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Best of, CD Review, Classical Music, Contemporary Classical, File Under?, jazz

Best of 2021: ECM Recordings

Parker Quartet; Kim Kashkashian, viola

György Kurtág: Six moments musicaux; Officium breve

Antonin Dvořák: String Quintet op. 97

ECM Records

 

The Czech composer Antonin Dvořák (1844-1901) and Hungarian composer György Kurtág (1926-) are seldom mentioned in the same breath. One is more often likely to hear Dvořák being discussed in relation to his older colleague Johannes Brahms, and a similar pairing might be made between Kurtág and György Ligeti. However, they are paired by the Parker Quartet and violist Kim Kashkashian on a 2021 ECM CD. 

 

While their musical languages are worlds apart, connections between Dvořák and Kurtág, both as composers and teachers, might be found in their shared affinity for chamber music. The Parker Quartet and Kashkashian (who has recorded both Kurtág and Ligeti for ECM), provide a fitting approach to each piece on the recording.  In the Kurtág  selections, they make the most of the silences, extreme shifts of demeanor, and the aphoristic fragility of the often Webernian approach to line. This contrasts nicely with the warmly expressive interpretation they give to Dvořák’s String Quintet, op. 97. Written during his visit to America, it is one of Dvořák’s finest chamber pieces. Compelling playing and imaginative curation here.

 

Ayumi Tanaka Trio

Subaqueous Silence

Ayumi Tanaka, piano; Christian Meaas Svendsen, double bass; Per Oddvar Johansen, drums

ECM Records

 

Pianist Ayumi Tanaka makes her leader debut on ECM Records with Subaqueous Silence, a trio recording alongside bassist Christian Meaas Svendsen, who makes his label debut, and drummer Per Oddvar Johansen, who has recorded with a number of ECM’s other artists. Tanaka moved to Norway because she found the improvised music being made there compelling. She fits right with her colleagues in the trio, but also brings the sensibility of, as she describes it, “chamber music … Japanese classical music,” to create a distinctive sound and approach. Her use of space, with silences and pianissimo passages prominent in the texture, is counterbalanced by arpeggiations rife with dissonance and bass note stabs. Indeed, in places one wonders if Kurtág (see above), might be a touchstone. Elsewhere, her harmonies oscillate between jazz and extended chords that seem borrowed from early in the twentieth century; Tanaka certainly has Debussy and Schoenberg under her hands. Svendson is a study in opposites as well, grounding the harmony with slow-moving bass notes, and playing raucous high harmonics in a few places. His arco playing is quite attractive. Johansen is a perfect percussionist for this setting, subtle, responsive, and more textural than propulsive. One hopes this is the beginning of a long term collaboration for these three talented improvisers. 

 

Eberhard Weber

Once Upon a Time

ECM Records

 

On Once Upon a Time, Bassist Eberhard Weber is captured in a live performance from 1994 at Avignon’s Théâtre des Halles, part of a festival celebrating bassists organized by Barre Phillips. Weber explores a number of his then recently recorded works, including ensemble pieces such as his Trio for Bassoon and Bass, deconstructing and reanimating them in this solo setting. One of the ways that he accomplishes this is by using delay pedals to create five-second loops, over which he adds additional voices. Weber often opts for a clean sound, but allows for some timbral modifications around the edges, again via pedals. These are particularly surprising in the one standard on the CD, “My Favorite Things,” which is given the overdub treatment; particularly rousing riffs and squalling notes from the highest register appear over the chordal vamp. Another standout is the extended workout Weber gives to his piece “Pendulum,” with an attractive melody and variation after variation explored throughout the compass of the instrument. “Delirium” explores chords and harmonics in equal measure, while “Ready out There” is a feast of virtuosity. 

Marc Johnson

Overpass

ECM Records

 

For an entirely different kind of solo bass recording, Marc Johnson plays originals and others’ compositions significant to his work from throughout his career on double bass. Thus, “Love Theme from Spartacus” recalls his work in 1970 with Bill Evans’ last trio, as does a welcome return to his showcase “Nardis.” Both of these have grown in conception and are thoughtfully reinvestigated. The oft recorded “Freedom Jazz Dance,” by Eddie Harris, elicits a polyphonic performance with a low-register ostinato and florid soloing in the cello register. Among Johnson’s own compositions, particularly impressive is “Strike Each Tuneful String,” which references the African instrument with ox tendon strings called the Inanga. It features a melody in the low register complemented by chordal harmonics. The exoticism of “Samurai Fly,” a reworking of Johnson’s eighties tune “Samurai Hee-Haw,” features Asian exoticism in a more overt tip of the hat to nonwestern musical material. It also includes a small amount of overdubbing, more subtle than Weber’s looping but just as effective. “Yin and Yang” instead plays with using four-string strumming to create a thickened texture, while the closer “Whorled Whirled World,” appropriate to the title, features circular patterning that resembles double time walking with a splash of minimalism tossed in for good measure. A varied and compelling outing that will occupy a well-deserved spot among ECM’s collection of solo bass recordings. 

