Connie Crothers Quartet, Deep Friendship

Connie Crothers has been making seminal new/avant jazz for many decades. And there is no excuse if she doesn't always get the recognition in the press she so deserves. It's all laid out in the recordings and you can catch her live in and around the city (New York).

She has a new album out that, after some quite exciting and engaging duets with some brilliant players, returns to her classic quartet. They played a set at the Jazz Room, William Paterson University in NJ, in 2010. Fortunately it was well recorded and the results are for us to appreciate in Deep Friendship (New Artists 1058).

This is the band best known for its freebop demeanor. That means that the music is outside the mainstream but has deep bop roots. Long-time Crothers associate Richard Tabnik blazes on alto sax. Even longer-time band member Roger Mancuso plays a loosely swinging set of drums. And Ken Filiano, a bassist known and appreciated for his work with Connie and others as well, is a key part as he has been for a while.

So why is this something to hear? It's some intricately hip after-bop numbers--three by Connie and two by Richard. They have been done before on earlier albums, but that in jazz just means they are serving as the springboard for a fresh improvisatory outlook, which is as true of this group as it is of any.

Richard blazes as a relative of Bird who has built his own nest--in other words, post-Bird. Ken walks beautifully and plays some excellent solos, too. Roger kicks out the jams both in time and in solo.

But I find myself on this album especially listening to what Connie is doing. When she comps the harmonies are thickened, sometimes to the point that they are flat-out clusters of dissonance and then, no, you get your bearings with some very rootsy chordal voicings and all in a flow that shows the deep, deep roots she has in the tradition but how much she pushes that tradition to the edge. That is what good freebop should do but often doesn't quite. With Ms. Crothers and the band they do so without fail. And Connie's solos show that too only perhaps even more so.

No one plays like this out there except Connie. Others may get in that zone but she is way ahead of them all when it comes to extensions and transformations of what has gone before.

Everything clicks on Deep Friendship. Connie shows us that she is at the top of the game. So do yourself a favor and dig in to this one! My highest recommendation for this one--and Matthew Shipp's from the other day. For the piano these are two sides to a brilliant coin. Years from now people are going to be kicking themselves saying, "why didn't I get with this music sooner?" Now is the time.

Drake/Gahnold/Parker, The Last Dances

I've been listening to this download-only release lately and wanted to make sure you didn't miss it. Hamid Drake (drums), William Parker (of course bass) and Anders Gahnold (alto) get something wonderful going on in this 2002 studio recording, The Last Dances (Ayler ayDL-075).

Blazing freebop is what's happening here. The rhythm team enters a killer zone. Maestros Drake and Parker kick up a beautiful fuss. And Anders Gahnold responds with some gritty soloing that ranks up there with his best.

That's all I wanted to say about this one today. But shoot, it's an inexpensive DL release that sounds good and you can grab it off the Ayler Records site (nowhere else) in a flash. Click on the Ayler Records link on this page (right-hand column, scroll down) then look for the grouping of download releases.

This one will give you smiles and joy.

Marc Riordan Quartet, Binoculars

If Thelonious Monk and Paul Bley do things for you, and you'd like the hear something that extends that music, the Marc Riordan Quartet and their Binoculars (Club Nerodia CN01) will give you a nice jolt.

Chicago-based, the quartet has angularity and plenty of free invention. Marc does the piano, Peter Hanson is on alto, Daniel Thatcher gets the bass going, and Tim Daisy swings the drums.

It's freebop with grit and joy. Riordan's originals have a satisfying ring to them and the band gets it very right in the choruses of improvisation.

Some of it frees it up and some of it gets a swinging outness, but it all gives me a lot of pleasure. These guys have IT!

Sometimes it's almost as if Monk lives inside of this band, but so convincingly so that you revel in it. Search this one out.

Mikkel Mark Trio Featuring Luther Thomas, 2007

Freebop is not bebop. That's obvious I suppose. Freebop often uses the bebop repertoire and sometimes the changes. Freebop may reference bebop lines in the course of the improvisations. But freebop takes the music past bebop in ways that would probably have gotten many players kicked off the bandstand if they had played some of those lines/harmonies at Mintons back in the day. And of course the players are not trying to play bebop as much as they are commenting on the form and making something new of it.

