Might as well get started, and any year that kicks off with two outstanding jazz accordion albums is going to be an odd year!
Richard Galliano -- Nino Rota (a beautiful tribute album with John Surman and Dave Douglas aboard)
Guy Klucevsek -- Multiple Personality Reunion Tour (about as many different ensembles as there are cuts. One of Guy's best, which makes it very good indeed!)
Charlie Haden/ Hank Jones -- Come Sunday (I loved Steal Away by the same duo. I like this one even better. A gorgeous album.
Billy Hart/ Ethan Iverson/ Mark Turner/ Ben Street -- All Our Reasons (a beautiful album by a group with a great sound, continuing to reward repeated listenings)
Trio M -- The Guest House (First listen to this group of Myra Melford, Matt Wilson and Mark Dresser knocked me out; eagerly awaiting a second tour of the house.)
Tim Berne -- Snake Oil (Berne is always interesting, but this one is not really grabbing me the way I hoped for.
Wadada Leo Smith - Ten Freedom Summers
Tim Berne - Snakeoil
Mary Halvorson Quintet - Bending Bridges
Vijay Iyer - Accelerando
Marty Ehrlich's Rites Quartet - Frog Leg Logic
The Thing with Barry Guy – Metal
Joe McPhee & Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten - Brooklyn DNA
Mats Gustafsson, Paal Nilssen-Love & Mesele Asmamaw - Baro 101
Fire! with Oren Ambarchi: In The Mouth A Hand
Nate Wooley, Christian Weber, Paul Lytton – Six Feet Under
Nate Wooley - The Almond
RED Trio + Nate Wooley - Stem
Aldo Romano, Louis Sclavis, Henri Texier - 3+3
Looking forward to in next month:
Neneh Cherry and The Thing - The Cherry Thing (this should be interesting.)
Crispell, Dressor, Hemingway - Play Braxton
Last edited by Blue Train; May-24th-2012 at 11:38 AM.
"There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind."
- Duke Ellington
“Hatred is the coward's revenge for being intimidated.”
- George Bernard Shaw
"As iron is eaten away by rust, so the envious are consumed by their own passion."
I am confused. The Berne is one of your early entires for the top recordings of the year, but it is not really grabbing you the way you hope for?
Yup. As I said, Berne is always interesting, and even a sub-par album by him would be a contender for my top ten lists. An album by Berne that does grab me the way I hope would be a contender for record of the year.
Yup. As I said, Berne is always interesting, and even a sub-par album by him would be a contender for my top ten lists. An album by Berne that does grab me the way I hope would be a contender for record of the year.
Steve, you know the Berne fan I am, but I think Snakeoil is cream-of-the-crop stuff within his oeuvre. I really like the extra compositional emphasis this kind of record allows.
Steve, you know the Berne fan I am, but I think Snakeoil is cream-of-the-crop stuff within his oeuvre. I really like the extra compositional emphasis this kind of record allows.
I know I number of you whose musical tastes I respect really like this one, so I keep listening. Can't really say why it hasn't clicked, and I kind of do like it. I think I miss the guitar and I think there's a (dare I say) warmth to Tim's sound now that might take some getting used to.
I'm guessing you missed their tour, which would've clinched the deal, I think. But in the meantime, for starters, check out Tim's wonderful solo in the middle of "Spare Parts", and the crazy groovy momentum that takes hold towards the end of "Not Sure". But I find many great aspects to this one.
np: Haden/Jones - Come Sunday on rdio.
Last edited by Vince Kargatis; May-24th-2012 at 08:13 PM.
It's a label based in Lithuania which I discovered as a result of Dennis González's recording Songs Of Early Autumn.
The Thing with Barry Guy is a limited edition vinyl release and it's pricey (especially with being in a none EU country), but I have yet to get a lemon from them. The Howard Riley box set is highly recommended.
(Edited in) I just checked Downtown Music Gallery. It's listed as preorder. If they are actually getting it....it would be $22-23 cheaper when taking into account shipping.
1. Wadada Leo Smith - Ten Freedom Summers - Cuneiform (tops the list by far, a monumental project)
2. Frank Wright Quartet - Blues for Albert Ayler - ESP Disk (Frank and Blood Ulmer both rock this one)
3. Mary Halvorson Quintet - Bending Bridges - Firehouse 12
4. Connie Crothers & David Arner - Spontaneous Suites for Two Pianos - Rogue Art (nice interplay for two pianos in a really non-idiomatic improvisation)
5. Ellery Eskelin/Dave Ballou/Mike Formanek/Devin Gray - Dirigo Rataplan - Skirl
6. Dennis Gonzalez - Resurrection and Life - Ayler Records (Alvin is back!)
7. Evan Parker/Okkyung Lee/Peter Evans - Bleeding Edge - Psi
8. Simon Fell Ensemble - Positions & Descriptions - Clean Feed (not big on electronics but used judiciously, nice melding of composition, ensemble interplay, and free improvisation)
9. Tim Berne - Snakeoil - ECM
10. Trio M - The Guest House - Enja
also: Michael Musillami - Mettle - Playscape
Clarinet Trio - 4 - Leo
1. Wadada Leo Smith - Ten Freedom Summers - Cuneiform (tops the list by far, a monumental project)
2. Frank Wright Quartet - Blues for Albert Ayler - ESP Disk (Frank and Blood Ulmer both rock this one)
3. Mary Halvorson Quintet - Bending Bridges - Firehouse 12
4. Connie Crothers & David Arner - Spontaneous Suites for Two Pianos - Rogue Art (nice interplay for two pianos in a really non-idiomatic improvisation)
5. Ellery Eskelin/Dave Ballou/Mike Formanek/Devin Gray - Dirigo Rataplan - Skirl
6. Dennis Gonzalez - Resurrection and Life - Ayler Records (Alvin is back!)
7. Evan Parker/Okkyung Lee/Peter Evans - Bleeding Edge - Psi
8. Simon Fell Ensemble - Positions & Descriptions - Clean Feed (not big on electronics but used judiciously, nice melding of composition, ensemble interplay, and free improvisation)
9. Tim Berne - Snakeoil - ECM
10. Trio M - The Guest House - Enja
also: Michael Musillami - Mettle - Playscape
Clarinet Trio - 4 - Leo
Frisco, I like your thinking! Numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10 are all worthy contenders. The others I haven't heard yet.
I was a bit slow in picking this one up but it's in my top few on first listen.
How could it go wrong?
Absolutely, and I'm very much looking forward to getting hold of it. Dare one say that there would inevitably be a touch of 'Hamlet without the Prince' to a collaboration like this? It is perhaps pleasant to dwell on the idea that Braxton might reverse the habits and philosophy of a lifetime, and actually reunite the old Quartet and revisit the old glories.
Q: 'How do you start free improvising?'
A: 'Well I usually start on D as a matter of fact'
"I wandered alone in the desert and cried "Oh Lord! Oh Lord! What hast thou done, lately?"
"Thought is not a saffron-robed monk pissing in the snow"
"Bitterness slowly crept into the marriage and by the time Lovborg was six years old his parents exchanged gunfire daily"
I will get around to my current list...but just wanted to drop this. On one hand it's by musicians I had never heard of....on the other hand it's for free and still who knows how many have heard of them, or it? I even think it might be the first release of any of the musicians involved....but I figure posting it here will get the most attention.
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Originally Posted by relyles
