compliment for me to say that fans of the Vandermark 5 should check this out pronto (given that I'm not KVDM's biggest fan) but there's a similar punchiness here in charts that come off like a blend of jazz & rockabilly sensibilities. There's even a little Irish pennywhistle at one point(!). It's a sextet--four horns, bass, drums. Mostly unfamiliar names (Jared Sims, Matt Steckler, Drew Sayers, Arie Werbrouck, Bill Carbone) except that of Charlie Kohlhase. Nominee for title of the year: "I Once Was Vaccinated with a Phonograph Needle" (a lift, I take it, from Groucho Marx).

The Joe Hunt Trio (Dreambox Media). Gorgeous straightahead Bill Evans style piano trio. 99% of the time that's codespeak for "soporific"--it's unbelievable how many tenth-rate Evans imitators there are out there--but pianist Steve Rudolph is a real find, & Joe Hunt sounds just as good as he did back in the 1960s when he was on all those George Russell discs.

Bite the Gnatze, Wilde dans in een afgelegen Berghut (Trytone). New Dutch swing (the most familiar players are Jorrit Dijkstra & Alan Purves), but with a countrified sensibility (fiddles, lapsteel). This sounds way better than anything Frisell's managed to come up with in a decade of trying.

[al j]

It's never too early, Nate. I was thinking of starting this thread myself.


Dog Out - s/t - This disc is better than anything I heard last year, so it's bound to make any list I make for this one.

Sophie Agne// Olivier Benoit - Rip-stop - This is the first thing I've heard from these musicians and it won't be my last. This disc sounds at once experimental and beautifully put-together. I've never heard a piano or guitar quite like this.

[gnhrtg]

Originally posted by Joe Christmas
Sophie Agne// Olivier Benoit - Rip-stop - This is the first thing I've heard from these musicians and it won't be my last. This disc sounds at once experimental and beautifully put-together. I've never heard a piano or guitar quite like this.

They had this playing while I was browsing around in Jussieu Jazz in Paris. I was impressed enough to ask what it was they had on - with my weird collage of english/french.

[al j]

Sounds like we all need to visit Jussieu Jazz in Paris.

[Jon Abbey]

labels, Al? you can't just list something called Dog Out as better than anything you heard all last year and not even tell us who's on it.

[al j]

Jon, Dog Out is a Swedish quartet that plays jazz-based music. Their disc is on the Moserobie label.

Fredrik Nordström - tenor, alto
Alberto Pinton - baritone, c-melody sax, clarinet, contrabass clarinet
Mattias Welin - bass
Jon Fält - drums

I don't know that you'd like it, but then I see here and elsewhere that you've been listening to some traditional (with respect to instrumentation) improv lately. The Dog Out disc is certainly as fresh as anything I've heard from a sax-based ensemble in years.

[al j]

rip-stop is on In Situ.

[Captain Hate]

Originally posted by Joe Christmas
I don't know that you'd like it, but then I see here and elsewhere that you've been listening to some traditional (with respect to instrumentation) improv lately. Would somebody alert Uli to kill the fatted calf; the prodigal son has returned.

[Pete C]

Originally posted by Joe Christmas
Sounds like we all need to visit Jussieu Jazz in Paris.

Jussieu, Jus' Me.

[Tanager]

Originally posted by Joe Christmas
Sounds like we all need to visit Jussieu Jazz in Paris.

I'm going in May, I'll have to stop by...

[Nate Dorward]

Originally posted by Joe Christmas
Dog Out - s/t - This disc is better than anything I heard last year, so it's bound to make any list I make for this one.Hm, I've heard a lot of music critics grousing about how 2003 was a mediocre year for new releases.... I'm still mystified by this, there were about 30 discs or so that I thought were excellent--I found it a challenge even to squeeze things down to 10 or 20 titles for a year-end list.

Hm, the Nordstrom's that good? Heard his earlier disc On Purpose & thought it good enough but not terribly exciting. It was basically an attempt to capture the avant-Blue-Note sound of the 1960s (Hutcherson, Rivers, Dolphy, &c), except for one track where the bassist used some buzzy distortion.

[al j]

Originally posted by Nate Dorward
Hm, I've heard a lot of music critics grousing about how 2003 was a mediocre year for new releases.... I'm still mystified by this, there were about 30 discs or so that I thought were excellent--I found it a challenge even to squeeze things down to 10 or 20 titles for a year-end list.


No grousing here. I heard plenty of good music last year, even if most of it was a result of the noise bug that bit me. But this disc is exceptional and it's been a couple of years that I've been as excited as I am about these musicians.


Hm, the Nordstrom's that good? Heard his earlier disc On Purpose & thought it good enough but not terribly exciting. It was basically an attempt to capture the avant-Blue-Note sound of the 1960s (Hutcherson, Rivers, Dolphy, &c), except for one track where the bassist used some buzzy distortion.


Nordström sounds fantastic here, but then I don't have anything else of his for comparison. The disc you describe sounds like something I'd like to hear, minus the buzzy bassist. Have you heard Pinton, Nate? I'm about to jump on his Clear Now discs.

[Nate Dorward]

No I don't know Pinton. I don't have On Purpose anymore I'm afraid, otherwise I'd pass it on.... It's not bad, just a bit of a retro exercise that didn't really strongly grab me. Here's what I wrote at the time:
Fredrik Nordström: On Purpose (Caprice CAP 21684)

Sometimes a recording can be of interest not for having a particularly original vision but for evincing an intelligent and unhackneyed choice of stylistic models. The press release quotes Nordström as saying “I’m constantly searching for new sounds - sounds that are up to date. To try and describe the music it would be: Jazz of today where you may occasionally hear elements of modern classical music and rock.” Well, that’s one story. More telling to my mind is the CD booklet photo showing the band’s five young Swedish players relaxing around a table with a pile of old LPs on the floor. The predominant influence here is the more forward-looking, avantgarde jazz of Blue Note in the 1960s - an area in jazz that’s still underexploited as a resource compared to the stripmining endured by the oeuvres of Coltrane and Davis. The opening track is patently drawn from Dolphy’s Out to Lunch; the last track, “Blondino,” cements the reference to that album and to Hutcherson’s Dialogue by its use of march rhythms. The leader gets a nice raspy sound on his tenor which owes a debt to Sam Rivers (most noticeably on “First delivery”); and the other players (vibist Mattias Stahl, trumpeter Magnus Broo, bassist Filip Augustson, drummer Fredrik Rundqvist) are skillful players who follow the obvious stylistic allegiances for their respective instruments.

All of which sounds like faint praise. But that’s not quite what I mean to convey - it’s actually a very accomplished, very playable album, and I liked listening to it, even if my pleasure was inextricably mingled with the pleasure of its bringing to mind some of the original 1960s albums. Ultimately what limits the album’s impact isn’t its lack of innovation, but its lack of the emotional depth of its models: it could use a little more inwardness. But it’s a well-crafted album that marks Nordström and his companions as players to watch.

[mke]

"But it’s a well-crafted album that marks Nordström and his companions as players to watch."

If you want to follow Broo, you can check out Atomic, reviewed in the Reviews section.

[SinginSumo]

Tierney Sutton - Dancing In The Dark
Cheryl Bentyne - Talk Of The Town
Harvie S - Texas Rumba

[hornplayer]

out April 6... Playground... Russell Malone (MaxJazz) I think you'll be surprised...

[chuckyd4]

Harvie S - Texas Rumba

I can second this one... actually all of the stuff I've heard on Zoho so far. On the Harvie S, I say skip the first track and jump right in to their longer works. Nothing revolutionary here, but everything is working perfectly in gear. Makes you think and gets your ass shaking.

[crawjo]

Cecil Taylor - Owner of the River Bank

[Nate Dorward]

Hm, been spending time with Rip-Stop lately &....it's good, but somehow isn't clicking all that much with me. It's kind of monochrome, perhaps. Xmas, have you heard Rouge Gris Bruit, Agnel's disc on Potlatch with Noetinger/Marchetti? I'd found that a lot more engaging. Still, Rip-Stop's more than worthwhile. Incidentally, watch out for Arc Voltaic on the same label, by Carles Andreu & Francois Tusques, though it's not jazz or improv by & large. It's a very engaging collection of settings of texts by the Catalan Futurist poet Joan Salvat-Papasseit. It's a lot of fun, among other things.

To my earlier list I'd now add

André Nendza, Wild Open Rooms, Crecycle
James Finn, Opening the Gates, Cadence

as distinct possibilities. Once the deglitched version of Broetzmann/ McPhee/ Kessler/ Zerang, Tales Out of Time, is released, it'll also go on the list.

[gnhrtg]

I see that I've bought lots of discs this year though only a few are new/recent releases. Here is what I have so far (and no, these aren't all I've bought so there is some selection involved):

Dave Douglas - Strange Liberation
Frank Gratkowski - Spectral Reflections

[hermann]

Allthough it's a bit fresh in my ears, I start with :
Pierre Favre + ARTE Quartet + Michel Godard --> Saxophones ( Intakt 091 )
Seems to be a highlight for this year

[SilentKnowledge]

Gary Windo-Anglo American

[SinginSumo]

Steve Kuhn - Promises Kept

[jazzfiend]

Sumo, point well taken. But how could you fail to mention:


http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000139TEO.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

[Frisco]

Once the deglitched version of Broetzmann/ McPhee/ Kessler/ Zerang, Tales Out of Time, is released, it'll also go on the list.

Yes, that one second glitch would certainly keep it off my list as well (?!!?) Thanks for reminding me. I almost forgot to send mine back or ask for a refund.

[walto]

Leandre/Maneri/etc., "For Flowers"
Tilbury/Prevost, "discrete moments"

[kenny weir]

Keith Hounslow/Tony Gould - McJad Goes Organic (Move Records)
Aaron Choulai - Place (Move Records)
Paul Grabowsky - Tales Of Time And Space (Sanctuary)
Mike Nock's BigSmallBand - Live (ABC Jazz)
Mark Isaacs - Keeping The Srandards (Vorticity)

[Scott Dolan]

Sumo, point well taken. But how could you fail to mention:


http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000139TEO.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Damn Jazzfiend, I've never heard of her before, but I'm IN LOVE!!!!!!

Incredibly I've just realized that I have only bought TWO Jazz cd's this year!! And maybe only five cd's total. :confused:

Man, something is seriously wrong.

So Jazzooo's Two Days in November gets my nod as best unfortunately by default.

Also picked up Branford Marsalis' Romare Beardon Something Or Rather(can't recall the actual title right off the top of my head). Incredibly unimpressive. Especially following up such strong efforts over the last few years like Footsteps Of Our Fathers, Contemporary Jazz, and Requiem.

[Nate Dorward]

Yes, that one second glitch would certainly keep it off my list as well (?!!?) Thanks for reminding me. I almost forgot to send mine back or ask for a refund.It's five seconds actually. :)

[Nate Dorward]

Toss in Geoff Goodman, Naked Eye (technically 2003 but I don't think many people outside Germany will have heard it till this year). Rudi Mahall fans take note--the tall gangly guy with the bass clarinet is present here & is in excellent form. The music's post-Ornette/post-Frisell but rather hard to pin down too much. There's a funny cover of "Topsy" which sounds rather like Zorn's News for Lulu project. The opening "Strip Poker" is a nice blast through a disguised "Bemsha Swing". A nice threnody for John Lennon on here too.