 

Andrew Cyrille Quartet

The News 

ECM Records

David Virelles, piano; Bill Frisell, guitar; Ben Street, bass; Andrew Cyrille, drums and percussion

 

Andrew Cyrille is now an octogenarian, an age at which many musicians have already retired or are slowing down. Cyrille retains a superlative technique and while his latest quartet outing for ECM, The News, emphasizes interplay and texture over power, it is clear that there is much of that yet remaining in the drummer’s arsenal as well. 

 

Cyrille is credited with three of the compositions on The News. The title track was originally a solo percussion piece. Recast for the quartet, it is the most experimental sounding piece on the album. David Virelles plays synth as well as his usual instrument, the piano, Ben Street plays the bass both arco and pizzicato, guitarist Bill Frisell daubs dissonance and darting linear flurries here and there, and Cyrille employs a number of drums and percussion instruments in a spell binding, unorthodox fashion. The drummer places newspaper over the snare and toms and plays with brushes: an intriguing timbral choice. “The Dance of the Nuances,” co-authored by Cyrille with the group’s pianist David Virelles, features bowed bass and single line solos punctuated by Cyrille’s syncopated drumming.

 

Three pieces are credited to Frisell. “Go Happy Lucky” is a mid tempo blues bounce that is jubilant in tone. Frisell plays the head and the first solo section in jaunty fashion, followed by succulent arpeggiations  from Virelles. Cyrille’s drumming is propulsive and responsive to the melodic gestures of the soloists. Street plays walking lines that lead to the return of the head, this time with the whole group digging in and matching Frisell. “The Mountain” begins with a simple melody and chord progression played by Frisell. Gradually, it becomes more chromatic and embellished as Virelles and Street push the guitarist’s material outside. Cyrille adds a counter rhythm that also complicates the piece’s surface. “Baby” is one of Frisell’s pastoral Americana style pieces. His honeyed melody is supplied counterpoint by Street, Fender Rhodes comping from Virelles, and subdued drumming by Cyrille. Virelles contributes the composition “Incienso,” which has an ambling melody and an intricate chord structure filled with Brazilian allusions and polytonal reference points. 

 

The one piece used by a musician outside the group is “Leaving East of Java” by Steve Colson. This is a felicitous inclusion. A performer, composer, and educator, it is unfortunate that Colson’s work isn’t better known today. “Leaving East of Java” includes guitar and piano in octaves and intricate chords rolled by Virelles. Synthetic scales evoke the exoticism, if not the specific content, of Javanese gamelan. Partway through, Street takes a suave solo succeeded by florid playing from Frisell and a repeated riff from Virelles. The pianist then plummets into the bass register, placing quick scalar passages underneath Street’s legato playing. The octaves return briefly to punctuate the piece’s close. 

 

The final composition, “With You in Mind” by Cyrille, features the drummer intoning a spoken word introduction of an original poem. The main section of the piece starts as a duo, with Virelles and Street creating a gently lilting ambience with traditional harmonies and rhythmic gestures that reflect the poetry (it would be great to see this poem set with the tune for singers). A piquant piano chord invites Frisell and Virelles to join the proceedings, with the guitarist creating an arrangement of the tune with chordal embellishments and Cyrille imparting the time with graceful poise. It ends in a whorl of chordal extensions and soft cymbal sizzle. 

 

Jazz players and audiences alike are often seeking “new standards” to canonize. There are several tunes here that qualify. The News is one of our Best of 2021 recordings. 

 

-Christian Carey

 

 

 

by Christian Carey
Best of, CD Review, CDs, Contemporary Classical, Experimental Music, File Under?

Best of 2021: Recording of the Year

Number Pieces

John Cage

Apartment House

Another Timbre 4XCD boxed set

 

John Cage’s Number Pieces, late compositions (from 1987-1992) are given two designations, a number indicating the size of the ensemble and a superscript indicating its order in multiple pieces for the same-sized grouping (Quintet #2 = 52). Fragments of pitches, sometimes single notes, are indicated; dynamics appear sporadically. Rhythm is codified through the use of “time brackets,” indicating how long before a performer can move to another fragment. Most of the pieces are for a particular instrumentation, although a few are unspecified. Thus, while a considerable amount of interpretation remains in the performers’ hands, Number Pieces are less aleatoric than many of Cage’s works from the 1950s to the early 1980s. Commentators have likened some of them to Morton Feldman’s compositions, as both regularly employ soft dynamics and slow tempi, with gradually evolving pitch collections accumulating into pointillist harmonies. While none of these pieces approach a pitch center, in addition to the numerous dissonances one might expect in a Cage piece, it is notable how many minor and major thirds appear in the texture.

