Best of 2007

[jaka]

Is it me, or is Dennis' playing on this one crisper and more melodic than ever?

And he wouldn't believe me, a few weeks ago when I commented on the disc...
Thanks CS.

Dennis is on a real roll. I can't even remember how many winners in a row there are, now.

Make it 23.

[Cicero Slim]

True, the Clean Feeds (NY Midnight, Spirit Meridian, No Photo) have been superior, but his sound on Measure of Vision surpasses those.

Something special.

[olie brice]

I'm very impressed by Ralph Alessi's new album 'Look'.

[Bill Barton]

Thomas Marriott - Both Sides Of The Fence - Origin

This is a beautiful CD. The version of Duke Ellington's "New World 'A Comin'" is brilliant.

http://www.origin-records.com/record...?TitleID=82474

[ericdevin]

My first entry here is Cold Bleak Heat's Simitu. The band is Greg Kelley on trumpet, Matt Heyner on bass, Paul Flaherty on alto and tenor and Chris Corsano on drums. Since the Flaherty/Corsano duo was my favorite jazz disc last year, this is probably no surprise. Heyner and Kelley slot right in there; this is amazing music...

Best
Eric

[olie brice]

Luis Perdomo - Awareness.
Wonderful record, some of it with a trio with Eric McPherson and Hans Glawischnig, and some tracks adding Henry Grimes and Nasheet Waits to make a quintet.
Its really exciting stuff, very original, and wonderful to hear new Henry Grimes.

[Uli]

up

[Gary Sisco]

Olie -- That's my favorite 2007 so far, also. And free!

[Gary Sisco]

He's really great. I got to hear him live, once, and he was burning.

[rollhead]

Just got Jesse Zubot's latest in the mail.

ZMF Trio -- Circle the Path (Drip Audio)

On now for the first listen.

Thanks, Nate, for turning me on to this label.

[Mike Schwartz]

Kenny Werner's 1st Blue Note CD "Lawnchair Society" is sure to make my short list for the year!

[Nate Dorward]

Glad you like Drip Audio, rollhead. One of my favourite labels--they're consistently putting out good-to-excellent discs (the Fond of Tigers disc, and the Zubot and Wilson solo discs last year were all terrific). Just got the ZMF disc myself, but haven't yet had a chance to spin it! (currently trying to work through teh Braxton 10-disc set....... agh).

A definite best-of-2007 candidate is the new Bruise disc on Foghorn, We Packed Are Bags. There are two shorter tracks as intro & conclusion but the stunner is the central, nearly 40-minute improvisation "Long Face", which is just one of the most thrilling things I've heard this year, especially Tony Bevan's tenor and bass sax work, & also some cracking drumbeats from Mark Sanders. I can't figure out why this band hasn't been getting much press (aside from a few nice reviews in The Wire)--it's one of the best ensembles out there. (If you haven't heard the group, it's sorta like those Spring Heel Jack improv sessions........ but a lot better.)

[Gerardo A]

Agree with Gary, Jaka, Root Doctor and Cicero Slim on "A Measure of Vision". Fantastic trio, great pieces, awesome playing. Beautiful.

[Dan G]

...currently trying to work through teh Braxton 10-disc set....... agh).

Any chance you'll be posting a review of this here? Or that someone will?

I have so little free time right now that it will take me months to get through the whole package. Listened to Disc One last night over dinner and thought it was very good. I was just listening on a crappy system in my kitchen, and thought the sound was a bit...compressed maybe is the right term. Probably a result of the hardware I was using though - hopefully this weekend at some point I'll have the opportunity to hide out in my basement where my better equipment is and spin at least one set (or the dvd).

And to chime in on the best of...yeah, Measure of Vision is a highlight of my year.

But then again, it and the Braxton box are my only purchases so far this year!

[Nate Dorward]

I must confess that with the Braxton box, I liked the first disc, liked the 2nd disc a bit less, & started to get progressively more bored as I progressed. I'm still trying to figure out whether this is just a reaction to the massive overkill of 9 CDs (& of trying to actually digest them in a short space of time) or whether it's actually a problem with the music itself. I think part of the problem is that eventually I get tired of hearing music so devoid of interest in harmony--all of the composed materials (the GTM lines & also other collaged materials) are stated in the same kind of loose unison (or fixed intervals: it's worth noting that in the interview on the DVD Braxton specifically mentions Gregorian chant as a model for GTM). & while Braxton can actually be a pretty catchy melodist--some of those early hyper-bebop lines in the 23, 40 & 69 series are really great tunes--the "accelerator whip" GTM lines often just sound to me like endless series of studiously chosen wrong notes.

Anyway, there's still plenty of great stuff in there--some of the playing is really fine, esp. Sara Schoenbeck & Mary Halvorson (worthy successor to John Shiurba & Kevin O'Neil in Braxton's post-Crispell turn to the guitar rather than piano). But I find it hard to be as excited about the set as I know some people are....

The sound seemed fine to me, barring a few moments of distortion, & not unduly compressed. When playing it I find the trick is to set the initial GTM stateament to be very loud & then the rest (which is usually much quieter) falls into place.