The Favre is nice but I'm not sure I'd put it among the year's best. Maybe it'll grow on me.

[Nate Dorward]

Frank Hewitt, We Loved You--the quintessential insider's-jazz-album. Some of the best wrong-way jazz you'll hear since Elmo Hope & Bud Powell walked the earth.

[Brian Olewnick]

fwiw, at the moment, almost halfway through the year, my favorite recording is (big surprise) Rowe/Dorner/Hautzinger, "A View frm the Window", narrowly edging out the much and unfairly maligned I.S.O.

Eagerly awaiting the 5-disc Filament set, though.

[Nate Dorward]

Yeah I figured you'd name an Erst..... :) Any non-Ersts you'd toss in the mix? -- What's the ISO? Not sure I remember which disc that is.

[Brian Olewnick]

Hey, ISO is non-Erst product (taking on a consumerist tone in honor of Pedantic Wretch). That's the live recording from an outdoor garden which has been criticized for its muffled sound quality but which I love (Schaumann, too).

Other non-Erst faves so far:

Sachiko M - Bar Sachiko
Toshi Nakamura - Side Guitar
Gunter/Halliwell/Wastell - +Minus [first recording]
Ambarchi/Muller/Samartzis - Strange Love
Axel Dorner/Tony Buck - Durch und Durch
Philip Samartzis - Soft and Loud
Tarab - Surfacedrift
Tomas Korber - Mass Production
Tsunoda/Stern/Tarab/English - Overland

[Sergio Zamora]

Toshi Nakamura - Side Guitar
Gunter/Halliwell/Wastell - +Minus [first recording]
Ambarchi/Muller/Samartzis - Strange Love

Of that list I've only heard those three, and they're all excellent, but to my ears +minus [first recording] stands way out in its excellence.

[bluenoter]

Out of curiosity, what's I.S.O.? Sorry if I missed a prior reference.

[Jon Abbey]

http://www.japanimprov.com/indies/ycam/iso.html

very disappointing, if you ask me (and at least one of the three musicians involved, the one whose name starts with "Oto...")...

[bluenoter]

Thanks, Jon.

[Sergio Zamora]

...the one whose name starts with "Oto...")...

http://headworks.net/simpsons/photo/Images/Pictures/otto_music.gif

[mke]

Frank Hewitt, We Loved You--the quintessential insider's-jazz-album. Some of the best wrong-way jazz you'll hear since Elmo Hope & Bud Powell walked the earth.
Yeah! But what do you think of the accompaniment and Roland's solos?

[Nate Dorward]

The accompaniment's decent, Roland's solos are a little too plentiful but otherwise OK--scratchy Paul Chambersish bowed bass. The unassertive accompaniment is fine by me, it adds to the old-school flavour of the disc.

[Nate Dorward]

Brian--gee, you really haven't heard anything from the jazz or free-improv zones worth listing? (There's a couple discs you name whose performers I'm not familiar with but I get the impression the list is more or less eai records.) -- I fear I sound like Uli, but you know what I mean!

[Jon Abbey]

Nate, I didn't see any eai records on your lists (right?). no one can hear everything.

[Nate Dorward]

Did I not list +minus's First Meeting? Should have been there.

[Jon Abbey]

that's another widely loved eai record that I'm having problems connecting with, it just feels bland to me. any chance you can post a review if you've done one, Nate?

[Nate Dorward]

Sure, will listen to it more carefully over the weekend--been meaning to write it up but currently have no destination for a review (since it's been written up in Paris Trans. & Bagatellen, the obvious options) so haven't gotten around to it yet.

[gnhrtg]

Nate, I didn't see any eai records on your lists (right?). no one can hear everything.

Are you answering in Brian's stead, or on his behalf, or not; that's what I want to know.

My list so far,

John Scofield Trio - En Route (Verve)

Frank Gratkowski Quartet - Spectral Reflections (Leo)

Dennis Gonzalez's NY Quartet - NY Midnight Suite (Clean Feed)

Dave Douglas - Strange Liberation (Bluebird/RCA)

Atomic/School Days - Nuclear Assembly Hall (Okka Disk)

[Brian Olewnick]

Brian--gee, you really haven't heard anything from the jazz or free-improv zones worth listing? (There's a couple discs you name whose performers I'm not familiar with but I get the impression the list is more or less eai records.) -- I fear I sound like Uli, but you know what I mean!

I know what you mean and, with regard to new releases, I fear you're correct. Partially economics, partially time to listen, partially the fact that I receive so many (unbidden) to review, (not to mention my own preferences) I end up with mostly eai. I do continue to buy jazz, classical and "world" releases, but, especially with the first two, they tend to be older recordings. I picked up Braxton's self-titled Actuelle release a couple of weeks ago, for instance which, had it been released in 2004, would have made my list. Hey, I only got around to Andrew Hill's (great) 'Point of Departure' this year!

[Nate Dorward]

Yes I know the problem--in general any purchases I make are of old (often second-hand) discs rather than current releases. What comes in the mail tends to be more kenspeckle though since I don't really specialize in one "area" of jazz/improv.

[stonemonkts]

So far in 2004, I've liked every purchase, due in no small measure to the many recommendations here:

Peter Brotzmann - Tales Out of Time
Frank Gratkowski - Spectral Reflections
Frank Gratkowski - Facio
Dennis Gonzalez - NY Midnight Suite
Paul Bley - Nothing To Declare

The new Dave Douglas CD is pretty good too. Nothing mindblowing, but strangely familiar-sounding and enjoyable.

[HLJ]

Haven't copprd much in 04.Harris's"Evolution" and Osgy's"Public" top a very short list so far.I have Chris Potter,Terri Lynn Carrington and Kenny Barron's new ones waiting for me at Barnes and Nobles in Roanoke,VA hope to get up there Friday.Peace and all that.

[SinginSumo]

Lucky Dube - The Other Side

(on the basis of my first listening thus far) Angela Hagenbach - Poetry Of Love

Claudia Acuña - Luna

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

I have enough new albums to consider for this that some good ones (Cobb's Mob, for example) are already missing the cut. It seems as though I've gotten most of these in the last two months, so the order here is very tentative -- I doubt that I've listened to any of these more than twice.

I've left off some of the Zorn's that I think were issued with Masada Guitars (which made my last years's list) -- I'll need to check on when they were released and give them another listen or two. Lots of music by lots of groups, not entirely sorted out by me.

I also want to edit my list from five years ago and insert -- high up --
JUNK GENIUS -- The Ghost of Electricity (Ben Goldberg/ John Schott/ Trevor Dunn/ Kenny Wollensen).

****


OK, this year, so far (with a couple of late 2003s, most notably the first two albums):



1. Livio Minafra -- La Dolcezza del Grido (Debut album of piano solos, by Pino's young son. Uneven, but the best is so excellent and so fresh that it rockets to the top of my chart!)

2. Julius Hemphill -- One Atmosphere (Various ensembles doing Hemphill compositions, with Ursula Oppens, Marty Ehrlich, Erik Friedlander, Oliver Lake, Tim Berne, and others. Superb arrangements.)

3. Charles Lloyd/ Billy Higgins -- Which Way Is East (I've commented on this one on its thread in record reviews.)

4. Evelyn Petrova -- Year's Cycle (Russian accordian player, crazed singer, unique!)

5. Tomasz Stanko Quartet -- Suspended Night

6. Dennis Gonzales -- NY Quartet

7. Keith Rowe/ Axel Dorner/ Franz Hautzinger -- A View From The Window

8. John Scofield Trio -- EnRoute

9. Paul Bley -- Nothing To Declare

10. Jazzooo -- Two Days In November

[mke]

In a vaguely descending order:

Tomasz Stanko - Suspended Night (ECM)
Dennis Gonzalez - NY Midnight Suite (Clean Feed)
Rêve d'Eléphant Orchestra - Lobster Caravan (De Werf)
Hard to sum up: from rickety clangalicious beats to raucous free improvising and guitar shredding.

Maak's Spirit - Al Majmaa (Igloo)
Jazz musicians meet a bunch of Gnawas and have a rockin' good time.

Pascal Schumacher Quartet - Change of the Moon (Igloo)
Vibraphone/piano quartet, darlings of mine.

Joel Frahm - Don't Explain (Palmetto)
Frank Hewitt - We Loved You (Smalls)
The Claudia Quintet - I, Claudia (Cuneiform)
Louis Sclavis - Napoli's Walls (ECM) (okay, it's 2003)
Bruno E - Lovely Arthur (Trama)
Brazilian hip-hop producer decides to take a jazzier direction, suceeds.

[Nate Dorward]

Quite a few unfamiliar names on there! I see that Hewitt made the cut for you too.

Yeah I rather liked the Petrova, from a quick listen.

[Sand]

Elin Rosseland/Rob Waring/Johannes Eick - Moment
Parish - Rica (Challenge)
Paul Bley - Nothing To Declare
Marylin Crispell - Storyteller
Atomic/School Days - Nuclear Assembly Hall
Kenny Wheeler - Dream Sequence
Rokia Traoré - Bowmboi

I believe they're all from 2004. There are a number of runners-up I haven't made up my mind about yet. Mostly, I am busy with stuff I got last year.

It's a shame that nobody has discovered Rosseland's "Moment" yet. Magical, quiet, intense, orginal, ahead.

[mke]

Quite a few unfamiliar names on there!
Which is why I put in those one line explanations for the Belgians (and the Brazilian Bruno E).

I forgot Steve Coleman's "Lucidarium," which could replace the Sclavis if we're being strict about the years.

[Frisco]

I'll chime in as one of the jazz/free-jazz lovers here on the list. Since it's almost the end of June I just took a look at what I've heard over the past half year. I'm still listening to a few (like ROVA: Orkestrova and Gonzalez' NY Midnight Suite) but thay sound so good I'll have to make mention:

Cecil Taylor - Incarnation (FMP): Hearing Cecil with Andrew Cyrille once again, especially with Honsinger is a treat. I got a real collective feel to this session, rather than a Cecil dominated one.

Paul Dunmall Sextet - Shooter's Hill (FMR): I was debating whether to list this one or the Octet on Clean Feed. Both are excellent, IMO, but this one is very, very powerful music.

Brotzmann/McPhee/Kessler/Zerang - Tales Out of Time (Hat): This sounded so good to me that I even kept my copy with the little glitch.

Vandermark Five - Elements of Style...(Atavistic): I love this especially for the bonus disc. An entire CD of Roland Kirk material. Heard a suite from this live at the ACME festival and it smoked.

Atomic/School Days - Nuclear Assembly Hall (OkkaDisk): Heard this pairing at ACME and wasn't really excited about it, although it came on the heels of a totally ripping set by The Thing w/Joe McPhee. The CD is excellent with the two groups working together cooperatively, weaving in and out of swinging tunes and free improv, lotsa counterpoint, etc....

Little Huey Orchestra - Mass for Healing of the World (Black Saint): The music is six years old already but I think it's one of his best Huey records. Great to hear Cooper-Moore, Marco Eneidi, Assif Tsahar, and Susie Ibarra still in the band.