This is what runs through my head as I listen to the Mikkel Mark Trio Featuring Luther Thomas (JaZt TAPES CD-028). It's a 2007 live date from Copenhagen featuring Mark on piano, Thomas on alto, Guffi Pallesen, bass, and Kresten Osgood at the drums.

The band runs through some bop and beyond classics, "Straight No Chaser" and "Groovin' High" but also "All Blues" and "Equinox." What we get is a nicely loose blowing session with a solid rhythm section. Luther Thomas is in very good form, coming up with some blazing lines and going at it with conviction. Mikkel Mark comps sparingly and with expansive harmonic sensibilities and solos in a sparse, super-monkish way much of the time.

It may not be a recording that will set the jazz world aflame this year, but it is quite enjoyable and shows all in a nice place. Go to http://www.janstrom.se/6.-recordings/6.3.-jazt-tapes-6267605 to find out more about this release and the JaZt TAPES series in general.

Igor Lumpert Trio, Innertextures Live

Igor Lumpert's well-conceived tenor improvisations, Christhopher Tordini's virtuoso bass anchorage and Nasheet Wait's fire-y and accomplished drum statements are on full display for their live at the 52nd Ljubljana Jazz Festival set in 2011, recorded and released as Innertextures Live (Clean Feed 257).

It's first-rate post-bop, seven Lumpert blowing vehicles that give the set a very contemporary slant. The three are most definitely inspired to do their best, a swinging, forward lurching six-legged improvisational creature of delight.

Tordini and Waits meld into classic tight-loose propulsiveness and stay there throughout. Igor lets loose with inspired improvisations that show influences as diverse as Rollins and Rivers, yet grounded in pure Lumpert.

It's a hell of a nice go. Happy surprise! Good listening.

Rich Halley 4, Back From Beyond

The Rich Halley 4 continue to evolve and develop nicely, as can be heard in their latest, Back From Beyond (Pine Eagle 004). With them this time is the West Coast trombone notable Micheal Vlatkovich, of whom of course we have heard a good deal of on these pages over time.

He joins Rich's tenor, Clyde Reed's bass and Carson Halley's drums for a lively set of freebopping. These are good blowing vehicles by Halley and a few collective comps by the band. There are a couple of loose funk numbers that stay within the wide groove open horn style of the more swingtime oriented numbers.

Rich and Michael both work well together in tandem, with chemistry aiding and abetting the inspiration. Rich and Michael sound excellent and Clyde and Carson set up the music well with a very together stance.

This has become one of the more important free-freebop outfits on the West Coast and this album gives you plenty of reasons why. Give it your attention and it will give back!

Jerry Granelli Trio, Let Go

From veteran ace drummer Jerry Granelli comes a nice trio outing, Let Go (Plunge 00638). Jerry is on drums and sounds loose and swingingly nuanced; Simon Fisk doubles on contrabass and cello and fills an important melodic and rhythmic role, plus he's excellent with a bow or pizz; and there is Danny Gore on tenor, baritone and soprano. He's his own man.

All the numbers are co-written by the entire trio and have memorability and plenty of musicality. The pieces, perhaps because all three had a hand in them, flow naturally in terms of composition-arrangement and improvisation.

For several numbers they are joined by Mary Jane Lamond on vocals. She has a playfulness to her vocalizing, a good sound and adds quite a bit to the mix when she is present.

This is post-bop at its loose but focused best. The trio, with or without Ms. Lamond, is a winner. Well worth hearing!

Alan Rosenthal, Just Sayin'

I wasn't very intimate with the music of pianist-composer Alan Rosenthal before his new CD Just Sayin' (self-released) crossed my desk. Now I most certainly am!

He meshes together with the great bass and drums of Cameron Brown and Steve Johns, respectively, and lets loose.

He has affinities, certainly, with middle-period Paul Bley and early-mid Keith Jarrett. And a touch of Bill Evans. But he goes his own way with that to create a very inventive set of performances. It's new-bop, free-bop, bop-be going on in the best sense.

The compositions pop, the band swings brilliantly and Alan creates some very choice pianism. It's all there: touch, striking voicings, lines of originality and some very groovy Cameron and Steve.

Eight Rosenthal originals plus the old "Red, Red Robin" as a change up make for a very listenable set.