[walto]

I must confess that with the Braxton box, I liked the first disc, liked the 2nd disc a bit less, & started to get progressively more bored as I progressed. I'm still trying to figure out whether this is just a reaction to the massive overkill of 9 CDs (& of trying to actually digest them in a short space of time) or whether it's actually a problem with the music itself. I think part of the problem is that eventually I get tired of hearing music so devoid of interest in harmony--all of the composed materials (the GTM lines & also other collaged materials) are stated in the same kind of loose unison (or fixed intervals: it's worth noting that in the interview on the DVD Braxton specifically mentions Gregorian chant as a model for GTM). & while Braxton can actually be a pretty catchy melodist--some of those early hyper-bebop lines in the 23, 40 & 69 series are really great tunes--the "accelerator whip" GTM lines often just sound to me like endless series of studiously chosen wrong notes.

That's a good description of GTM, Nate, but I can't help wondering whether any very particular (i.e., explicitly rule-laden and not terribly diverse) style of music is something I'd want to listen to nine CDs of, consecutively. The whole concept of plowing through that sort of box doesn't really make sense to me. Say every cut was wonderful, mind-blowingly good--I'd still probably want to take about a year to listen to the whole thing.

Could just be me. I mean, I love Tristano, e.g., but hearing nine discs in a row would likely drive me up a wall--harmony or no harmony.

[Nate Dorward]

Well, I did actually listen to hours of the weeklong WCKR Tristano special..... though I eventually flipped it off once they started repeating tracks over & over (there really isn't, after all, 9 hours of recorded Tristano out there). But it's music I can listen to for extended periods a lot longer than GTM.

But, yes, it's true that 9 hours of anything isn't fun to plow through, & this doesn't necessarily say much about the music itself. This is why for the purposes of the review I've decided to do the minimal thing--listen to everything once--& then just focus on one disc (Comp. 358, which is also on the DVD) in the review.

[Nate Dorward]

I should add that, listening more concentratedly/repeatedly to no. 358, it strikes me as one of Braxton's most impressive group performances, a really fine feat of intuitive, spontaneous orchestration by all 13 musicians concerned. I don't know whether I'd find all the pieces on the set equally strong but maybe they'd open up eventually if I had more time.....

[Bill Barton]

Steve Kuhn Trio - Live at Birdland

[Gary Sisco]

Not an album but I'm nominating Ruben Radding for the best idea of 2007, in his 12 For 12 Project, available at his website: every month a full-CD-length download, free, and great music on top.

[Rob C]

Just spun Fred Anderson and Hamid Drake's From the River to the Ocean, and I think we have an early(ish) contender for top ten of the year. Really beautiful.

[Gary Sisco]

Favorite non-jazz reissue:

Jeffrey Frederick And The Clamtones -- Spiders In The Moonlight (Frederick Productions), one of three records from '76-'77 that did in fact change my life, forever, and more, a reissue that sounds better than the original lp.

[Groovie]

Brian Lynch - Eddie Palmieri Project. Phil Woods and Donald Harrison wailing.

[John B]

Just spun Fred Anderson and Hamid Drake's From the River to the Ocean, and I think we have an early(ish) contender for top ten of the year. Really beautiful.

Agreed. It is a wonderful album.

The new Exploding Customer studio album, At Your Service, is also fantastic.

Ayler is on a roll.

[Rob C]

Agreed. It is a wonderful album.

The new Exploding Customer studio album, At Your Service, is also fantastic.

Ayler is on a roll.

Ayler is a great label (hi, Jan). I've got the new EC, but haven't listened yet. I know it's gonna be good. I also ordered the new Fred Anderson/Harrison Bankhead and the second Electrics record from Ayler at the same time. Looking forward to both. I've got so much music backlogged I can hardly keep up. I really need to lay off new acquisitions for a few months. (Like that's gonna happen.)

David Torn's Prezens is amazing!

[John B]

The Anderson/Bankhead disc is beautiful. I've spun it a few times and been more and more impressed by it.

[ericdevin]

Just spun Fred Anderson and Hamid Drake's From the River to the Ocean, and I think we have an early(ish) contender for top ten of the year. Really beautiful.

Yeah, got that on Friday and am pretty jazzed (no pun intended) about it. Fred Anderson's music has been with me for a long while (Two Days In April is one of the first dozen or so records I bought upon getting into current jazz), and he has never disappointed. I've also had his disc with DKV for quite some time (not since it was released, but maybe 2002) and that's a favorite as well...

[Le Bob]

Favorite jazz so far:

(((Powerhouse Sound))): Oslo/Chicago: (((Breaks))) (Atavistic)

4 Corners (Clean Feed)

David S. Ware Quartet: Renunciation (AUM Fidelity)

Matt Lavelle Trio: Spiritual Power (Silkheart)

Fred Anderson & Hamid Drake: From the River to the Ocean

[Freetoojazz]

I go for:

Pilgrimage - Micheal Brecker

[jazzfiend]

faves thus far:

Sonny Simmons - Last Man Standing (Jazzaway)
Art Pepper - Unreleased Art, Vol. 1
4 Corners(Vandermark, Broo, Lane, Nilssen-Love) (Clean Feed)
Tommy Koverhult Trio - Trane to Taube (Ayler)
Fred Anderson & friends - From the River to the Ocean (ThrillJockey)
Ned Goold - March of the Malcontents
Joshua Redman - Back East