Rob Brown Quartet - The Big Picture (Marge): Pretty straight forward free or avant-bop, whatever you want to call it, but the music is strong and excellent. Rob is in great form and Hamid...well you know Hamid.

Frank Gratkowski Quartet - Facio (Leo): Not anything totally unlike his other quartet records but quite strong. Good to hear more of bassist Manderscheid

Brotzmann/Samba/Manderscheid - Danquah (Konnex): Speaking of Dieter Manderscheid, he sounds great in this trio. Again, no real revelations in the library of Brotzmann recordings but a very strong session.

Three Total Surprises for Me:
1. Dietrich Eichmann/Jeff Arnal - The Temperature Dropped Again (Leo): Eichmann is a total unknown to me. Reading the notes, I discovered that he started out playing free-jazz after studying with Schlippenbach but quit to persue the study of modern classical with the great composer Wolfgang Rihm. Now he returns to playing free improvised music with a new sense of instant composition and is an excellent pianist, utilizing many extended techniques.

2. Bianco/Liebman/Marino - Line Ish (Emanem): I've never really followed the music of Liebman, hearing him a bit in the 70's and every now and then since. But here is an excellent, well thought out suite of free improvised music giving ample space to all three artists and some "out" sounds from Liebman on alto and soprano sax, wood flute, and piano.

3. Achim Kaufmann/Frank Gratkowski/Wilbert Dejoode - Kwast (Konnex): I'd heard Kaufmann once at a festival and his playing left me pretty cold. I picked this up wanting to hear Dejoode and Gratkowski working together. All three play beautifully. Frank plays some contrabass clarinet. A real chamber like record with some intricate interplay from the trio.

Also high on my list are:
Dave Burrell Full Blown Trio - Expansion (High Two)
Peter Kowald - Global Village (Free Elephant)

Phillips/Leandre/Parker/Saitoh - After You've Gone (Victo): The concert (a tribute to Kowald at the 2003 Victo Fest) didn't go over very well with me, as it was poorly amplified in a large cinema theater and had no impact. Hearing the CD was a revelation and everyone who hears it (and did not attend the concert) has been blown away.

I'm just now fully ingesting these four and they sound excellent:

Dennis Gonzalez - NY Midnight Suite (Clean Feed)
ROVA - Orkestrova (EWE)
Paul Murphy Trio w/Marco Eneidi & Kash Killion - Shadow.Intersections/West (Cadence Jazz)
Whit Dickey Quartet w/Roy Campbell,Rob Brown,Joe Morris - Coalescence (Clean Feed)

And how about this one for a reissue?:
Pisa 1980 - Improvisors Symposium (psi): Worth hearing for the three trombone/two bass piece alone (George Lewis/Paul Rutherford/Giancarlo Schiafifni, Barry Guy/Maarten Altena)

[lkaven]

The accompaniment's decent, Roland's solos are a little too plentiful but otherwise OK--scratchy Paul Chambersish bowed bass. The unassertive accompaniment is fine by me, it adds to the old-school flavour of the disc.

Some of the sonic deficiences I'd have to take the responsibility for. [Though I should add that I was going for an older sound, using no isolation, etc., and do like the overall character of the record in many respects. It's kinda mixed for headphones.] I found Ari Roland's bass to be a supreme challenge to mic, and on this early (for me) date, a particular aspect of Ari's sound got inadvertently emphasized. On Across 7 Street (Made in New York), I got a good representation of his sound I think. And I think on his own tunes there, which are quite interesting and unusual for anything called bop, his poetics can be judged better. He has a kind of a dark humor (ok, Nate -- humour; I was a landed Canadian immigrant once!) on tunes like One For D.T., and Apollo 7 that I like. His note choices are always right and very unusual, and like Frank, it can also take time to decide what one thinks of it. As for Frank, he did kind of like for the drummer to lay it down, though an upcoming release of Hewitt recordings which include Louis Hayes show a different side.


Luke

[chuckyd4]

Ooooo..... Frank Hewitt with Louis Hayes? Damn, Luke... that makes me seriously excited.

[john williams]

I've only bought 2 '04 jazz CDs both of which are very enjoyable.

Marylin Crispell : Storyteller
John Scofield : En Route

I want the new Stanko and Bley though and will get them at the earliest opportunity.

[Sand]

Juani Aaltonen Trio - Mother Tongue

The tenor sax player and flutist was active on the jazz scene in the 70ies and recorded for ECM. This recording was the jazz recording of the year in Finland last year. It's a 2004 recording for the rest of us.

[stonemonkts]

Whew, tell you what, anyone who is a fan of the Charlap/Vache session "2Gether" would also enjoy Vache's new one, "Dream Dancing".

The cover (and title, if you ask me) is unfortunate...but the music is exquisite.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00023N3E0.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

[Nate Dorward]

Good lord--if I were judging that disc by the cover I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole. Good to know what's inside is good!

[SinginSumo]

Spanish Harlem Orchestra - Across 110th Street
Cachao - ¡Ahora Si!

[GodSpeliZed]

I've listened more to old records and reprint than new albums, anyway:

Cecil Taylor - The owner of the river bank
William Parker - Mass for the healing of the world
Maria Pia De Vito - Tumulti

[SinginSumo]

various artists - Africa Straight Ahead
Conrad Herwig - Another Kind Of Blue (The Latin Side of Miles Davis)

[walto]

Assuming I stick to improvised music (thus knocking out two Elliott Carter and and two Morton Feldman discs), I haven't picked up too many so far this year that I've loved. But there are these:

Taylor/Maneri, "Algonquin"
Sachiko M./Otomo/Nakamura, "Good Morning Good Night"
Tilbury/Prevost, "Discrete Moments"
Leandre/Maneri/Marguet/Ryan, "For Flowers"
Berne/Ducret/Rainy, "Big Satan"

& one honorable mention:

Taborn, "Junk Magic" (has a couple of mediocre tracks surrounded by some great ones).

[frankiepop]

Whew, tell you what, anyone who is a fan of the Charlap/Vache session "2Gether" would also enjoy Vache's new one, "Dream Dancing".

The cover (and title, if you ask me) is unfortunate...but the music is exquisite.

stonemonkts 1st i think '2gether' arrives at almost classic proportions....


but i like the cover...i think it has a nostalgic quality that represtents the 50s corny covers....for example, sonny rollins 'way out west' :D ....what a hoot...even the color......

[moneyp]

I don't believe I've heard any new discs this year, but I may get that Vache just for the cover. I love it. Is it available on LP?

[stonemonkts]

I don't see any indications of an LP release. Cover aside, the music is really quite good. I'd call it extraordinary for the genre, in fact. Charlap and Vache make a beautiful duo as heard on 2Gether, and their chemistry is not diminished on this recording by the presence of a rhythm section (and sax on a few tracks). It's a really fine recording.

[Gary Sisco]

How strict are we being here? Do late 2003's count? If so, Marty Ehrlich's "Line On Love" makes it.

[SinginSumo]

Dr. John - N'awlinz Dis Dat Or D'udda
Jerry Gonzalez - Y Los Piratas Del Flamenco
Bob Brookmeyer - Get Well Soon

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

These are all in play, regularly migrating up and down my list, but here's how it stands tonight:


1. Dave Burrell Full Blown Trio -- Expansion

2. Tin Hat Trio -- Book Of Silk

3. Livio Minafra -- La Dolcezza del Grido

4. Julius Hemphill -- One Atmosphere

5. Evelyn Petrova -- Year's Cycle

6. Charles Lloyd/ Billy Higgins -- Which Way Is East

7. Tim Berne/ Ducret/ Rainey=Big Satan -- Souls Saved Hear

8. Tomasz Stanko Quartet -- Suspended Night

9. Dennis Gonzales -- NY Quartet

10. Suzie Ibarra -- Folklorio

11. Paul Bley -- Nothing To Declare

12. Keith Rowe/ Axel Dorner/ Franz Hautzinger -- A View From The Window

13. John Scofield Trio -- EnRoute

14. Jazzooo -- Two Days In November

15. Jimmy Cobb -- Cobb's Mob

16. Dave Douglas -- Strange Liberation

[jazzfiend]

Current faves, in no particular order:


Big Satan - Souls Saved Hear
Greg Osby - Public
Anthony Braxton - 23 Standards (4-cd box, Leo Records)
Angela Hagenbach - Poetry of Love
FME -Underground
Fredrik Nordstrom Quintet - Moment
John O'Gallagher - Abacus
David Binney - Welcome to Life
Geof Bradfield Trio - Rule of Three
Charles Lloyd/Billy Higgins - Which Way is East
Dennis Gonzalez NY Quartet - NY Midnight Suite
Paul Murphy Trio (feat. Marco Eneidi) - Shadow Intersections West
Atomic/School Days - Nuclear Assembly Hall
Sam Rivers/Harris Eisenstadt/Adam Rudolph - Vista
Steve Coleman - On the Rising of the 64 Paths
Loren Stillman Quartet - How Sweet it is
Frank Gratkowski Quartet - Spectral Reflections
Michael Marcus Trio - Blue Reality
The Supplicants - Balance
Assif Tsahar/Tatsuya Nakatani - Come Sunday
Rob Brown Trio - Round the Bend
Frode Berg Quartet - Dig It!
Ellery Eskelin Trio - Arcanum Moderne

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

in no particular order


I came real close to adopting this approach as a policy this time. There's a strong tendency in us to rank things and put things in order, but I'm not sure it makes much sense to do this with music. Maybe I'll go to categories -- Excellent, Very Good, etc. -- as a compromise between no particular order and ranking them.

[crawjo]

Best of 2004 that I have heard:

Dennis Gonzalez - Nile River Suite and NY Midnight Suite
Rowe/Dorner/Hautzinger - A View from a Window
Marilyn Crispell trio - Storyteller
Ben Allison & Medicine Wheel - Buzz
Cecil Taylor - Owner of the River Bank
Susie Ibarra - Folkloriko

Those are the ones I know I like. There are a few others from 2004 that need repeated listenings before I decide if they merit being on the list.

Best reissue of the year so far: Cecil Taylor - Conquistador!

[Frisco]

I think that many of us will be adding Parker/Schlippenbach/Lytton, "America 2003" to our lists. Sounds excellent!

[Lastonein]

Best way to list these ended-up being alphabetical since they change places depending on the mood.

Bill Bruford's Earthworks - Random Acts of Happiness
Marilyn Crispell - Storyteller
Erskine / Le / Benita - ELB
Joe Locke - Dear Life
Maneri / Phillips / Maneri - Angles of Repose

Some near misses could still make it by the end of the year.

[stonemonkts]

Paul Bley - Nothing to Declare
Peter Brötzmann - Tales Out of Time
Dennis Gonzalez - Nile River Suite
Dave Burrell - Full Blown Trio - Expansion
Marilyn Crispell - Storyteller
Frank Gratkowski - Facio
Susie Ibarra - Folkloriko
Warren Vache - Dream Dancing (could be my favorite of '04)
Anthony Braxton - 23 Standards (Quartet)

[Jonathan Sutton]

Mingus -- Ah Um
Bud Powell -- The Scene Changes
Susie Ibarra -- Folkloriko
Emergency! w/Otomo Yoshihide -- Loveman Prays for Sings (my annotation, 'cos that's why I bought it -- classic Japanese title, I think, and a good record to boot)
Penderecki -- Threnody et. al. (EMI)
Moor/Lehn/Butcher -- Thermal (the man makes me think that the synth was in dramatic decline from 1968 -- forget those 1975 Moogs, please -- and they will sell like Stradivariuses in 200 years)
Die Enttauschung (w/ Axel Dorner) -- as far as I can tell, we call this Grob 426
Howard Johnson and Gravity -- Right Now!