 

Apartment House has recorded a quadruple CD set, released on Another Timbre, of all the number pieces for medium ensembles (from 5 up to 14). It includes some alternative versions and one of the “4” pieces. The group has previously released benchmark recordings on Another Timbre of other New York School repertoire and that of the Wandelweiser Collective, and are thus well-seasoned for this project. If anything, Apartment House surpasses expectations, making much of the subtle distinctions between pieces while presenting a comprehensive collection imbued with Cage’s late musical sensibilities. Excellent liner notes by label owner Simon Reynell help to put Number Pieces into perspective. Quotes from Cage’s late interviews, talks, and writings are edifying in and of themselves, and support the manner that Apartment House has inhabited the Number Pieces they interpret. John Cage: Number Pieces is Sequenza 21’s Recording of the Year.

-Christian Carey

 

 

 

by Christian Carey
Best of, CDs, Experimental Music, File Under?, jazz

Happy 80th Birthday Wadada Leo Smith!

Best of 2021 – Happy 80th Birthday Wadada Leo Smith!

 

Wadada Leo Smith turns eighty today, and Sequenza 21 wishes him many more years of health, creative improvisation, and composing. Smith has been a driving force as a member of AACM for over five decades, a keen collaborator with jazz and concert musicians, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and a faculty member at CalArts and elsewhere. 

2021 has been a prolific one in terms of record releases by the trumpeter and composer. He is joined by wind player Douglas Ewart and drummer Mike Reed on the Astral Spirits CD Sun Beams of Shimmering Light. The standout opening movement is a sixteen-minute long suite “Constellations and Conjunctional Spaces” which begins with fragmentary utterances that build into long, florid lines that are succeeded by riotous free play. A short coda sees motives from the top of the piece reexamined in light of what has transpired in between.

TUM has released four recordings by Smith this calendar year, with a seven-CD collection of string quartets on deck for early 2022. The only single CD  among these is A Love  Sonnet for Billie Holiday, which features a trio with his frequent collaborators pianist Vijay Iyer and drummer Jack DeJohnette, marking the first time all three have worked together. It is a winning grouping, as are the two included duos with DeJohnette. As Smith points out in the liner notes, the approach here alludes to his work with Anthony Braxton and Leroy Jenkins on “The Bell,” a piece from his debut album in 1969. This affinity is both in terms of interaction and collaboration, but also in a harmonic language more recognizable in Smith’s earlier music. 

The Great Lakes Quartet, which includes saxophonist Leroy Jenkins (on some tracks Jonathon Haffner), DeJohnette, and bassist Henry Lindberg, is the personnel on the TUM double CD The Chicago Symphonies. There are four pieces here, Gold, Diamond, Pearl, and Sapphire, subtitled “The Presidents Symphony: Their Visions for America; Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg and Barack Obama at Selma!” How can a quartet play “symphonies,” one might wonder before listening. But upon engaging with these recordings, it is clear that the formal designs, development of thematic material, and use of all of the instruments’ capabilities to the utmost engage with music writ large.

A triple CD of solo trumpet music might seem like a long sit, but Smith’s individual performances on Trumpet are riveting. He recorded these fourteen new pieces, many of them extended, sculpted works, in a single weekend at St. Mary’s Church in the town of Pohja, on the Southern Coast of Finland, which provides a great acoustic for Smith’s luminous sound.  Finally (for now), Sacred Ceremonies, a three disc recording with bassist Bill Laswell and Milford Graves, visionary drummer of the New York “new wave” free jazz scene, who passed away in February, 2021 and to whom the recording is dedicated. The first CD features a duet between Smith and Graves, the second, Smith with Laswell, and the third is a trio. The level of rhythmic layering in the trumpet and drums duos is truly astonishing. Quotation plays a large role, with Smith imitating Graves’ gestures but choosing melodic lines from blues, standards, and even nursery rhymes to cross-pollinate the music. Laswell adds elements of funk and avant-pop to the mix; Smith responds in places by playing through a wah-wah pedal and employing minimal patterning. The trio is a summit of experimental practices, and the polyglot musical language they form together is inimitable and now, sadly, with the passing of Graves, irreplaceable. 

