Joe McPhee, Sonic Elements, for Pocket Trumpet and Alto Saxophone

Joe McPhee has become a kind of legend for his very productive career making great improvised music under his own name and with Trio X. He is one of the very few (Bennie Carter being the first?) that can hold his own on both trumpet and saxophone. But the point of interest is of course what he plays on the instruments, not just that he plays both well.

He does not record as unaccompanied soloist with any frequency, excepting spaces here and there within ensemble contexts, so an entire solo album is welcome. We have just that in Sonic Elements (Clean Feed 278) and I have been listening closely.

It's comprised of two segments, each lasting around 20 minutes. The first is for pocket trumpet, the second for alto sax. "Episode One" is for Don Cherry, "Episode Two" for Ornette Coleman.

That makes sense of course since Maestro McPhee comes out of a modern improvisational lineage that recognizes both as important "ancestors", so to speak. And anyone who listens to the new jazz with any seriousness knows the importance of the two artists to what follows.

McPhee combines an absorbed attention to the sound element of both instruments for some invigorating abstractions but he also makes both instruments "sing" in song-like ways, and that is part of the McPhee approach in general so it should not surprise us.

Nonetheless he comes across here as very focused, very committed, and very much worth hearing. This is music minus nothing. Joe McPhee is the complete artist.

Recommended.

Keith Jarrett, Concerts, Bregenz, Munchen, 1981

If you've listened carefully enough and across the board historically to Keith Jarrett's solo piano recordings, you've no doubt seen patterns emerging. Perhaps you can divide them up into three periods, with the first ending in 1981, the second covering the rest of the '80s and at least part of the '90s, and etc.

There are the sorts of improvisations he did and still does, and some he doesn't do as much now, and finally things he does now he mostly didn't then. There are those gospel-voiced rousers, there are romantic harmonic improvisations that could be from the time of Liszt, there are outnesses, there are the hypnotic trance repetitions, there are rockers, there are funk boogie-woogie take offs that go where only Keith would take them (but of course are imitated these days too), there are standards, mostly in the later period, and other things besides. He has of course made a huge impact over the years with these solo performances. There have been plenty of lesser imitators, some straying into new age, and there have been those who have taken the influence to places of their own. But aside from Cecil Taylor, no one has had such a dramatic impact on the scene. Keith and Cecil are two poles in a magnetic field that of course is still as powerful as ever. At least that's how I look at it.

If you count the first period ending in 1981, then his Concerts, Bregenz, Munchen could be the culmination of that period. The original release covered all the Bregenz and a brief part of the Munchen concerts. Now we have a reissue in 3-CDs that for the first time covers the complete Munchen concert as well (ECM B0019483-02).

I tend to gravitate toward this period, the initial Facing You onwards to this end point. Not that I do not appreciate the later solo improvisations, but there is a peak to be heard in those days that was not duplicated as much as it all changed up and Keith in part began exploring some other territories.

With the now complete three-part version of Concerts we can hear the expressive highs, a little of the transitional tentativeness, but mostly the very satisfying brilliance that put him so much to the forefront in those days.

Now would I like to hear Keith perform again in a quartet? A big band? Do more orchestral works again? Well, sure I would. But whether or not he does that I still find his solo work totally compelling. I don't feel satiated even if there is an awful lot of it out there. Concerts would be one to hear even if you have no inclination to become a solo Jarrett completist.

It may not be his absolute best--but then I would be hard-pressed to chose only one or two. It's up there with prime examples of that period. So if you do spring for it, and you know what to expect, I sincerely doubt you'll be disappointed. He was (and is) brilliant. That initial take off and flight was an exciting moment for him and for audiences. You can hear that on these sides.

Elton Dean, Remembrance, 2004

Throughout his life saxophonist Elton Dean had a varied number of associations and styles in which he worked with a sureness and mastery very rare. Whether straight-ahead with Harry Beckett, jazz-rock and beyond with the Soft Machine lineups, or just plain out, he did it all with grace, poise and fire.

As far as the out side is concerned you are well served by a new two-CD set of an unreleased session from 2004, appropriately titled Remembrance (No Business NBCD 59/60). Dean and a very able quartet give us extended outings. Elton plays the alto, the incandescent Paul Dunmall takes up the tenor, Paul Rogers smokes the acoustic bass, and the ever-stoking Tony Bianco gets at the drums.

It's a sort of round-robin set. Paul takes the first number with rhythm, the full quartet goes at it for the second, the rhythm section takes it alone in the third segment and Elton joins them for a trio on the fourth.