[Nate Dorward]

Emergency! w/Otomo Yoshihide -- Loveman Prays for Sings (my annotation, 'cos that's why I bought it -- classic Japanese title, I think, and a good record to boot)It's Loveman Prays for Psychical Sing, a followup to the earlier Loveman Plays Psychedelic Swing (hence the mangled Japlish title for the sequel, I guess). I really want to get this one....!

[Jonathan Sutton]

It's so hard to remember complete nonsense!

I quite liked it; the Mingus covers, particularly Fables of Faubus (Better Get Hit... is also on the disc), work quite well.

(Hmm -- I just noticed I put this on the wrong thread; it was supposed to be on What Are You Listening To, which is probably self-evident. Alcohol was probably to blame for that and the metamangled Japlish.)

[Jon Abbey]

(Hmm -- I just noticed I put this on the wrong thread; it was supposed to be on What Are You Listening To, which is probably self-evident.

I actually just thought it was a pretty strange list, it made me question what I knew about your taste. thanks for the clarification!

[Nate Dorward]

Incidentally, I've got a deglitched Tales out of Time now, but should say that it's by now been somewhat pipped by the frenzied Live at Spruce Street Forum by Brotz/Lisle Ellis/Marco Eneidi/Jackson Krall.

[SinginSumo]

Omara Portuondo - Flor de Amor

[Tanager]

I've bought so few this year that I'm not even sure it's worth making a list, but Vijay Iyer's Blood Sutra makes my list, as it does those of many others, as does the Swallow/Talmor disk L'histoire du Clochard, and as does Sco's EnRoute.

There have been some really good reissues, one to which I'm currently listening is Freddie Hubbard's "Breaking Point, which is a good bit more adventurous than many of the other solo Freddie releases I've heard.

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

Time for some updating and reappraising of my last list (Post #75), without redoing the whole thing yet.

Burrell's "Expansion" still sounds tremendous to me, a masterful performance across a impressive range of jazz styles, engaging both brain and gut. Still my solid #1 pick of the year.

While I still find it a wonderful album and an incredibly promising debut, young Livio Minafra's entry may have slipped from my top five, due to its uneveness.

That lunatic accordian album by Petrova is holding up MUCH better than I expected, and is still in my top five.

The Stanko, OTOH, did not hold up all that well on repeated listenings, sounding pretty but a bit dull. Some of this was almost certainly due to the fact that Suspended Night was the first album I had heard with him as leader, and I have since heard "From The Green Hill," which I like better.

Although it pains me to say it, so far I'm a tad disappointed in Berne's "Souls Saved Hear." Some of this is simply that I have the bar set so high for him -- it could make my top ten and still seem to me to be one of his weaker recent efforts.

°°°°°°°°

NEW ADDITIONS to consider:


(John Zorn)/ Mark Feldman/ Sylvia Courvoisier -- Masada Recital -- I absolutely love this!! Currently my #2 pick for the year, still new enough to me that it blows me away every time I hear it! The only serious challenge to Burrell on my list. I'm more emotionally moved by this than any other new release.


Bill Frisell -- Unspeakable -- This is Frisell's strongest and most enjoyable album in years, and the easiest of the year's new releases to slip into and lose oneself in. The string section is a complete joy, and the DJ grooves work surprisingly well. Probably top 5.

Warren Vache -- Dream Dancing -- As beautiful a straight ahead album as I've heard in years! Several stunning cuts, with inspired interplay between Vache and Charlap. Probably top 5.

Kahil El'Zabar & David Murray -- We Is -- I like both players a lot, but a first listen didn't do much for me.

[kenny weir]

Australian:
Mike Nock's BigSmall Band - Live
Mark Isaacs - Keeping The Standards
Allan Browne Quintet - Cyclosporin
Tim Stevens Trio - Nine Open Questions
Aaron Choulai - Place
Keith Hounslow/Tony Goul - The McJad Chronicles
Jamie Oehlers - The Assmeblers
Daniel Gassin - Round Trip

US & European (some not 04 releases but only recently available here):
Bill Heid - Da Girl
Teddy Edwards - Smooth Sailing
Frank Morgan - City Lights
Don Braden - The New Hang
Rob Wilkerson - Imaginary Lanscapes
Tomasz Stanko - Suspended Nights
Roberto Gatto - Rugantino
Bill Charlap Trio - Somewhere
Fred Anderson & Hamid Drake - Back Together Again

Reissues
Various - Live From The Cotton Club
Duke Ellington - Festival Session, Uptown, Masterpieces, Blues In Orbit, Piano In The Background, Piano On The Foreskin
Don Rendell/Ian Carr Quintet - Phase III/Live, Shades of Blue/Dusk Fire, Change Is.
Moon Mullican - I'll Sail My Ship Alone

Other no-so-new reissues I have scored and adored:
Kenton Presents Mosaic
Johnny Hodges Mosaic
Complete Nocturne Recordings

[Gordon B]

(John Zorn)/ Mark Feldman/ Sylvia Courvoisier -- Masada Recital -- I absolutely love this!! Currently my #2 pick for the year, still new enough to me that it blows me away every time I hear it! The only serious challenge to Burrell on my list. I'm more emotionally moved by this than any other new release.


Ha! I knew it.

I"m playing something that cries for Sqd Steve to get it if he doesn't have it yet.

Mark Feldman/Sylvie Courvoisier- Masada Recital

[Pete C]

Duke Ellington - . . .Piano On The Foreskin


I have the Jewish release of that. I found it in the cutout bin.

[Pete C]

I haven't heard Masada Recital, but they're performing it at Tonic in a couple of weeks, same night as a Jay Clayton gig elsewhere. I may try to run from one to the other.

[Vince Kargatis]

Although it pains me to say it, so far I'm a tad disappointed in Berne's "Souls Saved Hear." Some of this is simply that I have the bar set so high for him -- it could make my top ten and still seem to me to be one of his weaker recent efforts. I've not made any comments on this, but I'm finding it kicks pretty hard, and my bar is probably at a similar altitude. Be curious what you have to say about it in a couple months.

[JazzJunkie]

Helen Sung -- PUSH
Conrad Herwig -- Another Kind Of Blue (The Latin Side of Miles Davis)
McCoy Tyner -- Illuminations

[Captain Hate]

Although it pains me to say it, so far I'm a tad disappointed in Berne's "Souls Saved Hear." Some of this is simply that I have the bar set so high for him -- it could make my top ten and still seem to me to be one of his weaker recent efforts.Your delusional shilling for the "Team of the Millenium" has finally gotten to you. "Souls Saved Hear" is an excellent disc and Golden State is one of the weaker NBA teams.

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

Gordon: I did thank you (and Jaka, who seconded your rec) on the WAYLT thread, but "Masada Recital" is so great I'll gladly give a second thanks here -- Thanks! It's a great record, and you must have a handle on my tastes!


Vince: I've only listened to the Berne 2 or 3 three times -- it's possible I haven't really 'heard' it yet. But, so far, compared to last year's 'The Shell Game' or 'The Sevens', it doesn't seem as strong. And I loved the earlier Big Satan release.


Captain: your days of wailing and repentence are approaching!

[Gary Sisco]

Some favorites of this year (from memory, without having prepared a list or gone through the stacks):

Gerry Hemingway -- Devil's Paradise
Marty Ehrlich -- Line On Love
Rowe et al -- View From A Window
Joost Buis -- Astronotes (my favorite jazz release of the year, so far)
Dresser/Anderson -- Nine Songs Together
Cooper-Moore/Assif Tsahar -- America
Cooper-Moore/Abbs/Taylor -- Triptych
Dave Burrell Full-Blown Trio -- Expansion
V5 -- Exercises In Surprise
Monte Alexander/Ernest Ranglin -- Rock Steady!
Zeena Parkins & Ikue Mori - Phantom Orchard
Bush Taxi Mali - Field Recordings from Mali


Best box: Cooper-Moore (50 Miles Of Elbow Room)

It's looking like the year of Cooper-Moore. Anyone know the release year of "Deep In The Neighborhood Of History And Influence"? I never saw or heard of it til this year. If it's a 2004 or late 2003, that one's in there, too.

I liked "Strange Liberation" but can only listen to it in halfs, so it doesn't make the list. I don't know why, but I can't dig the whole thing all the way through. Too familiar or similar or something. Half at a time, I very much enjoy it.

I normally have an Osby and a Moran in the list but I have to give "Public" a few more listens because in memory it doesn't grab me as hard as many of his others, and I didn't dig Jason's "The Bandwagon" as much as I thought I would. That trio has a tendency to get very, very busy, and sometimes crosses the line for my ears.

Haven't heard Branford Marsalis' new one, yet.

I've heard too many of Dennis's this year, both new and new to me, to remember them in particular. One though I'm sure one will make it. I'll have to go through them again.

Haven't heard Ellery's new one, yet.

There'll be some new Ersts before year's end.

There's likely a few I'm forgetting til I go through the stacks.

[Lore]

Gary: As you know, mention Cooper-Moore and I come a-runnin'.

If I recall correctly, "Deep in the Neighborhood..." was a 2000 release. When I was putting the finishing touches on the article on him for 50 Miles of Elbow Room #1, which went on a bit about how he didn't have any records out under his own name, "Neighborhood" came out and blindsided me just a few days before we were to go to press.

[Gary Sisco]

Thanks, Adam.

Here's another few favorites:

Ben Allison -- Buzz
Masada -- 50th (Zorn's 50th Birthday, live at Tonic, acoustic Masada)
Radian -- Juxtaposition

[stonemonkts]

I'm still sticking with these ten:

Warren Vache - Dream Dancing
Paul Bley - Nothing To Declare
Anthony Braxton Quartet - 23 Standards
Peter Brotzmann - Tales Out of Time
Dennis Gonzalez - Nile River Suite
Frank Gratkowski - Facio
Susie Ibarra - Folkloriko
Marilyn Crispell - Storyteller
Dave Burrell - Full Blown Trio - Expansion
Evan Parker + - The Bishop's Move

[sonic1]

Making a 2004 list is very difficult. This year is tougher than normal because this year I really spent a lot of money on albums that are pre 2004, and I have been working on new genres.

Not that Jon needs another plug, but really dipping into the erstwhile catalog has been the best of 2004 for me, and some of those albums were actually from 2004. Staying current has never been as important to me as exploring in general. There is just way too much music out there....

The following are my favorite 2004 released listens this year:

Sachiko M/Toshimaru Nakamura/Otomo Yoshihide - Good Morning Good Night
Anthony Braxton - 23 Standards
Paul Bley - Nothing to Declare
Toshi Nakamura - Side Guitar

The first is by far my favorite.