  • Christian Carey

 

by Christian Carey
Best of, CD Review, Composers, File Under?, Piano, Twentieth Century Composer

Best of 2021 – Piano Music

William Byrd and John Bull

The Visionaries of Piano Music

Kit Armstrong, piano 

Deutsche Grammophon CD

 

In The Visionaries of Piano Music, Kit Armstrong plays two of the greatest English keyboard composers active during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I on the modern piano, aiming to show what he calls “a seamless line of development” between this repertory and more recent music written explicitly for the piano. William Byrd (ca. 1540-1623) and John Bull (ca. 1562-1628) wrote for very different instruments from the piano, the harpsichord and its smaller companion the virginal; Christofori developed early versions of the ‘pian e forte’ around 1700, and these were still a far cry from today’s instruments. Armstrong doesn’t pretend that a piano sounds like a harpsichord, but he observes phrasing and tempos that resemble period-informed performance. He excels at works like Byrd’s “The Battell: The Flute and the Droome,” in which each hand imitates an instrument. The dance music so prevalent among these works, pavans and galliards, is delivered with jubilant élan. 

Delving into the rich tapestry of piano music often begins with foundational music lessons that cultivate an appreciation for historical compositions and their evolution. Just as Kit Armstrong explores the seamless development from Elizabethan keyboard compositions to modern piano music, aspiring musicians can benefit immensely from structured music lessons. Institutions like Pianos & More offer comprehensive programs designed to introduce students to a diverse repertoire, from early keyboard works to contemporary compositions.

In these music lessons, students not only learn technical proficiency but also develop an understanding of historical context and performance practices. Much like Armstrong’s approach to interpreting Byrd and Bull’s compositions with sensitivity to historical instruments, music instructors at Pianos & More emphasize phrasing, dynamics, and the stylistic nuances that define each era of piano music.

 

Images

Claude Debussy, 

Complete Piano Music from 1903-1907

Mathilda Handelsman, piano

Sheva Collection

 

Claude Debussy wrote several pivotal works for piano from 1903-1907: Books 1 and 2 of Images, Estampes, Masques, D’un cahier d’esquisses, and L’isle joyeuse. Pianist Mathilda Handelsman creates eloquent recordings of some of the composer’s best work. In addition to her sculpted touch and excellent musical judgment, Handelsman has another ally, an 1875 Steinway that seems tailor made for ideal tone colors in Debussy, supplying a shimmering sound. Her approach to tempo variations, supple but subtle, lends this recording a magical aura.  

 

On DSCH

Works by Dmitri Shostakovich and Ronald Stevenson

Igor Levit

Sony Classical 3xCD

 

The 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87, by Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) are some of the most imposing piano works of the twentieth century. Igor Levit has distinguished himself on record both in watershed works by Bach and Beethoven and, on 2020’s Encounter, a mixed program of romantic music and Palais de Mari by Morton Feldman. 

 

This 3-CD set includes Op. 87 plus the gargantuan 1962 work Passacaglia on D.S.C.H (Shostakovich’s musical signature – D, Eb, C, B), by composer-pianist Ronald Stevenson (1928-2015). Detailed voicing, such as the double octaves in the E major prelude, bring out the orchestral aspects of the music, while counterpoint found in at times lengthy and thorny subjects, as in the C# minor and F# minor fugues are clearly delineated. The B major fugue is bucolic and brilliantly rendered. The D minor Prelude and Fugue that culminates the set is probably Shostakovich’s best known solo piano piece. Under Levit’s hands, it is magisterial and impeccably paced. Stevenson is a figure who should be better known. Levit’s riveting account of the Passacaglia, which references both Bach and Shostakovich and a host of baroque variation and dance forms, rivals Stevenson’s own scintillating performances of the work. Kudos for reviving this compelling composition. 

For those inspired by Levit’s mastery and eager to delve deeper into the realm of piano music, exploring a diverse range of compositions becomes essential. Accessing sheet music through platforms like https://hsiaoya.com facilitates this journey, providing a convenient avenue to acquire scores and embark on enriching musical exploration. Whether it’s delving into the complexities of Stevenson’s compositions or venturing into other realms of piano repertoire, the availability of sheet music serves as a gateway to realizing one’s musical aspirations with greater ease and efficiency.

 

-Christian Carey

 

by Christian Carey
Best of, CD Review, Choral Music, early music, File Under?

Best of 2021: Holiday Music

Hodie Christus Natus Est

Boston Camerata, Anne Azéma

Harmonia Mundi CD

 

A trio of female singers accompanied by hurdy gurdy, harp, rebec, and bells present a diverse program of medieval Christmas music in English, Latin, Italian, Iberian, and French. Plainsong hymns, responses, carols, and dances, all by anonymous sources, are performed with impeccable sound, blend, and tuning and an impressive variety of approaches. Some of the music is intoned as chant while other pieces are metricized. This repertoire would not have appeared together in a single performance, especially given the blend of sacred and secular pieces, but Hodie Christus Natus Est is a rich program that displays historically informed performance at its very finest.

