Ted Daniel's Energy Module, Interconnection, 1975, 2-CDs

Trumpetmaster avant jazz composer and leader Ted Daniel does not always get the attention he deserves. Perhaps his best known affiliation was with Dewey Redman. He appeared on Dewey's Ear of the Behearer and Coincide (Impulse) and was very crucial to the outcome of those sessions. Yet of course there has been much more.

An example of a very together small group that only existed through two gigs, Ted Daniel's Energy Module, is now available for us to hear in the freewheeling, exciting 2-CD set Interconnection (No Business CD 72-73) which was recorded live at Sunrise Studios in Manhattan in 1975.

It was a group that functioned together as part of Daniel's big band Energy. Yet this quintet was more oriented towards the full-out freedom of the big-arc improvisational approaches then flourishing among the giants of the Loft Scene. The band is exceptional and well-spoken in the presences of Ted on trumpet, flugel, etc., Daniel Carter on tenor, Oliver Lake on alto, soprano, flute, etc., Richard Pierce on bass and Tatsuya Nakamura on drums.

This is a richly energized blowing date all the way. The repertoire serves effectively to launch the improvising. It has some new thing staples in Sunny Murray's "Jiblet," Ayler's "Ghosts," Ornette's "Congeniality," plus Dewey Redman's "Interconnection," and three originals by Daniel: "The Probe," "Entering," and "Pagan Spain."

The recording is quite clear and decent, the performances inspired. Pierce and Nakamura lay out thick washes of rhythm section energy while Daniel, Carter and Lake make definitive statements both together and in individual solos.

There is nothing one-off sounding about this music. They give it their all and have a dynamic presence that belies their short official existence as a unit.

Highly recommended. Essential.

Kris Davis Trio, Waiting for You to Grow

I don't like to think in terms of gender as a rule. I feel strongly that women and men need to be heard and that means more women need to be included. But in the end I feel uncomfortable then separating them out, like I might do by introducing Kris Davis as "one of the foremost upcoming women pianists on the avant jazz scene," even though that seems true. The point is in what she does in the end. And that's what comes through on her Kris Davis Trio outing Waiting for You to Grow (Clean Feed 292).

This is serious trio music in a consistently avant mode. Kris never veers into an overtly Bley melodic-out-chordal mode nor in a Cecil Taylorian scatter style, but stays somewhere in the middle to find her own path. There are melodic-rhythmic compositional elements that have some relationship to new music classicism but again, not overtly. She sometimes moderately prepares the strings on the piano, but not in a central way.

What this is has to do with a new take on the trio as building block. There is innovation and style in what Kris, bassist John Hebert and drummer Tom Rainey do here. It is not always a matter of soloist and rhythm as it is a concerted three-part dialog at times. Yet at other times the free-trio paradigm in-and-out of time prevails without necessarily going to the typical places such trios often do. Hebert sounds great and Rainey sounds right. The three sound as their own stylistic universe.

Instead there is inventive leverage from all three, with the pianist taking the lead in ways that make you listen up. The pianism of Ms. Davis comes to us without a doubt. She is both outside-inventive and pianistically coherent at all times. And Hebert-Rainey as co-constructors make for a whole you listen to as a gestalt more than solo and background.

It's a strong showing from a pianistic talent destined no doubt to become more and more central as the years unravel. I do predict that. For now the promise is showing itself without hesitation.

Listen to this one!

Eugene Marlow's Heritage Ensemble Reimagines Popular Hebraic Melodies, Mosaica

You have to hand it to pianist-arranger-bandleader Eugene Marlow and his Heritage Ensemble. He takes Hebraic folkways and makes them into vibrant modern jazz. Who else could breathe real life into "Hava Nagila" the way he does and then let the band scorch it with a Latin fire? Well, the list would be small. Eugene Marlow is at the top. His Heritage Ensemble comes at us again on Mosaica, subtitled Marlow's Heritage Ensemble Reimagines Popular Hebraic Melodies (ME II Enterprises).

The band is as strong as ever with Eugene taking a central role in the piano chair, the ever-buoyant Bobby Sanabria playing his usual key part as the Latin sparkplug on drums and percussion, Michael Hashim a blazing presence on soprano and alto, Frank Wagner on acoustic and electric bass, Matthew Gonzalez on percussion and special guest Shira Lissek on vocals, sounding great.

The material many will recognize if they have grown up in a Jewish neighborhood and/or of course are Jewish themselves. But this is music that goes well-beyond the local to make universal significance out of it all. Then again, of course the local done well is but an instance of the universal in action. No matter. The point is that Eugene's pianism and arranging brilliance and the band's vivid talent and heat make for music EVERYBODY should hear.

