Correction with Mats Gustafsson, Shift

We are lucky that there is no shortage of excellent avant jazz out there today, all over the world, those of us who follow and appreciate the global new. I have another for you this morning. It's Correction with Mats Gustafsson and their limited-edition LP Shift (No Business NBLP 59).

Mats is on baritone, Sebastian Bergstrom, piano, Joacim Nyberg on bass, and Emil Astrand-Melin on drums. It's an extraordinarily game-sounding quartet on a post-bop-free good blowing date.

Mats has fire and finesse, Sebastian has a kind of post-Bley hard-charging attack, Joacim can walk out the window with it all and give you a solo that makes your ears perk up, and Emil gives it all that freetime, time-time push.

This is top-of-the-line outness. If you don't know these four well, Shift is the one to get. Since there is a limited pressing of 500 LPs, now is the time!

Brain Landrus Wields the Baritone with Dexterity On "Traverse"

Brian Landrus is a new-ish voice on the baritone. He has one album out on Cadence Jazz. The new one Traverse is on his own BlueLand Records (2011A). It's a quartet date with the potent lineup of Lonnie Plaxico on bass, Michael Cain, piano, and the always swinging Billy Hart on the drums.

It's a contemporary date with good blowing vehicles devised by Landrus himself or in collaboration with Michale Cain. The "Body and Soul" perennial rounds out the set. There's a chance for Cain to show what he has been up to as well as some extended improv time for Landrus on the baritone and bass clarinet. He shows a winning way with a ballad on "Lone," "Soundwave" "Soul and Body" and of course "Body and Soul" and kicks up a little dust on the other numbers.

It's an all-around good outing for everyone concerned. Landrus most definitely has a sound and an onslaught of notes to go with it. Check it out.

Steve Baczkowski, Baritone Firebrand II: Aqua Machine

A while ago (see earlier posting) we took a look at Steve Baczkowski in duet with Ravi Padmanabha, drummer and percussion adept. Today, another. Viz: a series of live performances from several venues selected and sequenced onto the interesting limited edition CD-Rom Aqua Machine (Qbico 51).

Both Steve and Ravi shift to various instruments from piece to piece in a free improv outing that has power and grace in equal quantities. Ravi plies and coaxes the conventional drum kit with barrages and essays in sound color, and also plays some appropriate tattoos on a frame drum, the gopichand, tabla and small instruments. Steve goes from baritone to slide bass clarinet, and on to the tenor, a homemade clarinet and the bamboo flute.

Baczkowski has that big, timbrally complex sound on bari and tenor and gets some very nice improvisations going. His playing is free-form yet has a logic musically. Ravi Padmanabha gives back as much as he takes in, providing a rather ideal foil to Steve's outbursts and getting quiet and subtle with him when that is on the agenda.

Not everything on this disk is essential, The jawharp-vocal interlude does not seem especially profound. It is a short part of the set though and one must expect a few moments of tentativeness in the free improvisational event.

This disk may or may not be in print (it is several years old) but it is worth searching for. Aqua Machine gives you a worthy introduction to the duo. Bravo!

Baritone Saxophonist Charles Evans in Duet with Pianist Neil Shah

I was so taken with baritone saxophonist Charles Evans' last album The King of Instruments that I named it one of my top-ten favorites last year in the Cadence Critics Poll. That album features Charles in a solo outing, with well conceived overdubs so that at times one was listening to an all-baritone choir, other times a naked single baritone unwinding with some brilliant compositional-improvisational gestures. I was impressed.

So when I received his latest album Live at Saint Stephens (Hot Cup) it was with some keen anticipation. This is an on-location recording of duets with pianist Neil Shah, and it does not disappoint.

As with the previous album, inventive compositional elements intermingle tightly with improvisational aspects and the sound color and range of Evans' horn forms an important part of the overall presentation. Pianist Shah contributes a great deal of subtle pianism on this one. He has a touch and attack that show some affinities with the classical piano tradition, but he also contributes improvisations that show a well-developed and distinctive spontaneity.

This is a program of pieces by Evans (all but one) and they have substance and weight. The improvisations are melded effectively so that one does not have that breaking off point where one thinks, OK, the improvisation begin here, the composition is over. Partly that is due to the improvisations coming so organically out of the composed material that they extend the music naturally. There is no Frankensteinian stitched head onto stitched body with stitched on arms that sometimes can be the case in these sorts of settings.

There is a improv-meets-concert-music feel to this program. And it proceeds in ways that make that intersection of styles seem completely right. That is in no small part due the conceptual rigor of Mr. Evans and the rather inspired nature of Evan's and Shah's playing on this occasion. The music is subtle, but the rewards to be gained by listening are not. Charles Evans is bearing the torch of continuity that has been passed on from those that went before, but he also adds new colors to the flame. Highly recommended.

Pinton-Kullhammar-Zetterberg-Nordeson

If you are in the States, you may not be familiar with Alberto Pinton (baritone sax, clarinet), Jonas Kullhammar (tenor and baritone sax), Torbjorn Zetterberg, (acoustic bass) and Kjell Nordeson (drums, vibes). Yet if you listen to their recent Chant (Clean Feed) you will realize that it has been your loss.

The unusual line up of two baritones (doubling on other saxes) plus rhythm gives the session a bottom heavy texture much of the time but it sounds fresh. The band winds its way through ten compositional vehicles that they feel comfortable playing within. It's a free-ish date with lots of improvisational space for all the players. None of them strikes me as on the verge of becoming a major stylist but that does not stop the music from being captivating and well-thought out.

Those who love the baritone will find this album to their liking. Those who like a free date with some melodic heads and a steady pulse (at least half of the time) will also find this enjoyable.