 

A Mexican Christmas

The Newberry Consort | Ellen Hargis, David Douglass directors

EnsAmble Ad-Hoc | Francy Acosta, José Luis Posada directors

Navona Records CD

 

Much like composers from Spain in the first half of the seventeenth century, Mexican composers during the same time period adhered to the “prima pratica” principles exemplified in sixteenth century Italy, most notably by Palestrina. They may have been latecomers to Baroque musical practices, but tarrying with earlier contrapuntal styles resulted in an extravagant coda to music of the Renaissance.

 

A Mexican Christmas is a live recording of Christmas music performed by the Newberry Consort and Ensemble Ad-Hoc. Rather than focusing on Mexican liturgical music, of which there is also a significant repertory, the main emphasis of the program is extra liturgical and secular music, including stirring instrumental selections by Santiago de Murcia. If one is unfamiliar with the composers Juan Guitierrez de Padilla, Gaspar Fernandes, and Juan Garcia Despedes, the selections here provide an excellent introduction to this underserved repertoire.

 

In the Bleak Midwinter: Christmas Carols from King’s

Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, Daniel Hyde

King’s College, Cambridge CD

 

Every year, I think that the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge has arrived at the pinnacle of presenting Christmas carols. In 2021, they once again prove that they have even more room to climb. In the Bleak Midwinter features fresh approaches to arrangements and descants, talented soloists, memorable organ solos, and selections from corners of the repertoire, old and new, that merit more attention. Director Daniel Hyde does an admirable job musically and curatorially, favoring a lithe approach to phrasing and tempo that prevents the schmaltz that ruins so many recordings of carols. Organist Matthew Hyde supplies a colorful yet balanced array of textures when accompanying the choir. His performance of “Improvisation on Adeste Fideles,” by Francis Pott, supplies a memorable postlude to the proceedings. My favorite carol is Holst’s “In the Bleak Midwinter,” and the rendition here is practically peerless.

 

-Christian Carey

by Christian Carey
Best of, BMOP, CD Review, Composers, File Under?

Best of 2021: BMOP plays Piston and Barber

Walter Piston: Concerto for Orchestra 

Variations on a Theme of Edward Burlingame Hill, Divertimento, Clarinet Concerto

Michael Nosworthy, clarinet

Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Gil Rose, conductor

BMOP/sound CD

 

Samuel Barber: Medea

Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Medea (complete ballet), A Hand of Bridge

Kristen Watson, soprano; Matthew DiBattista, tenor; Angela Gooch, soprano, David Kravitz, baritone, Krista River, mezzo-soprano; Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Gil Rose, conductor

BMOP/sound CD

 

Although the Boston Modern Orchestra Project has undertaken commissioning and recording music from our time, another important part of their mission has been reviving symphonists from mid-century America. Two recordings spotlighting music from the 1930s to the 1960s stood out this year. Many may know Walter Piston (1894-1976) as a teacher of composition and author of music textbooks (Harmony, Orchestration, etc.), but during his lifetime he was in demand as a composer of chamber and orchestra music. BMOP’s recordings of four of his ensemble works are Exhibit One of the substantial pieces of evidence that his work is worthy of revival. The earliest, and largest piece on the recording is 1933’s Concerto for Orchestra, following Hindemith’s 1925 work, both in terms of overall design but also the degree to which the piece features many instruments of the orchestra in solo turns. It is also a masterclass in canonic counterpoint. Piston evokes Stravinsky as well by recycling the “Psalm chords” from Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms (which had been written just three years prior) in identical spacing and scoring. Variations on a Theme of Edward Burlingame Hill was written for a Massachusetts municipal orchestra and would be an excellent programming choice for today’s educational and community ensembles. 

 

Divertimento, for Nine Instruments, showcases Piston’s proclivity for chamber forces. Once again, Stravinsky’s neoclassicism is a touchstone: one might think of this as the Octet plus one. The standout work is the late Clarinet Concerto (1967). Cleverly shaped, it is cast in four attacca movements with several cadenzas and interludes featuring the soloist. Piston acknowledges the clarinet literature from Brahms’ sonatas to Benny Goodman, providing a challenging and varied showcase. Soloist Michael Nosworthy plays superlatively, navigating challenging registral changes and elegantly sculpting the rhythms of the cadenza material. BMOP is at its best here too; Rose brings out the various countermelodies embedded in the score while deftly supporting the soloist throughout.