Then also all should remember the horrors of Kristallnacht as a cautionary tale, something that must not happen again on whatever terms. The final piece is a heartfelt tribute to those who suffered the horrors of that night.

This is masterful. This is exciting music. The Doctor is in the house!! Don't miss it.

Fortuna / Goldsbury / Minchello / Grassi, the Last of the Beboppers

I get to hear albums these days that in the days when I had money to spend I would probably never have considered. A nice example is The Last of the Beboppers (FM 018) by Maciej Fortuna (trumpet), Mack Goldsbury (tenor sax), Mark Minchello (organ) and Lou Grassi (drums). The album features an original or two by each plus an arrangement of Bach's "Minuet in G."

It's straight-ahead all the way on this one. The compositions serve up a hard-bop stew and the players all gather their own expressive means to realize music in the tradition but originally so. Goldsbury has fire and brimstone in his tenor, Fortuna plays a hard but lyrical trumpet, Minchello gives us the Hammond sound updated and Lou Grassi drums with conviction. I've never heard Lou in this context but he sounds very comfortable and inventive, as do the others.

Do we need more straight-ahead jazz? Not just for its own sake. But when it comes across sincerely and clearly and there is something original in all they do, it is welcome. I am glad to have it and hear it.

Harris Eisenstadt, Golden State II

Harris Eisenstadt is a unique voice on the modern jazz scene. He is a composer of sophisticated smarts, a bandleader who knows how to bring out the unique qualities of the players he gathers about him, and a drummer who has his own way.

Golden State II (Songlines 1610-2) is a second volume of small group performances recorded live in 2014 at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival. The combination of five quirkily interesting avant compositions and the unique instrumentation of Michael Moore, clarinet, Sara Schoenbeck on bassoon, Mark Dresser on bass and Harris on drums gives the music a timbral openness which with the improvisational personalities of the individuals of the quartet make for a singularity we can appreciate.

There is a jazz heat and a new music explorative bent which combine in ways that define the Eisenstadt style. It is music of an obvious seriousness yet there is also a sort of post-Braxtonian sense of humor one must hear to appreciate.

And all four players give us their personal profiles in ways that evoke Duke Ellington's ability to fashion music well-suited for the individualities of his players.

It all comes together in ways that make you grow into the music steadily as you listen. Make no mistake, Eisenstadt writes some excellent ensemble jazz and the quartet comes through vividly.

Highly recommended.

Giovanni di Domenico, Alexandra Grimal, Chergui

I won't say there will be a time when I "know it all." Doing these reviews can be a humbling experience because there are so many excellent players-artists out there that I would probably know nothing about unless otherwise exposed, thanks to the labels and artists who send their work. And each has a musical world, some are very unexpected, some familiar, some in between.

An excellent example is the duo of Giovanni di Domenico and Alexandra Grimal and their 2-CD set Chergui (Ayler 141-142). I reviewed something with Giovanni on it a while ago. This is my first brush with the duo.

Alexandra is on soprano and tenor sax; Giovanni plays piano. These are compositional-free pieces, most written by di Domenico, one a collaboration, and a few by Ms. Grimal. Most are for the two together; a few are solo showcases for each artist.

The music has jazz inflections but in many ways is in a new music zone that reflects modern avant classical without necessarily embracing it. It is the "in betweenness" that sets the music off in part as exceptional. That and the fully formed qualities of the playing.

It is music to listen to closely--not background music in any sense. And the more you listen, the more there is to appreciate. There is much that is atmospheric; all has spirit but it is not a "blowing session" so much as it is a carefully thought-out articulation of musical worlds.

I must say this set impresses me greatly. If you are looking for the new and the very good-excellent, this set is that! Listen and ye shall be rewarded.

Matt Criscuolo, Headin' Out

Matt Criscuolo has been an up-and-coming sax man for a number of years. I've reviewed his albums on Cadence and here I believe. With his new Headin' Out (Jazzeria Records Matt 2014) it's fair to say that he is now there-and-going. The comparison isn't quite right but on alto he manages to capture mature Cannonball and Johnny Hodges. Again, that isn't quite true, but there is something older and something newer that he channels into Criscuoloism. The band is hot. Matt blazes forth with his alto, Tony Purrone plays a hell of a guitar, and Preston Murphy on bass and Ed Soph on drums swing like crazy.

There are good originals by Matt, one by Tony, and the not often-played standards "Little Niles' by the great Randy Weston, "Sippin at Bells" by early Miles (in a nice arrangement), and Billy Strayhorn's perennial "A Flower is a Lovesome Thing."

This is bop and after blazing with everybody in gear. Matt comes across with a sureness and that oddly old-newness. Tony has chops to spare, and....you know...swinging is the order of the day.

This one has that something strong that puts you in its pocket and keeps you there.

Matt is now an official heavy! Nice record!