{"id":9611,"date":"2018-01-20T17:19:37","date_gmt":"2018-01-20T17:19:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=9611"},"modified":"2018-02-03T17:48:14","modified_gmt":"2018-02-03T17:48:14","slug":"best-jazz-albums-of-2017-often-found-the-big-picture-in-all-its-ugly-beauty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=9611","title":{"rendered":"Best jazz albums of 2017 often found the big picture in all its ugly beauty"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Best jazz albums 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jazz musicians thought big in 2017, perhaps realizing that if a reality TV\/star\/oft-bankrupted real estate developer could be president,\u00a0certainly<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>a thoughtful jazz musician could reach for a large statement, beyond the notes and chords. And thus, many no<\/span>table albums writ large, whether culturally or politically. In my choices for the year’s best, I strove, as always, to judge an album on the intentions \u2013\u00a0 and the merits that arose thereof.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nevertheless, if an ambitious thematic work persuaded, and with compelling music, the impact was hard to deny. So you had albums with social or political agendas such as Nicole Mitchell’s<\/strong> future-vision\u00a0Mandorla Awakening: Emerging Worlds;<\/em>\u00a0Ted Nash’s<\/strong> orchestral Presidential Suite<\/em>,<\/strong> with accompanied readings of presidents and prime ministers by other well-known leaders; and the always activist-minded Charlie Haden Liberation Music Orchestra’s Time\/Life,<\/em> <\/strong>emerging as perhaps the final statement of one of our most beloved musicians, who died a few years ago.<\/p>\n

Less overtly political, but as musically ambitious in content and scale as any was Brian Lynch’s Madera Latino<\/em><\/strong>, (pictured above) a Latin jazz reinterpretation of one of the still under-sung masters of modern music, trumpeter Woody Shaw.<\/p>\n

In contrast to Lynch’s muscular front lines, often with three brilliant trumpets riding clave rhythms, was the comparative intimacy of the duet album Masters in Bordeaux<\/em><\/strong> by French pianist Martial Solal<\/strong> and American saxophonist\/flutist Dave Liebman<\/strong>. This showed that ultimately jazz is about dialogue, whether between two (here from different continents) or, by extension, ever-increasing groups of speakers, implying a template for the democratic process, as I have written about in depth in my forthcoming book, Voices in the River: The Jazz Message to Democracy.<\/em><\/p>\n

Another album “bubbling under” my top ten with a capacious concept is tenor saxophonist\u00a0Noah Preminger’s Meditations on Freedom<\/em><\/strong>. It’s redolent of\u00a0<\/span>Charles Mingus’ great “meditations,” though perhaps more studied. Hear\u00a0<\/span>sax-trumpet-bass-drums\u00a0<\/span>i<\/span>nterpreting Dylan’s magnificent “Only a Pawn in their Game,” Bruce Hornsby’s “Just the Way It Is,” Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come,” and George Harrison’s”Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth).” Plus there’s original tributes to “Mother Earth”, “Women’s March,” “The 99%,” and more. I also loved how the deeply rootsy concept of Adam Nussbaum’s The Leadbelly Project<\/em><\/strong> played out.<\/span><\/p>\n

So I encourage you to explore at least some of these titles for their layers \u2013\u00a0 musical, textual and political. You’ll be a richer, more-informed arts patron and citizen. I hope that\u00a0<\/span>an informed citizen<\/span>\u00a0and one flying with\u00a0<\/span>culture-vulture wings are two sides of the same coin. They might fly high enough to catch the\u00a0<\/span>sun’s fiery natural energy — to expand our powers of healing, production and progress in these uncertain and often-dismaying political times. In that spirit, how do we learn — without suffering the fate of Icarus — what is possible and what might be self-destructive? True collective power and compassion will usually trump narcissistic grandiosity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are my choices for best jazz albums of 2017, in order of preference. I include links to my reviews of albums I covered in some depth during the year:<\/p>\n

Brian Lynch \u2013\u00a0Presents Madera Latino: A Latin Jazz Perspective on the Music of Woody Shaw<\/em> (Hollistic MusicWorks)\u00a0<\/strong>The Milwaukee native has reached the jazz mountaintop after a humbly serious career of historically-minded music making with a dazzling two-disc set, which Illuminated one of his great models, trumpeter Woody Shaw. It ranged from the late elder’s inherent lyricism in “Sweet Love of Mine” to a wide expanse of Shaw’s meatiest, most forward-thinking post-bop jazz: “Song of Songs,” “Zoltan, “In a Capricornian Way,” and very hip Lynch originals like “Blues for Woody and Khalid” (for the recently passed Khalid Larry Young, the innovative organist perhaps best known for his classic album Unity!<\/em>\u00a0with Woody, T<\/span>he Tony Williams Lifetime, Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew<\/em> etc.).\u00a0 Accordingly, The Jazz Journalists Association chose this as album of the year and Lynch as trumpeter of the year. Kudos to Brian (no relation to the writer).<\/span><\/p>\n

Here’s a nifty video on the Madera Latino<\/em> recording sessions:<\/p>\n