[Nate Dorward]

Thinking about this again as I have to hand in something for Coda & Cadence very soon (next week, for Coda). This is the shortlist file as it stands & will I guess have to stand.... now I have to whittle this down to two 10-item lists....! There are a few things I really regret not having heard, or not heard listened to enough yet (e.g. that Wright/Doneda From Between disc or some Creative Sources discs)... Anyway:

(blue = eligible for Cadence by their house rules)


Dead Cat Bounce, Home Speaks to the Wandering, Innova
Frank Hewitt, We Loved You, Smalls Records
John Hagen, Segments, Cadence
Joe Hunt, The Joe Hunt Trio, Dreambox Media
Bite the Gnatze, Wilde dans in een afgelegen Berghut, Trytone
André Nendza, Wild Open Rooms, Crecycle
Peter Brötzmann, Lisle Ellis, Marco Eneidi, Jackson Krall, Live at Spruce Street Forum, Botticelli
Bik Bent Braam, Growing Pains, Bik Bent Braam
Harris Eisenstadt, Jalolu, CIMP
Joost Buis, Astronotes, Data
Von Freeman, The Great Divide, Premonition
James Finn, Opening the Gates, Cadence
James Finn, Faith in a Seed, CIMP
Evan Parker/Alex Von Schlippenbach/Paul Lytton, America 2003, Psi
Less of Five, Acrobati Folli e Innamorati, Nine Winds
Cecil Taylor/Mat Maneri, Algonquin, Bridge
Alexander Von Schlippenbach, Broomriding, Psi
Stéphane Rives, Fibres, Potlatch
Larry Ochs, Joan Jeanrenaud, Miya Masaoka, Fly Fly Fly, Intakt
Tom Lawton, Retrospective/Debut, Dreambox Media
+minus, First Meeting, Trente Oiseaux
Scott Fields Ensemble, Christangelfox, 482 Music
Orkestrova, An Alligator in Your Wallet, EWE
Irène Schweitzer/Pierre Favre, Ulrichsberg, Intakt
John Butcher/Toshimaru Nakamura, Cavern with Nightlife
Ernesto Rodrigues, Gerhard Uebele, Guilherme Rodrigues, José Oliviera, Contre-Plongée: Six Cuts for String Quartet, Creative Sources
Carles Andreu/François Tusques, Arc Voltaic, In Situ
Geoff Goodman, Naked Eye, Tutu


leftovers from Cadence:
(i.e. 2003 discs not eligible at the end of last year due to reviews having not appeared before Dec.03)

Geof Bradfield, Rule of Three, Liberated Zone
Keith Rowe/John Tilbury, Duos for Doris, Erstwhile
Jimmy Lyons, The Box Set, Ayler Records


Reissues

Warne Marsh, All Music, Nessa
Jimmy Giuffre, Emphasis/Flight, Hatology
Andrew Hill, Black Fire, Blue Note

[Ed the Happy Clown]

Here's some stuff that has tickled my fancy:

Schlippenbach's Broomriding on Psi (count me amongst the Rudi Mahall cultists)
Tales out of Time on Hatology
A View From the Window on Erstwhile (I've listened to nothing but this and the disc below for the past three days)
the new Beins/Wastell/Davies on Confront
the first two discs on Berlin Drums on Absinth
Alessandro Bosetti - Zona on Grob
Schwimmer - 7 x 4 x 7 on Creative Sources

[walto]

I don't know if you've heard it, Nate, but IMHO the Kent Carter string trios disc really deserves recognition as a re-issue of the year.

[Tom K]

My album of the year is most probably going to be

Eric Watson/Christof Lauer Quartet, "Road Movies": Watson (p), Lauer (ts, ss), Claude Tchamitchian (b), Christophe Marguet (d). (ACT Records)

Great, daring, intelligent jazz from Europe.

[Gary Sisco]

Rowe/Fennesz -- Live At LU, is another 2004 favorite.

[Dan G]

I don't know if you've heard it, Nate, but IMHO the Kent Carter string trios disc really deserves recognition as a re-issue of the year.
I haven't bought many albums this year (with a European vacation and building a house, I haven't had my usual amount of disposable income). But yeah, Carter's Willisau Suites is one of the highlights of my year.

Others...just too predictable: America 2003, Facio, 23 Standards, Nile River Suite...can't really think of much that I've heard that's new. Hell, I haven't even heard of, much less heard, most of Nate's list.

[Nate Dorward]

Dan--well, I usually try to give small labels & less familiar artists a bit of a boost...! -- I haven't heard a lot of Leo stuff lately so haven't heard Facio or 23 Standards.

Yeah I should pick up that Kent Carter disc--it sounds very interesting.

[John B]

I've got 7 of your ten...maybe I should check out the Braxton and Brotzmann next...

I haven't heard the Braxton but, based on what I have read of your tastes, I would definitely recommend you grab the Brotzmann asap. It is a beautiful disc.

[Jesse]

[QUOTE=Dan G]

But yeah, Carter's Willisau Suites is one of the highlights of my year.

Fwiw, a 3rd hearty endorsement of a suprising Carter date. I've listened with great pleasure to him for many years, many contexts, none of which prepared me for the writing on this one. Zingaro is a superb trio member, singing & soaring thorugh the written/improvised pieces. A stunner.

[farawaynearby]

mr nate dorward, or anyone else who may be able to help: do you know where the nessa warne marsh cd is available to purchase? can one buy it directly from the label?

thanks!

[Uli]

you can order them directly from Mr. Nessa, I think.

[John B]

you can buy it directly from Chuck Nessa at cnessa at earthlink dot net.

It is a fantastic album!

[Rob C]

Vince: I've only listened to the Berne 2 or 3 three times -- it's possible I haven't really 'heard' it yet. But, so far, compared to last year's 'The Shell Game' or 'The Sevens', it doesn't seem as strong. And I loved the earlier Big Satan release.


I've had a similar slightly disappointed reaction to Souls Saved Hear. Especially on the heels of The Sublime And which I think is not just Berne's best record (that I've heard, anyway) but one of my favorite records, period. I also like the earlier Big Satan quite a bit.

[farawaynearby]

thanks very much, chaps. i have sent mr nessa an email.

[John B]

I have yet to hear Souls Saved Hear and, based on the comments here, I might hold off for a while.

Has anyone heard the live disc he released a little while back, Acoustic and Electric Hard Cell Live?

[Nate Dorward]

You can also buy it from Cadence (www.cadencebuilding.com (http://www.cadencebuilding.com)) but you might as well get it direct from Chuck, as then all the money goes to the label rather than some of it going to a middleman. While you're at it ask him about some of the other Nessa discs--the Roscoe Mitchell disc Snurdy McGurdy and her Dancing Shoes is another classic recently revived from the Nessa vaults!

[Captain Hate]

And ask him if he's *ever* gonna release Saga of the Outlaws by Charles Tyler on disc!

[John B]

And ask him if he's *ever* gonna release Saga of the Outlaws by Charles Tyler on disc!

He just mentioned this disc on another board:

"I bought the tape from Charles and have never had the money to reissue it. I just don't want Charles and this record forgotten."

Doesn't sound too promising. Unless a lot of people start buying the discs he has already put out on cd, and express their interest in buying a copy of Saga, this won't be reissued anytime soon.

[Ed the Happy Clown]

Rowe et al -- View From A Window


Bah. All true hipsters know that it's:

Dörner et al -- A View From A Window

:)

[Jon Abbey]

Bah. All true hipsters know that it's:

Dörner et al -- A View From A Window

:)

actually, Gary's right. Dörner et al would have been a different record.

[MRS]

. . .another vote for The Willisau Suites. For whatever reason I didn't expect this to sound the way it does but an excellent recording through and through.

[mke]

Here's a possible top 10 I just sent off, based simply on "most pleasurable":

Ben Allison & Medicine Wheel "Buzz" (Palmetto)
Mario Canonge "Rhizome" (O+ Music)
The Claudia Quintet "I, Claudia" (Cuneiform)
Joel Frahm "Don't Explain" (Palmetto)
Dennis González "NY Midnight Suite" (Clean Feed)
Soweto Kinch "Conversations With The Unseen" (Dune)
Maak's Spirit "Al-Majmaa" (Igloo)
Polar Bear "Dim Lit" (Rub Recordings)
Rêve d'Eléphant Orchestra "Lobster Caravan" (De Werf)
Pascal Schumacher Quartet "Change of the Moon" (Igloo)

[Nate Dorward]

Yikes, I haven't even heard of half of those, & the only one I've actually heard is the Gonzalez. What are the discs like?

[mke]

That's not surprising, as 3 are Belgian, 2 English and 1 Martiniquan (represent!).

Canonge: Caribbo-jazz, sometimes funky (it opens with a great mix of Carribbean and boogaloo), filled out with percussion. Canonge is an awesome pianist and some nice tunes. Hargrove, Bona (singing back-up only) guest (not together) on a couple of tracks. The key track is perhaps "Manman-Dlo," which moves from classical solo piano to partying full-band biguine, with improvisation in both styles. While I'm on the subject, the latest David Murray & the Gwo-Ka Masters, "Gwotet," is really good and different from the previous volume. Maybe top 10 material.

Polar Bear and Kinch are the two English albums and I like both very, very much. Youngsters making jazz that is more or less "in" but still fresh, IMO.

Rêve d'Eléphant, Maak's Spirit and the Pascal Schumacher are Belgian. I've posted a live review of Schumacher's Quartet before. They're friends, which increases my enjoyment of the album, but I've seen them live lots of times, which decreases my enjoyment of the album, as the band has progressed a great deal. Fairly modern mainstream, I guess, but I love it.

Maak's Spirit teams up with the voices and percussion of Gnawa Express and a Malian (iirc) kora player to make some interesting, powerful, infectious jazz/funk/improv/world music. Rêve d'Eléphant is some crazy, surreal stuff. I almost added "mish-mash" but that's not really true. Hard to describe in a few words, I love it.