 

There are plenty of opportunities, live and on recording, to hear Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (1947) by Samuel Barber (1910-1981); this year proved there is room for another. BMOP’s rendition is excellent, with fluid, but not languid, tempos and delicate, detailed singing from soprano Kristen Watson. Watson is joined by singers soprano Angela Gooch, mezzo-soprano Krista River, tenor Mathew DiBattista, and baritone Kravitz in A Hand of Bridge, a ten-minute long piece from 1959 that has become an opera training center staple. It is refreshing to hear it performed with such professionalism, and here Rose elicits a jaunty swagger from BMOP’s musicians. 

 

Posterity has been less kind to Barber’s ballet Medea. Composed in 1947, the same year as Knoxville, it is a bit edgier than his other works but remains within the spectrum of neoclassical tonality for which he is best known. The orchestration is vivid, with excellent solo writing for winds and brilliant chorales for brass in particular, witness the opening solo of the “Dance of Vengeance.” There is a “re-tunable moment” or two in the strings, but otherwise the performance is eminently assured. The rhythmic vivacity of Medea is particularly memorable, part mixed meter writing with just a hint of Hollywood filtered jazz around the edges. I would love to see a dance performance of it. 

 

-Christian Carey

 

by Christian Carey
CD Review, Electro-Acoustic, File Under?

Best of 2021: Electronic

 

Supermundane 

John Thayer

Self-released

 

Far In

Helado Negro

4AD

 

Weightless (10 hour version)

Signals

Marconi Union

Just Music

 

Changing Landscapes (Isle of Eigg)

Arthur King

AKP

 

Fast Idol

Black Marble

Sacred Bones

 

 

Ookii Gekkou

Vanishing Twin

Fire Records

 

John Thayer is a musician who wears many hats: composer, audio engineer, sound artist, and percussionist. He has played with a host of new music performers, including Zeena Parkins, Daniel Carter, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Kato Hideki, Ezra Feinberg, Arp, Robbie Lee,  Jeff Tobias, and Jim Pugliese. It is his work with Arp that is likely best known, and Thayer’s solo release Supermundane is an extension of that project, incorporating mallet percussion, field recordings, and synthesis into a varied yet cohesive whole. “Strata” is a succinct curtain-raiser that introduces both ambient and fourth world elements. It leads attacca into “Akaku,” which features polyrhythmic percussion, synth bass put in a lead role, and treated drums. The title track is a catchy yet intricately constructed piece, with a syncopated riff that overlaps bass instruments and a busy adornment of marimba alongside industrial field recordings. The longer tracks, “Kimyoin” and “Veil,” use similar elements but add slowly morphing synths to build accreting formal designs. 

 

Percussion plays an enhanced role in Helado Negro’s Far In, his first LP since moving from Brooklyn to North Carolina. Just as Roberto Carlos Lang wanted to provide himself more space in his day-to-day life than the hustle bustle of New York would allow, Far In seems more spacious in its arrangements and expressive character. The undergirding of electronica with drum ‘n bass textures and layered vocals makes for a winning blend of materials. “Hometown Dream” features melodic bass-lines, a funk-inspired chord progression on electric piano, and fluid vocals. Upon hearing “Gemini and Leo,” the listener will likely be toe-tapping and humming along for the rest of the day. Benamin supplies ardent chorus vocals on “Telescope;” Kacy Hill and Buscabulla also make guest appearances on the ballads “Wake Up Tomorrow” and “Agosto.” 

 

This year, Taylor Swift releasing a ten-minute version of the song “All too Well” was considered remarkable, but what about a ten-hour long track? Marconi Union consulted with sound therapists to create a nightlong version of their piece “Weightless.” Designed to help with relaxation, sleep, and even to lower your blood pressure, “Weightless” is ambient electronica’s version of a cozy blanket. The band’s 2021 album, Signals, has a different approach, once again foregrounding percussion in a musical celebration of powerful progenitors such as Jaki Liebezeit, Clive Deamer, and Tony Allen. Propulsive yet still retaining the Marconi Union’s melodic forward sound, it is a case of a fine band prioritizing musical growth.

 

Grandaddy’s Jason Lyttle collaborated with LA collective Arthur King on their latest Changing Landscapes project, for which the band visited Scotland’s Isle of Eigg this year. The results of their field recordings and improvised synth responses created a compelling half hour of music that combines concrete sensibilities with minimal ostinatos. Particularly compelling is the use of spoken word in counterpoint on “An Sgurr” and water as a layered backdrop on “Laig Beach.” Isle of Eigg was featured as part of KCRW’s “A Day of Serenity” and, during the spring, a documentary about the project was screened at Grand Park’s Our LA Voices 2021 alongside a gallery installation that ran in Los Angeles. This type of immersive, interdisciplinary approach befits Arthur King’s imaginative, process based, and location driven work.