It's an extraordinarily nice trio outing that will make you happy if you seek something in the modern vein that is NOT shopworn.

Jason Stein Quartet, "The Story This Time"

This time out bass clarinetist Jason Stein puts together a program of jazz-ahead standards by Tristano, Monk, Konitz and Marsh and leavens them with five compositions of his own.

The quartet flows over with some of Chicagoland's best in a freebop mood-mode: Keefe Jackson on tenor and contrabass clarinet, an excellent counterpart on the front line; then there's the ace rhythm section of Joshua Abrams and Frank Rosaly. They can swing strongly or free it up as called for.

The band has established a definite synchronous central point to gather round and they spin in and out of its orbit as the spirit and tenor of a particular piece warrants. Jason and Keith's soloing embodies that tendency with a vengeance; nicely on display throughout are their own personal stylistic traits, which do stand out from the pack. Both can play with fire and originality, and they do most definitely here.

It's one of the best Chicago dates this season. It gives notice that Jason Stein has flowered. It's a goody you should not miss.

The Bebop Trio Takes A Tradition and Makes it Personal

You hear a name like the Bebop Trio and you think, "Oh, OK, I think I know what this one is going to sound like." In the case at hand, you'd probably be wrong. The trio's self-titled debut (Creative Nation Music 018) is not at all the business-as-usual rehashed bebop bag. It has an unusual instrumentation: Lefteris Kordis on piano, Alec Spiegelman, clarinet, and Thor Thorvaldsson on the drums. They alternate spontaneous improvisations with unusual treatment of some terrific and mostly neglected classics: Powell's "Celia," Shearing's "Conception," Hope's "Boa," Ellington's "Zurzday," Nichols's "Change of Season," and Tristano's "317 East 32nd."

Comparisons are inevitable with clarinetist Don Byron's Ivey Divey, an album that featured Byron, Jason Moran and Jack DeJohnette in a program of Lester Young associated music. There IS some relation between the two. But the Bebop Trio hold their own because they are saying something of their own.

What is so interesting about this group is how they combine freely articulated improvisations with bop styles and even swing. They do it very creatively. Some of the early-mid Giuffre trios come to mind, for the obvious presence of Spiegelman's limpid clarinet, the open spacious sort of approach, and also Kordis's sometimes apparent similarity to Paul Bley in his freely rubato reworking of bop. But again, there is enough different that you only recognize the lineage.

Thorvaldsson's drumming is open, creative and both rhythmically and coloristically distinct. He plays an important role in getting an uninhibited rhythmic asymmetry into the mix. Then there's the interplay between the three, which is fabulous. Both Kordis and Spiegelman have something definite to say on their instruments and they benefit greatly from the open-ended format.

The treatment of the classic bop pieces works seamlessly into the free improvisations that frame them.

This is exceptional music, a true breath of new life. These are players that need to be heard. You can help that along by listening. I think you'll be very glad you did.

Barcelona Holiday: Some Hip Piano Trio Music from Sperrazza-Sacks-Kamaguchi

If you dig a modern piano-bass-drums trio playing in a freebop zone, Barcelona Holiday (Fresh Sound New Talent 373) will get you feeling happy. The session came about while Jacob Sacks (piano), Masa Kamaguchi (bass) and Vinnie Sperrazza (drums) were gigging in Barcelona. They were obviously ready to record and Fresh Sound was there to give them a studio date.

Barcelona Holiday finds the trio tackling some familiar and less-familiar classics: Thad Jones' "Three in One," Monk's "Ugly Beauty," Parker's "Yardbird Suite", Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm" and "I Loves You Porgy," Ornette's "When Will the Blues Leave," and so on.

These are tunes that for the most part have been played and well-played by many. A challenge to make them ring out anew? Yes. But Sacks and company do that. They do it by the sheer joy of improvisation, the playful stretching of boundaries of time and space, the sheer exuberance of a nicely swinging ensemble picking through some choice solo possibilities and nailing it.

It doesn't matter who their influences have been. They are making first-class jazz that has the mark of immediacy, of in-the-moment improvisation that works because everybody goes to good places as a group and as soloists.

