Tag Archives: Music

In 1961, Sun Ra (born Herman Poole Blount in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1914) moved his core band from Chicago to New York. The first album he recorded there, The Futuristic Sounds reveals a slim eight-piece Arkestra bridging swing and bop and Sonny’s rising imaginative and prescient of freer types, offbeat constructions, and extra open, if not but vastly cosmic, areas. His acoustic piano enjoying is pleasant, his rhythm part of bassist Ronnie Boykins, drummer Willie Jones, and conga participant Leah Ananda is firmly grounded, and his horn part—Bernard McKinney (trombone, euphonium), Marshall Allen (alto sax, flute, and modified shakuhachi), John Gilmore (tenor sax, bass clarinet), and Pat Patrick (baritone sax)—reveals indicators of transferring from Ellingtonian/Don Redman-esque tightness towards extra excited expressiveness. Ricky Murray’s vocal on Victor Young’s “China Gates” and accents and jams on bells, chimes, wooden blocks, and claves set the stage for later growth of Ra’s sonic palette. Packaged with producer Tom Wilson’s authentic liner notes, new essays by Ben Young and Irwin Chusid, and Harvey’s trippy cowl artwork, the binaurally recorded music just isn’t solely accessible as barely edgy mainstream jazz, however on this 180-gram vinyl kind, with analog remastering by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, is offered with luxurious readability.

The publish Sun Ra: The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

For his second WJ3 launch and sixteenth as a frontrunner, veteran tenor saxophonist/composer/educator Gregory Tardy went into the studio with trumpeter Marcus Printup, pianist Keith Brown, bassist Sean Conly, and label proprietor/drummer Willie Jones III to carry out eight Tardy originals. Tardy, who carried out within the teams of jazz greats Elvin Jones and Andrew Hill within the early 90s, writes compositions that transfer in stunning instructions, however they at all times keep their sense of swing. The up-tempo opener, “The Omnipresent Cardiologist,” begins with a trumpet and tenor collective improvisation; then, after the melody is said and a piano solo is performed, the trumpet and tenor commerce choruses. “For Deacon Rocky” and “A Tree and Its Fruit” are each medium tempo, however with completely different distinctive melodies. Primarily a tenor saxophonist, Tardy options his first instrument, the clarinet, on the medium waltz “The Intelligent Design” and doubles the bass line with bass clarinet on the funk-oriented title observe.  The nearer, “Janel’s Love Song,” is a stunning ballad tribute to Tardy’s spouse. All of the musicians had been up for the date, and it’s good to listen to Printup, a Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra member, on a small group recording. This is one other high quality recording of recent acoustic jazz on the WJ3 label.

The submit Gregory Tardy: Sufficient Grace appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

A bona fide tenor titan for these instances, Allen’s brawny tone and assertive assault have fueled 16 albums as a pacesetter since his auspicious debut in 1999, In Search Of. On his eleventh Savant launch, Allen continues looking along with his long-time rhythm tandem of bassist Gregg August and drummer Rudy Royston. They are joined on this potent outing by guitarist Charlie Hunter, who brings a gutbucket sensibility to bear on bits of Americana like “You Don’t Know Me” (a rustic tune written by Eddy Arnold and popularized in 1962 by Ray Charles) and the normal non secular “This Word Is a Mean World,” which has Hunter dealing in a uncommon show of Delta-flavored slide guitar. Allen’s earthy and evocative originals, “Up South” (a nickname for his hometown Detroit) and “Down South” (a reference to Mississippi), discover the chief unleashing with muscular abandon towards a mesmerizing backdrop. Other Allen originals like “The Werk Song,” “Hammer and Hoe,” and “Irene (Mother)” reveal the depth of the quartet’s bluesy groupthink whereas three stirring trio numbers (sans Hunter)—“Jackie and Johnny,” “Mickey and Mallory,” and the mournful ballad “A Mouthful of Forevers”—showcase the saxophonist stretching in additional meditative environment.

The submit JD Allen: Americana Vol. 2 appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava has a manner of casting a spell together with his golden-toned, less-is-more strategy to his instrument. Joining Rava within the studio with pianist Fred Hersch, one other hopeless romantic with a lyrical bent and an adventurous sense of making off the cuff, was an impressed notion. While Rava’s luminous flugelhorn carries the lion’s share of the melody work right here, Hersch animates this duo session with creative orchestration that’s stuffed with humor, grace, and verve. They set an intimate tone with a romantic opener, Jobim’s “Retreat em Banco e Preto,” earlier than delving into extra darkly dissonant territory on the freewheeling “Improvisation,” which includes some playful call-and-response between flugelhorn and piano. The duo’s jauntily swinging rendition of “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You” finds Hersch channeling his interior Chick Corea whereas the title monitor, an oft-covered jazz customary that’s typically swung in uptempo vogue, opens with an exploratory, deconstructionist aesthetic earlier than settling into a wonderful balladic studying of the Jerome Kern traditional. Other highlights embrace Hersch’s participating “Child’s Song,” the duo’s extremely impressionistic studying of Thelonious Monk’s “Misterioso,” and Hersch’s deeply introspective solo piano rendition of Monk’s “’Round Midnight.”

The publish Enrico Rava/Fred Hersch: The Song Is You appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

This soundtrack to a current documentary on the world’s most recorded bassist finds Carter interacting with Germany’s WDR Big Band, guitarists Bill Frisell and Russell Malone, fellow bassists Christian McBride and Stanley Clarke, and pianists Renee Rosnes and Jon Batiste. Produced and directed by Peter Schnall for his Partisan Pictures, the accompanying soundtrack was issued as a CD/double-vinyl recording by the Germany-based In+Out Records. Most affecting listed below are an imposing interpretation by the WDR of Carter’s “Doom Mood” (titled merely “Mood” on Miles Davis’ 1965 traditional, E.S.P.) and a young efficiency of “Flamenco Sketches” (from 1959’s Kind of Blue) by Carter’s working quartet of Rosnes, tenor saxophonist Jimmy Greene, and drummer Payton Crossley. Clarke kicks it on electrical bass with Carter and guitarist Malone on Milt Jackson’s “Bag’s Groove,” and Frisell joins the bass nice for an intimate duet on Gershwin’s “My Man’s Gone Now.” The album closes on a jaunty notice with an impromptu duet studying of “Sweet Lorraine” by the 85-year-old bassist and 34-year-old pianist Batiste. Given the completely different venues between 2014 and 2021, the sound high quality varies from observe to trace. But the spirit is powerful all through.

The publish Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes appeared first on The Absolute Sound.