[gnhrtg]

Being a bit flexible with dates,

Sonore - No One Ever Works Alone

Tony Malaby Trio - Adobe (thanks to fellow posters for turning me on to this, has really grown on me)

James Finn - Opening the Gates (very impressive debut, strong all around free jazz sax player/musician who is free of most weaknesses brought to one's mind by those categories)

Tin Hat Trio - Book of Silk

Dörner/Kelley/Rainey/Neumann - Thanks Cash

Atomic/School Days - Nuclear Assembly Hall (get this, if only for Wiik and Nilssen-Love, though there's, of course, much more to it with a great variety of tunes and quite a number of different line-ups, in terms of who actually solos, culled from the two bands - and for those who don't like Vandermark, if anything he has fewer and shorter solos than the others so instead of getting sick of his playing you might actually appreciate his musical personality)

Frank Gratkowksi Quartet - Spectral Reflections (one great record)

Marty Ehrlich - Line on Love

Stephane Rives - Fibres (well maybe not but really liked this the first few times so here it is)

Need to spend some more time with the following,

Triage - American Mythology (easier to get into than either of their prior recordings, shorter tunes and even then more melodic/groovy sections - some rather infectuous - within those, Daisy is surprisingly good)

Brötzmann/Parker double trio - The Bishop's Move (very good except for the last 15 or so minutes, I think, the section before the last with Brötzmann's trio sounds rather weak to my ears, great music throughout most of the rest though)

BEEK - Live at Spruce Street Forum (what Nate said, only I need to hear it some more to see how well it holds up)

Records I'm looking forward to hearing (and that'll likely be strong contenders hence their inclusion here), and hope to do so before year end, based on what I know of these musicians' output or what I've read here,

*50th Birthday series - Acoustic Masada (unless someone I trust says they suck outright, I'll keep buying any acoustic Masada records that come out, and at least Sisco said this was very good so I really have high hopes for this)
*Frank Gratkowski Quartet - Facio/Loft Exile
*Warren Vache - Dream Dancing (thanks Stonemonkts for bringing this up, what I've heard sounds really good, will likely pick this up along with 2Gether, so good were the bits I've heard from them, I need some cash, anyone?)
*Joost Buis - Astronotes (interesting line-up and raves by Sisco, Nate, and Derek, if I remember correctly)
*Brotzmann/McPhee/Kessler/Zerang - Tales Out of Time (passed on this because of the glitch, wasn't too wise a decision as even now I don't know whether/which copies are deglitched)
*Dave Burrell's Full Blown Trio - Expansion (on backorder from Verge already, should arrive soon)
*Parker/von Schlippenbach/Lytton - America 2003
*Alexander von Schlippenbach - Broomriding
*Rudresh Mahanthappa - Mother Tongue (blown away by Black Water, and also in good measure though less so by Blood Sutra, and a riveting duo performance I saw earlier this year)
*Kent Carter - Willisau Suites
*James Carter - Live at Baker's Keyboard Lounge (I'm still keeping all of my Carter discs, so)
*Conrad Herwig - Another Kind of Blue, the Latin Side of Miles Davis (based on personnel and comments here)
*Territory Band - Map Theory (based on my impressions of a recent FME concert, I won't be buying the new FME unless I get a chance to hear it in full a couple of times before)
*Brad Mehldau - Live (although Get Happy was somewhat of a disappointment)
*Steve Coleman's new one
and other the other albums Finn put out this year

Not out but if comes out before new year the three disc Schlippenbach (band) plays Monk would be another very strong candidate unless everyone was on their off days during the recording; and a host of others I'm no doubt forgetting. Oh, and I've heard 7-8 tracks from 23 Standards and thought some were fine and others sloppy (yes, some of the heads are played in a sloppy manner and it doesn't take much to come to that conclusion) performances. I might download some more from e-music but no way am I shelling out for 4 discs, not enough good/great playing here - as others have said, I think they could have used better editing maybe other takes or if there weren't any cutting it down to a 2-disc set. Speaking of which, if it's not too off-topic, anyone heard the earlier 2-disc set from the same band on Barking Hoops (was it?), how is that?

Finally, not that I'll do this for re-issues, and not that I bought enough re-issues to make any kind of a selective list, but the (bonus) alternate and break-up takes included in the re-issue of "All Music" really display the sheer creativity and in the moment-ness (and of course uncanny melodisicm) of Marsh.

[Nick]

[QUOTE=gnhrtg]
*Territory Band - Map Theory (based on my impressions of a recent FME concert, I won't be buying the new FME unless I get a chance to hear it in full a couple of times before)
[QUOTE]

Gokhan

I was also a bit underwhelmed by my live experience with FME but I think the new album is terrific. Better than Live at the Glenn Miller Cafe imho.

[MRS]

Not out but if comes out before new year the three disc Schlippenbach (band) plays Monk would be another very strong candidate unless everyone was on their off days during the recording.

More information requested, thank you. . .and excellent write-ups, Gokhan.

[Ed the Happy Clown]

More information requested, thank you. . .and excellent write-ups, Gokhan.

Yes, info please. I strongly suspect this is Die Enttäuschung with Axel Dörner and Rudi Mahall on trumpet and bass clarinet, Jan Roder and Uli Jennessen on drums.

If so, I must have this set.

[jazzfiend]

Gokhan, I'm in full agreement with Nick that FME Underground is indeed terrific. You must snag it! Enjoyed your list, and agree with most of it. I need to pick up that new Triage disc. BTW, you're gonna love Mother Tongue.

[gnhrtg]

Monk's Casino (http://www.intaktrec.ch/informations-a.htm) - yes, it's von Schlippenbach with Doerner, Mahall, Roder, and Jannessen; however the release date seems to be January 2005. In fact, I asked the INTAKT producer (at school now and all my INTAKT's are at home can't recall the name) when it would come about but also forgot that. Tangentially related, the new Barry Guy New Orchestra disc will be coming out around spring/summer and apparently this time they had more rehearsel time both in the studio and live before the recording (maybe I said this somewhere already, can't even recall that, sorry).

Thank you, Michael.

jazzfiend - Yes, really looking forward to the Mahanthappa disc. What I liked and disliked about what I recently heard of the FME, I'll say more about in the Perspectives thread (so perhaps I can hear from you how that compares with the music on the disc), where I can/will also post a picture from the concert.

[Gary Sisco]

Another this-year favorite: Matt Wilson's Arts And Crafts, Wake Up (To What's Happening).

[Joe Milazzo]

A very big thumbs-up for:

Jeff Parker / Scott Fields, SONG SONGS SONG (Delmark)

[mke]

Another this-year favorite: Matt Wilson's Arts And Crafts, Wake Up (To What's Happening).
I don't know that I'd put it in my top 10, but it is a very cool, enjoyable disc with some strange twists.

[Rob C]

*Territory Band - Map Theory (based on my impressions of a recent FME concert, I won't be buying the new FME unless I get a chance to hear it in full a couple of times before)


Map Theory is great. I think it's the best thing I've heard from KV.

[Steve Reynolds]

saving my pennies for the upcoming Intakt recordings - both sounds very promising - been waiting a LONG time for the follow up to Inscape-Tableaux - I can imagine how great they might be with some rehearsal time - the band plyed magnificently on the first record - I guess the only question is what kind of charts Guy comes up with.

and damn do I wanna hear Axel Doerner play Monk

[Ed the Happy Clown]

and damn do I wanna hear Axel Doerner play Monk

I've seen that group live on numerous occasions, and it's a real treat.

However, if you're thinking "hey, Axel Doerner, that innovative eai guy who does all that far-out shit with his trumpet to make it sound like a synthesizer, wouldn't that be some fucking wacky wild shit if he did Monk?", well then, you're setting yourself up for some disappointment.

If experience live is any indication, Axel Doerner will be playing it relatively straight-ahead on those discs (well, as straight-ahead as it gets for those Europeans). He's a damn fine straight-ahead Jazz musician, but he's not revolutionizing the form or anything, so Stevie Rey, if you start crowing once those discs come out about how Axel is the greatest Jazz trumpet player in the history of the music, I'll strangle you with my bare hands. :)

[Gary Sisco]

mke -- I agree. That's why I'm pointing to favorites and not top ten. I always end up with 20 or so instead of ten, anyway.

[Nate Dorward]

Nate, I'd guess you'll like The Claudia Quintet's I, CLAUDIA CD (Chris Speed, Drew Gress, Mat Moran, Ted Reichman, John Hollenbeck)Hm......maybe...though I've been a bit cautious about Hollenbeck ever since getting promo CDRs of the first Claudia Qtet disc, the one with Liebman & Eskelin & that odd King setting, & the Quartet Lucy disc. Didn't really get much out of any of them--bits & pieces were OK but other bits I found just irritating--& so didn't pursue him any further.

[Nate Dorward]

Oh I don't know, it's just that after 3 discs you figured you've given someone enough of your time & move on. The musical equivalent of triage.

[Captain Hate]

Hm......maybe...though I've been a bit cautious about Hollenbeck ever since getting promo CDRs of the first Claudia Qtet disc, the one with Liebman & Eskelin & that odd King setting, & the Quartet Lucy disc. Didn't really get much out of any of them--bits & pieces were OK but other bits I found just irritating--& so didn't pursue him any further.My somewhat educated guess is that you wouldn't like it.

[Scott Dolan]

Although I didn't get a whole bunch of discs this year, there were three that REALLY stood out to me. In no particular order:


Branford Marsalis - Eternal

Jazzooo - To Days In November

Dennis Gonzalez NY Quartet - NY Midnight Suite



Most of the other stuff I got was older material.

[frankiepop]

1. charles Lloyd/billy higgins - 'Which Way is East'
2. Warren Vache - 'Dream Dancing'
3. christian marclay - 'djTRIO'
4. evelyn petrova - 'years cycle'
5. Duval/Rosen/Whitecage - 'No Respect'

6. Sachiko M - 'Bar Sachiko'
7. The Fonda / Stevens Group - '12 improvisations'
8. Zeena Parkins & Ikue Mori - 'Phantom Orchard'
9. Lloyd, Palmer, Wachsmann - 'Apparitions'
10. john heward - 'Let Them Pass (Laissez-passer)'

[Nate Dorward]

My somewhat educated guess is that you wouldn't like it.I'm that predictable, eh? :)

[walto]

It's the middle of November, I've gotten a (for me, anyway) huge number of discs this year, and, if I exclude "classical" stuff (and include one reissue), I'm still only up to eight recordings for this thread.

I must be getting really farty. :confused:

[Jon Abbey]

I'm still only up to eight recordings for this thread.

I must be getting really farty. :confused:

nah, your subconscious is just leaving space for the Rowe/Beins and the upcoming Stangl/Kurzmann (assuming I manage to get it out before the end of the year).

[Nate Dorward]

What are the 8 discs, Walter?

[Derek Taylor]

I must be getting really farty. :confused:

Open a window :)

I'm curious about your *mighty* eight too. If you have a minute, check your PMs.

[Captain Hate]

I'm that predictable, eh? :)In the *good* sense of the word. I'm not a betting person ordinarily but I'd even take on Gordon on this one.

[Sergio Zamora]

If experience live is any indication, Axel Doerner will be playing it relatively straight-ahead on those discs (well, as straight-ahead as it gets for those Europeans). He's a damn fine straight-ahead Jazz musician, but he's not revolutionizing the form or anything,...
I remember reading an invisible jukebox a few years ago (or whatever the equivalent is called on STN) and I was happily surprised that my man knew his shit inside out. From the farthest out to all them old school joints (I recall he recognized a Booker Little date immediately).

[walto]

What are the 8 discs, Walter?
For Flowers
Leandre/Maneri/Marguet/Ryan
leo

Good Morning Good Night
Sachiko M/Otomo/Nakamura
erstwhile

discrete moments
Tilbury/Prevost
matchless

En Passant
Rothenberg/Schmid
creative works

Radiolaria
Sharp/Orch. Carbon
sublingual

Willisau Suites
Kent Carter String Trio
emanem

Algonquin
Taylor/Maneri
Bridge

The Space Between
Gelb/Oliveros/Reason/Leandre
482 music

Definitely saving space & looking forward to the Rowe/Beins, Jon!

[frankiepop]

well geeZ louieezzz walter, u can put 2 others down then after u hear the rowe and bein...u may change without any penalty from the godzz...they wont punish u for that....for it is written...

for example...i havent heard good Morning Good Night yet...but i am impressed with abbeys samples...also i missed The Space Between 4tet ...i may run that down...they may eventually cut my top 10...now that change may erupt in a destiny where i am condemned to burn in hell :mad: for eternity but i have big enuf balls whereas i am inclined to risk it...

[Ed the Happy Clown]

I remember reading an invisible jukebox a few years ago (or whatever the equivalent is called on STN) and I was happily surprised that my man knew his shit inside out.