It's free-out jazz wall-to-wall with lots of inspiration and fire. It is a testament certainly for Elton's way with this form, but Dunmall, Rogers and Bianco sound fabulous as well.

All I can say is you need to hear this one!

Ran Blake & Jon Hazilla, Kaleidoscope

Ran Blake, avant legend pianist, rarely records with drummers. I am scratching my head to remember one. It's a matter of what he sets out to do I suspect, and the drummer needs to fit in. As it happens he does appreciate Jon Hazilla as the right drummer for his music. He recorded a duet, Kaleidoscope (CIMP 391), with him a little while back and it's out.

Jon is no stranger to Cadence/CIMP, having recorded a number of good things in his own right for the labels. I still have a copy of his first LP and have appreciated him for some time as a sort of "thinking person's drummer". He graduated from New England Conservatory and no doubt initially impressed Ran at that point.

The duo gets an excellent rapport throughout. There are a few solo drum spots interspersed in the progam, most notably "Monk's Drum Dream" where Jon channels Frankie Dunlop's brilliant drum melodics with Monk and extends them even further. Ran counters with a couple of very nice solos of his own.

Beyond that Jon shows you why Ran appreciates his playing. The two really strike it off and Hazilla brings a sensitivity toward Ran's stylistic personality that is nothing if not striking. Maestro Blake comes through as his usual inventive, adventurous self, playing some notable originals (which he hasn't done a great deal of lately) and reworking standards, harmonically, melodically and otherwise, in brilliant ways that give the songs a very original, personal stamp.

In the end we have one beautiful set with Hazilla inspired and seemingly inspiring Ran Blake for some fabulous music. Grab this one!

Jose Rizo's Mongorama, Baila Que Baila

We're levitating over the floorboards this morning with some more fine Latin Jazz. As the opening strains of Baila Que Baila (Saungu 004) waft over my cheesy computer music system I want to dance. But no, I must type. The band is Jose Riza's Mongorama. It's their second. Charanga-jazz modern style by a large band kicks up some dust here and I must type, not dance.

Needless to say Mongo Santamaria has influenced them. When they get the violin, flute, horns, piano, percussion, bass and vocals going, you fall into it without reflecting on influence. The vocalists are very good. There are a couple of songs in English and one is better than the other. Spanish sounds percussive when the vocalists go at it. English doesn't always have that hitting it quality. But no matter; we are talking about twelve kickers and in the end it makes no difference to the quality of this disk.

These folks are on it!

Pete McGuinness, Voice Like A Horn

Not everything is known. We don't know everything. And sometimes, we learn just by hearing. Take singer-trombonist Pete McGuinness and his CD Voice Like A Horn (Summit 609). You look at the cover, you have no idea what is inside. Could be anything. But then you listen. Hey!

Pete McGuiness is a real-deal jazz singer in the tenor register and a very decent trombonist-arranger, too. The album has roots in classic bop and after, the horns and rhythm section give out with the good stuff. But above it is Pete the singer. At first you think Chet Baker, because it's that register and a little gentleness at times like Chet. But, no, the cat has a bell-like tone when he gets working. He phrases and scats beautifully and the arrangements are hip.

We are talking mostly classic songbook songs here. But the arrangements and singing put it where it should be, a launching pad for jazz-ness.

I don't like every singer I hear, of course. They must have that something that puts them over. Pete McGuinness has that something! I mean it. Listen to this guy.

Bob Dorough, Duets

Bob Dorough prevails, he flourishes, still. The one singer Miles agreed to record with at the height of his powers? Bob Dorough. A singer-songwriter supreme in the jazz realm, he may not always get the attention he deserves. Even now. But you know what? That is their problem, not ours.

So here is new Bob Dorough, released in the middle of last year but a few months aren't going to matter. It's a set of Duets (self-released) of Bob and a bunch of game folks. Proceeds benefit the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts Festival (COTA), and that's great.

What most counts is Bob still sounds very good and his songs, many I do not know, are front and center along with that stinging wit. The duets are with such as the New York Voices (a nice version of "Devil May Care"), Nellie McKay, Janis Siegel and etc.

The ever-young hipness of Dorough comes through here, and plenty of classic and potential classic tunes from the uniquely Doroughian way of looking at it all. The musicians are doing the jazz thing for real. The singers that join with him give each a special spin but it's really still all about Dorough. And that is something to be about!

Get this and support a great cause. To buy a copy go to http://bobdoroughduets.com/buy/cd/bob-dorough-duets-cd-detail