 

Black Marble is the stage name for Chris Stewart, an artist smitten with eighties synth pop. Fast Idol, his 2021 Sacred Bones recording, doesn’t merely replicate the sound world of FM synths and drum machines. Instead, Black Marble stretches out several of his songs past the eighties’ single terrain of three minutes, at times into five and six minute long pieces that feature winsome interludes and off-kilter structures. Check out the lead off track “Somewhere” for a case in point. Hooks abound amid the solos, with “Bodies” and “Try” supplying particularly memorable melodies. Stewart’s previous album was a Best of 2020 release, and Fast Idol is even better. 

 

Ookii Gekkou (meaning ‘big moonlight’ in Japanese), is Vanishing Twin’s “lockdown album,” that the band thought of as a “dream catcher for the madness.” Instead of shouting into the darkness, Vanishing Twin decided dystopian dance was in order. Field recordings, bells, and tasty riffs from guitars and synths populate Ookii Gekkou’s ornate arrangements. Influences abound: disco, Afro-futurist jazz, twee pop, space sounds, and synth pop. Highly recommended. 

 

-Christian Carey

 

by Christian Carey
Best of, CD Review, File Under?, jazz

Best of 2021: Three Recordings Featuring Matthew Shipp (CD Review)

Codebreaker

Matthew Shipp

TAO Forms CD

Village Mothership

Whit Dickey, drums; William Parker, bass Matthew Shipp, piano; 

TAO Forms CD

Procedural Language CD

Live at SESC Blu-ray DVD

Ivo Perelman, saxophones; Matthew Shipp, piano

SMP boxed set

 

In both solo and group settings, Pianist Matthew Shipp has continued to prolifically record in 2021. His collaborations with longtime partners, drummer Whit Dickey and bassist William Parker on Village Mothership, and Procedural Language, a celebration of his two-decade musical odyssey with saxophonist Ivo Perelman, are scintillating reminders of Shipp’s development of a fluid musical language that adapts to different scenarios. In these, he simultaneously suits and provokes the playing of his colleagues. In turn, Dickey, Parker, and Perelman bring out some of the best in Shipp. Over the years, their work has been formative in creating captivating examples of ecstatic jazz, as evidenced by the three CDs featured here, which are among our selections for Best of 2021. 

 

A feature on the solo release Codebreaker is rapid shifting between surface rhythmic patterns while keeping the same underlying tempo structure. This is particularly evident on “Spider Web,” where right-hand oscillations and trills mimic the knitting activity associated with the title. Just as one begins to forget where the downbeat resides, Shipp supplies a deft reminder with a brief chordal and walking bass texture, revealing that the melody has ventured afar. We hear this too on “A Thing and Nothing,” the opening piece on Village Mothership, where in the midst of a steady midtempo articulated by the rhythm section, Shipp adopts solo breaks of propulsive angularity that fit odd groupings into the meter. Similarly, “Track 5” of Procedural Language features Perelman and Shipp playing melodic gestures with different sets of syncopations, Perelman starting his gesture after a rest off the beat and Shipp eventually moving from a dueling melodic role to chordal punctuations and swinging bass register interpolations. Independent rhythmic activity, either between the hands or among groups of musicians, is one of the hallmarks of free/ecstatic playing. It is the level of sophistication and interaction that these players can accomplish that suggests the language is ever-evolving. In this Dickey is simply a marvel. When one compares earlier recordings to his current approach, it is clear that he has reinvented his role behind the kit with poly-limbed polyrhythms abounding.

 

The aforementioned rapid juxtapositions in rhythm are joined by corresponding contrasts of harmonic color and melodic inventiveness. Dickey and Parker are involved in customary rhythm section roles, but they telegraph and respond to melodic material in such a way as to make the trio texture seamless. The voicings Shipp picks are often made more intricate by bass note choices from Parker. The two often engage in duets between multiple bass lines, one by Parker and another by Shipp, which anchor the music and allow that register a sense of melodic as well as harmonic import. The duets Perelman and Shipp engage in often resonate with overtone series upper partials that create a series of polychords against the grounding of the bass register. Perelman’s addition of microtones to the mix also involves bending notes in bluesy fashion and alluding to nonwestern music with complex scalar passages. Shipp has incorporated 20th century classical harmonies into his playing for years. There is no more eloquent example of this than on Codebreaker’s “Suspended,” a memorable ballad in Schoenbergian style.