Check out Durch und Durch, his duo with Tony Buck. I got this a couple of weeks ago. It's a very enjoyable release.

One thing I like about the players like Beins, Neumann, Dörner is that the music just has a certain tactile quality about it, the sound of physical contact, even if just between molecules of air. I get the same feeling from Keith Rowe.

[D.D.]

I remember reading an invisible jukebox a few years ago (or whatever the equivalent is called on STN) and I was happily surprised that my man knew his shit inside out. From the farthest out to all them old school joints (I recall he recognized a Booker Little date immediately).

Oh, Dörner can play very traditional "free jazz" - and play it well:

http://www.hathut.com/covers/538b.gif

[crawjo]

Well, here are my top tens so far:

Original releases:

1. Albert Ayler, Holy Ghost (Revenant)
2. Wadada Leo Smith, Smith/Ibarra/Zorn (Tzadik)
3. Ben Allison, Buzz (Palmetto)
4. Anthony Braxton, 23 Standards (Quartet) (Leo)
5. Marilyn Crispell, Storyteller (ECM)
6. Susie Ibarra, Folkloriko (Tzadik)
7. William Parker, Mass for the Healing of the World (Black Saint)
8. Matthew Shipp, Harmony and Abyss (Thirsty Ear)
9. Enrico Rava, Easy Living (ECM)
10. Cecil Taylor, Owner of the River Bank (Enja/Justin Time)

Reissues:

1. Wadada Leo Smith, Kabell Years: 1971-1979 (Tzadik)
2. Cecil Taylor, Conquistador! (Blue Note)
3. Art Blakey, Free For All (Blue Note)
4. Andrew Hill, Dance with Death (Blue Note)
5. Andrew Hill, Black Fire (Blue Note)
6. Ellery Eskelin, Forms (hatOLOGY)
7. Lee Morgan, The Sixth Sense (Blue Note)
8. Patty Waters, You Thrill Me (Water)

For the original releases, there was a good list of recordings that I really like that I had to leave off to keep it down to ten. Plus, there are several new releases out there that I haven't picked up yet that I would probably like.

[crawjo]

Weird. I posted this yesterday, but my post didn't move the thread up to the top of the screen, and it still said "D.D." was the last poster. Huh.

[Nate Dorward]

Here's the union of the two (completely different) lists I sent Cadence & Coda a few weeks ago, minus a few things in the Cadence list which are really 2003 discs. Red marking singles out 10 discs if you want to boil this down to 10.

1. Bite the Gnatze, Wilde dans in een afgelegen Berghut, Trytone
2. Bik Bent Braam, Growing Pains, Bik Bent Braam
3. Peter Brötzmann, Lisle Ellis, Marco Eneidi, Jackson Krall, Live at Spruce Street Forum, Botticelli
4. Joost Buis, Astronotes, Data
5. Dead Cat Bounce, Home Speaks to the Wandering, Innova
6. Harris Eisenstadt, Jalolu, CIMP
7. James Finn, Faith in a Seed, CIMP
8. Geoff Goodman, Naked Eye, Tutu
9. John Hagen, Segments, Cadence
10. Frank Hewitt, We Loved You, Smalls Records
11. Joe Hunt, The Joe Hunt Trio, Dreambox Media
12. Tom Lawton, Retrospective/Debut, Dreambox Media
13. Less of Five, Acrobati Folli e Innamorati, Nine Winds
14. Warne Marsh, All Music, Nessa
15. Larry Ochs, Joan Jeanrenaud, Miya Masaoka, Fly Fly Fly, Intakt
16. Evan Parker/Alex Von Schlippenbach/Paul Lytton, America 2003, Psi
17. Alexander Von Schlippenbach, Broomriding, Psi
18. Irène Schweitzer/Pierre Favre, Ulrichsberg, Intakt

The only things I've heard since that might possibly be candidates would be the Rowe/Beings on ErstLive, & the Gebhard Ullmann Big Band on Soul Note.

[walto]

Have you reviewed the Ullmann somewhere, Nate? I'd like to read it. My take on him is that he's a really good composer but a mediocre improviser. Sort of like the anti-Dunmall.

Leo asked me to do liner notes for one of Gebhard's releases once, but I demurred--partly for that reason, IIRC.

[Derek Taylor]

I’m not hugely familiar with Ullman (know him mostly from the clarinet trio on Leo), but I like his new CIMP jointly fronted by Steve Swell (Hill Greene and Barry Altschul complete the package). The tags btwn. improv & composition on the album are wobbly & he tends toward the circuitous in his solos, but he’s got a great tone on tenor & bass clarinet. Plus he has a cool nouveau Euro look (shades, beret, etc.) going on in his press shots. Just my two wooden nickels.

[Nate Dorward]

Walter--just got the Ullmann so haven't really settled my view of the disc yet. I only know Ullmann from his large groups (caught Ta Lam, the horns+accordion group, live in the 1990s), so haven't heard him too exposed. Yes, nice tunes. The big-band arrangements on the Soul Note are by other hands (Satoko Fujii, Chris Dahlgren, Andy Emler, & Guenter Lenz), though the tunes are all Ullmann's. It's a good disc, with a mostly German band but Tom Rainey on the drums. A mix of more outward-bound stuff & one chart that sounds like it's off a Kenny Wheeler album. I've only given it one spin yet so have to examine it more carefully before I can figure out my take on it.

[Mark of Cenla]

Here are the best that I have heard (in no particular order):

Astral Project The Legend of Cowboy Bill

Harvey Mason With All My Heart

Vital Information Come On In (It is on the jazzy side of fusion.)

[Ed the Happy Clown]

I hereby add the Rowe/Beins ErstLive to my list, as well as the Thanks, Cash disc on Sedimental.

[mke]

Some party/lounge albums:

E, Bruno - Lovely Arthur (Brasilian hip-hop producer goes Gil Evans meets The Cinematic Orchestra and detours through Coltrane)
Enkilde, August - Electronic Panorama Orchestra (Danish bassist electro-pop-jazz for the pre-party)
Gilchrist, Lafayette - The Music According To (Dancing in your head as the music quizzes your funk)
Hargrove, Roy - Strength EP
Maak's Spirit & Gnawa Express - Al Majmaa (Belgian improvisers meet Moroccans and ethno-rock the night away)
McGregor, Chris & Brotherhood of Breath - Bremen to Bridgwater (the Bremen concert) (Kwela-swing-improv stirs bearded Germans)
Murray, David & The Gwo-Ka Masters - Gwotet (Panafricanism revived on a sweaty dancefloor moving to ethno-funk)
Wesseltoft, Bugge - Film Ing (Norwegian pianist producer best served chilled, but does hot up from time to time)
Wise - Electrology (French electro-jazzers get the formula just so)

Ayers, Roy - Virgin Ubiquity (Just kidding. Sometimes one needs to laugh)

[mke]

Top Belgian albums (I've heard about half of those released this year and am undoubtedly biased towards younger players (pianist Jef Neve and drummer Teun Verbruggen are on 3 albums each, Jazzisfaction, Bruno Vansina, Pascal Schumacher and, just about, Delplancq would fit into this category), perhaps because I tend to hang out with them more?):

Alleman, Fabrice Quartet - Sides of Life One of the rare Belgian mainstream jazz albums not to be boring. In fact, this one is excellent, all original tunes by saxophonist Alleman, with Michel Herr on piano.

Delplancq, Frédéric - Witches Dance The saxophonist's album drags on a bit, as Coltranian ballads alternate with more uptempo playing, but the opening track, "seventy seven," is a contender for single of the year: a 12-bar blues in 7/4 with both traditional and twisting changes, spectacular comping from Neve, drummer Kris Duerinckx stoking the fire and, most importantly, tremendous energy throughout. Another tune that stands out is one in which Neve sticks some metal on the strings of his piano's middle register, making it sound like a cross between a harpischord and a guitar.

André Goudbeek/Xu Fengxia/Joe Fonda - Separate Realities Belgian free improv albums are rare, but this one is rather good, with Xu Fengxia's chinese (?) string instruments and otherwordly wordless singing being especially striking.

Jazzisfaction - Issues German trumpet-playing leader Peer Baierleen, but the rest of the quartet (p, b, d) is Belgian. Floating, dreamy landscapes that, on closer inspection, reveal themselves to be more dynamic than first thought. Ewout Pierreux (gotta love that name) intelligently goes from piano to Fender, depending on the atmospheric colour he wants to bring in. A paso doble reminiscent of Chick Corea, darker recent Tomasz Stanko-style things.

Maak's Spirit & Gnawa Express - Al Majmaa

Neve, Jef - It's Gone Break-out musician of 2004, the follow-up to last year's Blue Saga, in the same vein but better. His piano trio, sometimes augmented by two trombones and Bert Joris's trumpet, goes from hard-driving bop to languid, slowly intensifying quasi-bluesy pop landscapes.

Rêve d'Eléphant Orchestra - Lobster Caravan Belgian surrealism in a festive, rhythmic, dissonant, tuneful, rocking, bizarre vein.

Schumacher, Pascal Quartet - Change of the Moon Okay, so the vibraphone- playing leader is from Luxembourg, but the others (including Neve) are Belgian. A great quartet that is still evolving rapidly. The two principals are big Mehldau fans, which is a bit of an indication as to the style of the album.

Vansina, Bruno - Trio Music The alto saxophonist plays open improv but also an intensely lyrical "Dear Old Stockholm." Maybe the most interesting saxophonist here, as he is the only one I can think of who really straddles both mainstream and freer playing.

[Captain Hate]

I only know Ullmann from his large groups (caught Ta Lam, the horns+accordion group, live in the 1990s), so haven't heard him too exposed. Didn't you review one of his Conference Call discs?

