{"id":8893,"date":"2017-05-24T21:04:37","date_gmt":"2017-05-24T21:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=8893"},"modified":"2017-06-03T19:47:29","modified_gmt":"2017-06-03T19:47:29","slug":"heres-a-chance-to-catch-up-on-previously-unposted-cc-vs-best-of-the-year-jazz-recordings-from-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=8893","title":{"rendered":"Here’s a chance to catch up on previously-unposted CC (VS) “best of the year” jazz recordings from 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Amina\"<\/p>\n

Calling all jazz fans who need a little assist (or excuse) to search out some perhaps-overlooked gems. Also, because among American “vernaculars,” jazz claims such a profusion of accomplished artists — young, mid-career and mature — there’s always quality recordings worth digging (for). \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I came across this list, which has never been published before — my choices for the best jazz recordings of 2009. It was intended for an trans-Atlantic publication which never got off the ground of its Lindbergian aspirations. I did, however, present the list and comments on the air on WORT-FM in Madison, courtesy of one of that excellent community radio station’s jazz hosts, Alexander Wilding-White. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Special thanks to Alexander. Also, because I haven’t posted much lately in an effort to complete my first book, Voices in the River: The Jazz Message to Democracy<\/em>, I am sharing this now.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You will note, at the end of most of the comments, a track number and a time number, like “5:25.”\u00a0Ignore these, or \u00a0investigate further: \u00a0These disc jockey cues indicate specific moments on the recordings I considered highlights of the albums for air-play or listening.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Note finally my “Top 12,” and sundry other categorical winners. I think in such lists the round number of “10” is too arbitrary to not include a few worthy more.<\/strong><\/p>\n