Occasionally I wonder (in a panicky sort of way) if the attention to tradition that we have seen so much of since around 1980 is degenerating into a school of manners, of etiquette, of sameness that some jazz programs seem to produce. I sometimes wonder if hearing the music has become like watching a school of fish swimming in synchronicity, darting here and there but as a unit, no one fish making much difference one way or another. I worry. Then I hear CDs like this and I feel better. Schooled these three are, yes. But they are not behaving like they are part of a school of fish. They go their way, with their own directional compass.

So for that and other reasons hinted at above I recommend this disk. I hope these three continue together and we get to hear more, that we get to appreciate future developments that will be in store for these players if they continue as they are going!

Stephen Gauci, Notable Tenor Saxist and Bandleader

Stephen Gauci has one of those well-developed, well-burnished freebop tenor sax styles. He has been making a number of records under his own name and with the Michael Bisio group, mostly for CIMP Records. We've looked at some of them on this and the other Gapplegate Blogs.

Today we consider his Absolute, Absolutely (CIMP), a quartet date recorded a few years ago but no less current for it. The CD provides a long, generous set of music that shows Gauci at his best, as player and as a writer of originals. With him is a crack group of associates: there's Nate Wooley on trumpet, who has little by little created a commanding position among New York based trumpeters of the freebop stripe; the very seasoned, extraordinarily capable Ken Filiano holds the bass chair and teams with drumming vet Lou Grassi, a man who swings infectiously and coaxes a wide spectrum of sounds and attack weights from his kit in the free-er sections.

This is Gauci's show, though, and he turns in a set of performances that demonstrate ably his utter command and inventiveness on the sax family's big brother. He can be robust, bursting with energy and musical ideas, or subdued, spinning phrases that cajole Nate Wooley to counter with equally interesting musical sounds.

This is new jazz of the best sort and there is much to hear, appreciate and revel in. Absolute, Absolutely is absolute in setting the standard for a well-schooled, exhilarating brand of new jazz.

Check out the details by going to http://www.cadencebuilding.com, then clicking on the CIMP section.

Drummer Mike Reed Helps Define Modern Chicago Jazz

Today, more interesting new Chicago jazz, this time headed by drummer Mike Reed and his People, Places & Things ensemble. About Us (482 Music) brings to light the second in a projected three disk trilogy covering a kind of homage to Chicagoland's rich jazz history.

Reed is joined by Greg Ward on alto, Tim Haldeman on tenor and Jason Roebke on bass, capable players all. This is music with a pulse, freebop excursions made to jell by Mike Reed's compositional vehicles. Three cuts feature some prominent guests: "Big and Fine" highlights the playing and writing prowess of tenorist David Boykins; "Big Stubby" brings in trombonist Jeb Bishop to the same end; and "Days Fly By" spotlights the guitar and pen of Jeff Parker (who we have recently encountered in Fred Anderson's 80th birthday recording--see below).

With or without the guests, Reed's gathering delivers potent, excitingly spontaneous improvisations with an incandescent rhythm section foundation. If someone were to ask me, "What is going on in Chicago jazz today?" I would unhesitatingly refer them to this recording, among others. It is a joy to hear.

Appealing Raw Avant Freebop from The Other Tet

The Other Tet? Yes. It's Bill Lowe (perhaps aptly) on the bass trombone and tuba, diving into the murky depths of those instruments with a burry sound that provides atmosphere as well as soul. On the tuba, a modern-day Ray Draper comes to mind; on the bass trombone he plays with raw poise. Taylor Ho Bynum works the trumpet and flugelhorn. He has the flurry of a modern day Don Cherry and has established himself as one of the first-call out trumpeters these days. Joe Morris walks and prevaricates on the upright bass in just the right combintion. Drummer Kwaku Kwaakye Obeng has a marvelous sounding set and evokes swing and exuberantly out percussiveness in alternation.

All this can be heard to good advantage on their recent self-titled CD on Engine. It has the direct appeal of some of the early "new thing" recordings made around New York in the mid-sixties. There's nothing slick here. It assumes the swingingly hard bopping quartet, then dismantles each playing role in such a congregation by creative deconstruction.

All the tunes have some good gritty torque, with the exception of "Cold Day Cup," which overworks the two-line motif but goes along nicely between those head segments.

All in all this is fine freebop. It churns, blusters, gives out with a belly laugh, then sets the studio on fire, only to go on to dampen the flames for a thoroughly musical clean up. I hope they record and gig together often. They have a nice sound.