 

The Procedural Languages set also includes an hourlong DVD of the duo live in San Paolo at SESC and a thoughtful booklet essay about their artistic partnership by Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg. Many Perelman/Shipp recordings have been made, but a document with video and discussion of their work puts this at the top of the list. Likewise, A Village Mothership captures the go-to trio for ecstatic jazz at the height of their powers. Finally, Codebreaker reveals that Shipp is capable of topping himself with inquisitiveness, imagination, and superlative technique. Recommended.

 

-Christian Carey

 

by Christian Carey
Best of, CD Review, File Under?, jazz

Best of 2021: John and Alice Coltrane reissues

Best of 2021: A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle and Alice Coltrane’s Kirtan: Turiya Sings

 

Fifty-six years after its release, John Coltrane’s recording of his suite A Love Supreme has been certified platinum by the RIAA. With the lauded release of the recently rediscovered tapes of A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle, renewed interest has moved the recording of the original to this distinguished sales standard. The Live in Seattle version expands the personnel from the classic Coltrane Quartet to include saxophonists Pharaoh Sanders and Carlos Ward, and a second double bassist Donald Garrett. Thought some outlets have criticized the bass response on the recording, on my rig the vinyl versions sounds excellent. Several interludes augment the original suite with improvised solos.

We have Joe Brazil to thank for recording the 1965 gig at Seattle’s The Penthouse, and saxophonist Steve Griggs for rediscovering the tapes from which this vital recording was made. 

 

The original version of Alice Coltrane’s album of spiritual songs, released in 1982, had a fuller instrumentation. In 2004, Ravi Coltrane discovered alternate mixes that instead just featured Alice’s voice and Wurlitzer organ. These are intimate, simple, and emotionally resonant versions of the material on the album and it was wise to reissue it. The songs combine bluesy chord voices with gospel and Carnatic singing in eloquent synchronicity.

by Christian Carey
Best of, CD Review, Chamber Music, Composers, Contemporary Classical, Electro-Acoustic, File Under?

Best of 2021 – Burned into the Orange by Peter Gilbert (CD Review)

Burned into the Orange

Music of Peter Gilbert

Arditti String Quartet; Iridium Quartet, Emmanuele Arciuli, piano; et al. 

New Focus Records CD/DL

 

This is composer Peter Gilbert’s second recording for New Focus; the first was back in 2008, The Long Arch of Undreamt Things. He is Associate Professor of Music at University of New Mexico, and has a long artistic pedigree filled with prestigious residencies, performances, and awards. There is a visceral character in Gilbert’s music that distinguishes it, and in his recent music it appears that geography plays as much of a role as any of the aforementioned experiences. The searing heat of the summer sun in the Southwest, the beauty of its flora and fauna, and the changes of light against mountain streams are all analogous to the diverse array of instrumental colors that Gilbert brings to bear. 

 

A case in point is Intermezzo: Orange into Silver, which Gilbert synesthetically describes as depicting the oranges inspired by the New Mexico landscape moving to a metallic silver, “…a kind of astral wind that ultimately settles into another of the Rilke-inspired clouds of breath.” A plethora of timbres are contained within these broad strokes, belying the piece’s three-minute duration with a varied splendor of synthetic sounds. Elsewhere the approach is more distilled. Arditti String Quartet plays deconstructed double stops with furious intensity on The Voice Opens Wide to Forget That Which You Are Singing. A live recording by basset recorder player Jeremias Schwarzer with electronics by Gilbert, The Palm of Your Hand Touches My Body is the most extended piece on the album and also its most engaging, challenging the listener to locate whether particular sounds emanate from the recorder or the electronics throughout: a satisfying game of musical hide and seek. Wave Dash, Camilla Hoetenga, flute and Magdalena Meitzner, percussion, perform Channeling the Waters, which seems to encompass more whitecaps than burbling brooks. 

 

Standout Soon as the Sun Forsook the Eastern Main features the pianist Emmanuele Arculi in a close-miked series of corruscating arpeggios, which is succeeded by electronic interpolations of synthetic harmonic series and polytonal verticals. Thunderous bass notes are set against a shimmering upper register electronic drone, all added to the mix of verticals. Another layer, of sampled vocalize, moves the piece still further toward the ethereal. One gets a foreshadowing of the electronics, at least its approach, in Meditation upon the Awakening of the Spirit, placed earlier on the disc. Upon the Awakening, another piece for electronics and live performers, in this case the Iridium Quartet (who are saxophonists) also explores spectral series, including detuned upper partials, and disjunct yet lyrical melodic material. By the Lonely Traveller’s Call for tuba with amplified mute supplies a unique palette of sounds and engaging formal design. Gilbert is a consummate craftsman with an unerring ear for textures, both electronic and acoustic. Recommended. 

 

  • Christian Carey
by Christian Carey