NEW RELEASES 2009 <\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Komeda Project: Requiem<\/em><\/strong> (WM) \u00a0The slow, vamping tempo and the composed sequence of solo instrumental voices suggests a procession of humanity that could go on forever. The late Polish pianist-composer Krzysztof (pronounced<\/em> Shis-toff) Komeda wrote many evocative and brooding scores for Roman Polanski films including Rosemary\u2019s Baby<\/em> and was a giant of European jazz. His personal music, like his commissioned scores, always commanded more arresting attention than your standard Hollywood soundtrack. A balance of personal structure, mystery and lyricism, Komeda Project features Milwaukee-based trumpeter Russ Johnson, among others. I chose this as best of the year before I meet Russ. So it reflects an unbiased assessment of a very special work of art. Requiem<\/em> is a superb, deeply-knowing and inspired tribute band. First 2:50 of “Dirge for Europe<\/strong>.” (Also worthy is Tomasz Stanko’s 1997 album of Komeda compositions, Litania<\/em> on ECM.)<\/li>\n
  2. Vijay Iyer: Historicity<\/em><\/strong> (ACT) In a great year for pianists, Vijay Iyer showed astonishing range on Historicity<\/em> which includes reworkings of pieces by Andrew Hill, the hip-hop group MIA, Leonard Bernstein, Julius Hemphill and Stevie Wonder along with revisited originals In Iyer\u2019s segue from Stevie Wonder\u2019s \u201cBig Brother\u201d to Julius Hemphill\u2019s more ominous \u201cDogon AD,\u201d notice how the second tune\u2019s intervals suggest an abstraction of Stevie\u2019s melody. But what\u2019s really working overtime is Vijay Iyer\u2019s fearless pianistic and creative intelligence.<\/li>\n
  3. Laurence Hobgood: When the Heart Dances<\/em><\/strong> (Naim) I once had a conversation with Laurence Hogood, singer Kurt Elling\u2019s longtime pianist and arranger and he proved a man of great creative hunger. He ended up recording a superb duet album When the Heart Dances.<\/em> The familiar pop song \u201cQue Sera, Sera\u201d was used as a key plot device in the Alfred Hitchcock film The Man Who Knew Too Much<\/em> with Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day. Hobgood and bassist Charlie Haden transform it into their own philosophic reflection. The album’s heart dances all around que sera, sera.<\/em> First 2:00<\/li>\n
  4. Enrico Pieranunzi-Marc Johnson-Joey Baron: Dream Dance<\/em><\/strong> (CAM Jazz) Pianist Enrico Pieruanunzi is another exemplar of the deep maturity and vitality of European jazz. Here with Bill Evans\u2019 last bassist and the American drummer Joey Baron, Pieranunzi shows how far beyond his romantic Evans influence he\u2019s gone, without forsaking it. This powerfully sculpted theme is \u201cNo-Nonsense.\u201d<\/strong> 1:30<\/li>\n
  5. Amina Figarova: Above the Clouds<\/em><\/strong> (Munich) Yet another European, Figerova demonstrates how far women have traveled in jazz. Admittedly influenced by Maria Schneider, she has the arranging skill to actually build on that imposing influence. In this sextet and octet recording \u201cSailing through Icy Waters\u201d she evokes the questing, treacherous expedition of Henry Hudson in 1609, searching for a passage to China. Hudson ended up discovered the great New York state river which bears his name today. cut 9, 1:39 or so.<\/li>\n
  6. Jim Hall & Bill Frisell: Hemispheres<\/em><\/strong> (ArtistShare) This meeting of two generations of master guitarists worked so well they recorded a 2-disc set. Here the intrepid Frisell adapts Bob Dylan\u2019s \u201cMasters of War\u201d one of the most righteously angry songs ever recorded. Frisell played this song at the Barrymore a few years back and never announcing the title. It was chillingly unforgettable. Overall, though, this recording betrays a profound warmth and musical brotherhood between two generations of guitarists. Cut 8, 1:25<\/li>\n
  7. Marcin Wasilewski: January<\/em><\/strong> (ECM) I heard this superb Polish trio live in Milwaukee last winter and my late father, who died in November, said it was the best jazz he had heard in years. I\u2019m glad he got that last beautiful dose of modern jazz. These comparatively young musicians possess the the derring-do of the best American improvisors but with a distinctly-seasoned European sensibility, like eroding autumn leaves flirting almost defiantly with January’s harshly capricious winds. This is actually the working trio behind the great trumpeter Thomas Stanko. \u201cCinema Paradiso\u201d<\/strong> 4:20 to 6:03<\/li>\n
  8. Josh Berman, Old Idea<\/em> (Delmark) <\/strong>Cornetist Berman was a surprise hit of the second Madison Music Collective summer concert put together last Aug. by WORT\u2019s own Joanne Powers, who is also a multi-instrumental reed player. Chicagoan Berman drove up as a last-minute substitute for another musician taken ill, and he instantly began unfurling his intensely nuanced mastery of the cornet, a rarely played horn these days. I bought this album from him before he drove back home and it shows his Ornette Coleman influence in a band without a piano but with<\/em> a vibist. Cut 4: “Nori”\u00a0<\/strong>1:50<\/li>\n
  9. D. J. Strickland: In This Day<\/em> (Strick Musik) <\/strong>What amazed me among other things was this drummer-bandleader’s ability to master and adapt the uncanny drumming style of Elvin Jones. Listen, many hip drummers master Jones’ triplets but Strickland also gets Jones propulsive attack of the drumheads and bright-but-dazzlingly-integrated cymbal playing. Track-after-track, I let Strickland’s rhythmic brilliance wash over me, with ears wide open and loving it. In This Day<\/em> is a deeply satisfying post-Coltrane album featuring Strickland’s brother Marcus on reeds. Here he\u2019s aided by conga player but the rhythmic effect is breathtaking. Cut 1, first 2:20<\/li>\n
  10. Tom Gullion: Carswell<\/em><\/strong> (Momentous) This band dazzled the crowd at the Madison Music Collective’s opening concert of its summer series at Art in the Barn in Fitchburg. Their funky backbeats and deep grooves worked more like the contagious complexity of the Dave Holland Quintet, rather than sounding like commercial ploys. Well-known Madison-area trumpeter Dave Cooper calls saxophonist-composer Gullion the best musician he\u2019s ever played with. I believe it. Here Gullion and Cooper play “Mellowing”\u00a0in a quintet that includes Madison\u2019s own Tim Whalen on keyboard. First 1:10 of “Mellowing.”<\/strong><\/li>\n
  11. Kelsey Jillette: The Water Is Wide<\/em><\/strong> (CAP) Jillette was the most refreshing vocalist I heard this year. On her ingenious medley of Tadd Dameron\u2019s “Hot House” and “What is this thing called Love?\u201d catch her deftly elastic phrasing and warm effervescence. She\u2019s been perfecting her style with a fine band at Greenwich Village\u2019s 55 Bar for two years now. First 1:40 of “Hot House” track 5<\/li>\n
  12. Mostly Coltrane<\/strong>, Steve Kuhn<\/em><\/strong> (ECM) \u00a0The amazingly fecund legacy of John Coltrane, spanning his whole career as a leader, is presented here by an original, harmonically inquisitive pianist. Steve Kuhn played and recorded with Coltrane in 1960, right before McCoy Tyner took over. \u201cWelcome,\u201d with tenorist Joe Lovano, takes a melody that oddly recalls \u201cHappy Birthday\u201d and renders it eloquent, warm and supple, a classic case of a jazzer hipping\u00a0a square melody.\u00a0Mostly Coltrane<\/em> surprises us with all of its late-period Coltrane style and shows how serene balladic ‘Trane could be amid all the free-jazz furor he pioneered and was attacked for. Kuhn reveals how late \u2018Trane could be an adventure of deep, chiarscuroed nuance and meditative beauty.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"JR<\/p>\n

    REISSUE J.R. Monterose: Original Quartet and Quintet: Complete Studio Recordings<\/em><\/strong> (Gambit) Detroit tenor man J. R. Monterose was the proverbial musicians musician who spent too much of his career in Europe. Even at a fast tempo his swing snaps, and his ideas are crystal clear and witty. And this tune also includes smart counterpoint with trumpeter Ira Sullivan on a \u00a0Monterose original named “Marc V”<\/strong> recorded in Hackensack in 1956.\u00a0 “Marc V”\u00a0<\/strong>2:15.<\/p>\n

    2.\u00a0Stan Getz: Apasionado<\/em><\/strong> (Verve)<\/p>\n

    3. Charley Patton: This Is the Blues<\/em><\/strong> (Proper)<\/p>\n

    VOCAL<\/strong><\/p>\n