[Frisco]

Here are the ten I'm settling on

New Issues:
Cecil Taylor - Incarnation - FMP
Brotzmann/McPhee/Kessler/Zernag - Tales Out of Time - Hatology
Little Huey Orchestra - Mass on the Healing of the World - Black Saint
Albert Ayler - Holy Ghost - Revenant
Paul Dunmall Moksha Big Band - I Wish You Peace - Cuneiforn
Sam Rivers/Adam Rudolph/H.Eisenstadt - Vista - Meta
Andrew Cyrille & Anthony Braxton - Duo Palindrome 1&2 - Intakt
Schlippenbach/Parker/Lytton - America 2003 - Psi
Atomic/School Days - Nuclear Assembly Hall - OkkaDisk
Guy/Crispell/Lytton - Ithaca - Intakt

Reissues:
Charles Mingus - Great Concert - Verve
Sun Ra - Disco 3000 - Art Yard
Peter Kowald - Duos America/Europa/Japan - FMP
Various - Pisa 1980 Improvisors Symposium - Psi
Paul Rutherford - Gheim - Emanem
Billy Bang - Sweet Space/Untitled Gift - 8th Harmonic Breakdown
Archie Shepp - NY Contemporary Five - Storyville
Steve Lacy - The Way
Revolutionary Ensemble - The Psyche - Mutable Music
Yusef Lateef - The Golden Flute - Impulse

[mke]

Concerts:

28/11/2004 Ellery Eskelin Quartet - Lille (http://be-jazz.blogspot.com/2004_11_01_be-jazz_archive.html#110173440353055250)
16/06/2004 Jef Neve Trio - Brussels (http://be-jazz.blogspot.com/2004_06_01_be-jazz_archive.html#108790977253422133)
14/05/2004 Bert Joris & Dado Moroni - Brussels (trumpet-piano duo, Joris tender and swinging, Moroni driving and loudly foot-tapping the hardwood floors, sometimes delving into Tatum-esque stride)
08/05/2004 Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet - Hasselt (In a disagreeably resonant concrete cube, but they rocked)
16/04/2004 Michel Bisceglia Trio - Brussels (http://be-jazz.blogspot.com/2004_04_01_be-jazz_archive.html#108222240395895366)
01/04/2004 Jef Neve Trio - Brussels (http://be-jazz.blogspot.com/2004_04_01_be-jazz_archive.html#108091298272708792)
26/03/2004 Dave Holland Quintet - Antwerpen (http://be-jazz.blogspot.com/2004_03_01_be-jazz_archive.html#108034571299952339)
24/03/2004 Archie Shepp & Amina Claudine Myers - Brussels (http://be-jazz.blogspot.com/2004_03_01_be-jazz_archive.html#108017984571250235)
23/03/2004 Fabrizio Cassol & Kris Defoort - Brussels (http://be-jazz.blogspot.com/2004_03_01_be-jazz_archive.html#108006175594043486)
18/03/2004 Pascal Schumacher Quartet - Brussels (http://be-jazz.blogspot.com/2004_03_01_be-jazz_archive.html#107972914157047314)
11/03/2004 Andrew Hill Quartet - Brussels (http://be-jazz.blogspot.com/2004_03_01_be-jazz_archive.html#107911785041948109)
25/02/2004 Octurn-Tribu - Bruxelles (http://www.citizenjazz.com/article3456596.html)
28/02/2004 Brad Mehldau Trio - Antwerpen (http://be-jazz.blogspot.com/2004_02_01_be-jazz_archive.html#107800842515896360)
05/03/2004 The Vandermark 5 - Antwerpen (http://be-jazz.blogspot.com/2004_03_01_be-jazz_archive.html#107867358783968016)

[mke]

Paul Dunmall Moksha Big Band - I Wish You Peace - Cuneiforn

The only one from your list I've heard (and according to the search engine, the only mention of it on this board) and I like it too. Does nothing to alter Walto's (I think) "good improviser, not-so-good composer" judgement, but a nice not-too-chaotic-at-all free jazz big band album. A highlight that springs to mind is the part (the first movement, I think) where drums and Dunmall are slashing away at a fast pace as the other horns slowly intone ominous chords.

[walto]

Does nothing to alter Walto's (I think) "good improviser, not-so-good composer" judgement,

Yep, that's my take.

[Frisco]

Re: Paul Dunmall Moksha Big Band on Cuneiform:
The only one from your list I've heard (and according to the search engine, the only mention of it on this board) and I like it too. Does nothing to alter Walto's (I think) "good improviser, not-so-good composer" judgement

Perhaps you guys are right, but I feel that whatever Paul writes for his small and large ensembles works well for the groups. I'm not sure how much it has to do with the actual composition, but his pieces always seem to lead the group into some incredible improvisations and fantastic group interplay. I guess that it may be attributable to his whole conceptual abilities and orgainzation of the groups and the music itself. It may also be that I value these aspects of this music above composition. But after all is said and done, I find Pauls music to be among the strongest being laid down today. I could have rated his Sextet or Octet projects on Clean Feed and FMR among my favorites this year as well. I understand that we can look for Paul at the next Vision Festival.

[mke]

I feel that whatever Paul writes for his small and large ensembles works well for the groups.
The only other Dunmall I have is "Ghostly Thoughts", which I've hardly listened to, so I can't comment on his general composing skills, but I too found the written parts on "I Wish You Peace" (and how they frame/contrast with the solos and collective improvisations) fitting. Not groundbreaking or amazing, but appropriate and nice.

[mke]

Yep, that's my take.
I shouldn't have been so tentative: it's written at the top of this very page.

[Steve Reynolds]

I'm in agreement as well with Walter

I like the free improv side of Dunmall - like Ghsotly Thoughts

the 2 or 3 octet dates that I have could have been left on the shelves that I bought them from and I'd feel the same - I think the ones I have are Bebop Starburst & The Great Divide - plus they aren't recorded all that well compared to so many recordings I've heard - I really get aggravated with large ensemble recordings that don't sound right - there is no excuse not to hire the right dudes to record and mix/master this stuff to make the band sound like it's in my room (see the Brotz tentet recordings Broken English & Short Visit to Nowhere - the 2 most disspointing sounding modern recordings I've heard in recent years - someone record this band to amek them sound like they do live - and now that hamid's gone - someone find or fix some tapes!!!)

enough of my rant

[Ed the Happy Clown]

(see the Brotz tentet recordings Broken English & Short Visit to Nowhere - the 2 most disspointing sounding modern recordings I've heard in recent years


:eek:

Reynolds, you've become unhinged!!

'atsa great live band, and both of those discs are excellent, you philistine!

[gnhrtg]

Short Visit to Nowhere, I like and would comfortably recommend to fans of the genre. Let's say it's not the best stuff out there, but most disappointing? So you really don't dig at all the grooves in the first track, iirc?

[mke]

Short Visit to Nowhere, I like and would comfortably recommend to fans of the genre. Let's say it's not the best stuff out there, but most disappointing? So you really don't dig at all the grooves in the first track, iirc?
"disappointing sounding" sound quality-wise, I think Steve meant.

[mke]

Yet another top 10 (for OFN). I'm going the extreme Dorward route.

Allison, Ben - Buzz (Palmetto)
The Claudia Quintet - I, Claudia (Cuneiform)
Hewitt, Frank - We Loved You (Smalls)
Kinch, Soweto - Conversations With the Unseen (Dune)
Polar Bear - Dim Lit (Rub)
Maak's Spirit & Gnawa Express - Al Majmaa (Igloo)
Neve, Jef - It's Gone (Contour)
Rêve d'Eléphant Orchestra - Lobster Caravan (De Werf)
Schneider Orchestra, Maria - Concert in the Garden
Schumacher Quartet, Pascal - Change of the Moon (Igloo)

[gnhrtg]

"disappointing sounding" sound quality-wise, I think Steve meant.

Oh, right. Sorry about that, Steve, and thanks, mke.

[Steve Reynolds]

yes - sound quality - little of the power and verve that is displayed live is in eveidence on either of the two releases I mentioned

it's not a great a great live band, it's the *greatest* live band I've ever seen

last time I saw them (6/30/02) was the best show I've ever seen

[Frisco]

"disappointing sounding" sound quality-wise, I think Steve meant.

I agree. It's too bad. I'm sure that these groups would like to have days in the studio, getting the right mix and sound and good paid rehearsals. They deserve as much. But often, I think, they are forced to produce records that are taped live on stage, or one shot deals in a studio. But I still enjoy most all that I've heard of Brotzmann and Dunmall's larger group recordings. Like I mentioned, I thoroughly enjoyed both the "Shooter's Hill" sextet record on FMR and (what was the exact name??) "Bridging the Divide"(??) octet on Clean Feed.

[stonemonkts]

I'm still sticking with these ten:

Warren Vache - Dream Dancing
Paul Bley - Nothing To Declare
Anthony Braxton Quartet - 23 Standards
Peter Brotzmann - Tales Out of Time
Dennis Gonzalez - Nile River Suite
Frank Gratkowski - Facio
Susie Ibarra - Folkloriko
Marilyn Crispell - Storyteller
Dave Burrell - Full Blown Trio - Expansion
Evan Parker + - The Bishop's Move

Make it 11 with this addition, another vote for:

B.E.E.K. - Live at Spruce Street Forum

-Peter Brötzmann (saxophones, clarinet)
-Lisle Ellis (bass)
-Marco Eneidi (alto)
-Jackson Krall (drums)

Very rousing stuff. The last track is over the top sensational.

[Gordon B]

. . .another vote for The Willisau Suites. For whatever reason I didn't expect this to sound the way it does but an excellent recording through and through.

I've been playing this more than any other cd since buying it about a month ago. It's one of my favorites as well.

[Sergio Zamora]

I've been playing this more than any other cd since buying it about a month ago. It's one of my favorites as well.
It really hasn't grabbed me as much as I was expecting based on the comments here.

[Captain Hate]

Ok here's the list I'm gonna send Cadence for their readers' poll, only including stuff that they've reviewed from 12/03 - 11/04:

Bite the Gnatze - Wilde dans in een afgelegen Berghut
Alexander Von Schlippenbach - Broomriding
ICP Orchestra - Aan & Uit
Atomic/School Days - Nuclear Assembly Hall
Geof Bradfield - Rule of 3
Triage - Twenty Minute Cliff
Elliott Sharp - The Velocity of Hue
Ivo Perelman Double Trio - Suite for Helen F.
Paul Dunmall & Paul Rogers - Awareness Response
Dennis Gonzalez NY Quartet - NY Midnight Suite

Reissue
Bobby Bradford - Love's Dream

Have no idea how I'm gonna dish out those screwy points they use. I'll come up with a more up-to-date list for the year in about a month when I can get around to listening to all these discs that have piled up.

[gnhrtg]

Ok here's the list I'm gonna send Cadence for their readers' poll, only including stuff that they've reviewed from 12/03 - 11/04:

Bite the Gnatze - Wilde dans in een afgelegen Berghut
Alexander Von Schlippenbach - Broomriding
ICP Orchestra - Aan & Uit
Atomic/School Days - Nuclear Assembly Hall
Geof Bradfield - Rule of 3
Triage - Twenty Minute Cliff
Elliott Sharp - The Velocity of Hue
Ivo Perelman Double Trio - Suite for Helen F.
Paul Dunmall & Paul Rogers - Awareness Response
Dennis Gonzalez NY Quartet - NY Midnight Suite

Reissue
Bobby Bradford - Love's Dream

Have no idea how I'm gonna dish out those screwy points they use. I'll come up with a more up-to-date list for the year in about a month when I can get around to listening to all these discs that have piled up.

Nice list there, Captain.

I'm missing some of those, feel like starting with "Rule of Three," got a thumbs up from most everyone here, and "Aan & Uit" - another case of, "I know it'll be good and I'll enjoy it so let me put that off for a while and look elsewhere."

[Ed the Happy Clown]

ICP Orchestra - Aan & Uit



Yo Cap,

How's this one? I almost pulled the trigger on it the other day, but I dunno what the content is like. What's the ratio of originals to covers, etc.?

[walto]

BTW, if rating polls are bad, top ten lists must also be bad, and for the same reasons.

Bye-bye, forum. :eek:

[Frisco]

BTW, if rating polls are bad, top ten lists must also be bad, and for the same reasons.
Bye-bye, forum. :eek:

I think it can be assumed that one is just listing his/her favorite records for the year. Could be helpful to see something listed that you haven't heard. LIke Geof Bradfield. Capt., who is Geof Bradfield?

[walto]

Can't it also be assumed that if you give a record a high mark in a poll, you like it, and if you give it a low mark, you don't?

[gnhrtg]

Can't it also be assumed that if you give a record a high mark in a poll, you