Alive
John Pulchiele Ensemble
Independent (johnpuchieleensemble.bandcamp.com/album/alive)

Alive is the seventh recording by John Puchiele Ensemble. Created by the eponymous Toronto composer/performer, it was made during the past year when he was ill with cancer and during his subsequent treatment. His personal music here is not overly dramatic or intense but instead is very ambient, minimalist, reflective and at times powerful. His orchestral, electronic, contemporary classical, new age soundscape is composed, performed and mixed to perfection, all by him.

Opening track, I’m Alive is a superb introduction to the unique storytelling orchestral music here. It starts with a quiet, “distant,” haunting held note drone. Then fast repeated flutelike warbling detached lines set a contemplative yet powerful sound. Other contrapuntal lines join in with louder, slightly accented and lower in pitch music. The tempo is fast, yet the hypnotic repeated note lines are calming until they gradually disappear to a decrescendo fast ending, like it’s time to rest … 

Still begins quietly as slow held harmonic notes slightly move in a comforting, and not boring, manner.  An arpeggiated and slightly louder and higher pitched middle section leads to crescendo to end. In is an under two-minute track with the same held note, calming orchestral drone idea. Slightly moving higher pitches add a positive emotional tint to the listening colour.

Puchiele has done phenomenal work here. His knowledge of synthesizers has made his music gorgeous. Each note has been performed with his in-depth ability to layer sounds that are clear and resonating after mixing. This is memorable ambient “orchestral” music.

Listen to 'Alive' Now in the Listening Room

Anna Thorvaldsdottir - Ubique
Claire Chase; Cory Smythe; Katinka Kleijn; Seth Parker Woods
Sono Luminus SL | Editions DSL-92280 (sonoluminus.com/sonoluminus/ubique)

“Ubique" is a Latin word meaning "everywhere" (and even at every time too). But Ubique is also recording of works by the brilliant Icelandic composer Anna S. Þorvaldsdóttir (or Anna Thorvaldsdottir to the English-speaking world), which has added layers of meaning because of its all-star cast: a stellar quartet led by the generational wundkerkind and Princess Royal of the flute family: Claire Chase. 

Chase has done, for the flutes, what Steve Lacy did for Sidney Bechet’s beloved soprano saxophone; what Jimi Hendrix did for the guitar and Dame Evelyn Glennie has done for orchestral percussion. Like them Chase has revolutionised the flute family, changing the range and scope of each variant, vocalising the instrument by projecting throat and chest voices through the flute, employing pizzicato and percussive multiphonics. In short Chase can sound like a whole wind section.

The 45-minute Ubique was commissioned for the tenth cycle of Chase’s Density 2036 project, a 24-year initiative to create new repertory for the flute, to commemorate the centennial of Edgard Varèse’s seminal 1936 flute solo Density 21.5. On this iteration Chase is in vaunted company with the extraordinary pianist Cory Smythe, and prodigious cellists Katinka Kleijn and Seth Parker Woods. 

Added to that is the expressive lyricism, spectral mystique, and richly refined humanity of Thorvaldsdottir’s ingenious work, and here’s an album that’s nothing short of miraculous.

Pas de Trois
Venticordi (oboe, violin, piano, viola)
Navona Records nv6680 (navonarecords.com/catalog/nv6680)

Since 2009, oboist Kathleen McNerney and violinist Dean Stein, artistic directors of Portland, Maine-based VentiCordi Chamber Music, have discovered and performed neglected works involving their instruments. Joining them on this, VentiCordi’s debut CD, are pianist Pamela Mia Paul and violist Susan Dubois.

Pas de Trois for oboe, violin and piano by Pulitzer Prize-winning American Ned Rorem (1923-2022) is a kaleidoscope of changing moods and vividly contrasted instrumental colours. Its six movements encompass a melancholy serenade; an aggressive, syncopated dance; a fanciful ambulation; a sentimental waltz; a wild scramble; echoes of Satie’s Gymnopedies and a bubbling finale, mildly spiced with piquant discords. It’s all very entertaining.

In 1938, the Jewish Hans Gál (1890-1987) left his now Nazi-occupied native Austria, settling in Edinburgh. There, in 1941, he composed his Trio for Oboe, Violin and Viola, Op.94, nostalgic music recalling happier times. The gentle, folk-flavoured Pastorale is followed by Intermezzo grazioso, a light-hearted, occasionally wrong-footed folk dance. Intermezzo agitato is hardly “agitated,” merely suggesting clouds gathering amid the sunshine. Introduzione. Meditation on a Scottish Tune begins pensively before a set of variations on a traditional melody ends Gál’s grateful tribute to his newly-adopted land.

Air, Variations & Finale for oboe, violin and piano by Birmingham-born Dorothy Howell (1898-1982) is very much in the British folk-inspired idiom. With the oboe in the forefront, the music is successively reflective, cheerful, sprightly, plaintive, rollicking, languid, ponderous, disquieted, jaunty, rhapsodic and triumphant. It’s really quite a trip!

Mary Kouyoumdjian - Witness
Kronos Quartet
Phenotypic Recordings PR-2501-CD (marykouyoumdjian.com/discography.html)

Is the proverbial darkness and despair of Armenian history so all-pervasive that it is impossible for anyone to escape it? Listening to this music by the Armenian American Mary Kouyoumdjian entitled Witness, performed by the legendary Kronos Quartet, you have not lived if you have not lived through the wailing – and the silence – of the Armenian Genocide during the early 20th century. Nor will you ever be the same if you live through what Kouyoumdjian and Kronos have recreated (lyrically and musically) to memorialise it. 

This is music that is brilliantly – and disturbingly – paced. It has all the constituent parts of a Homeric epic beginning with the feathered oracle – the Gourng (an Armenian crane) – a feathered messenger in the tradition of the antediluvian birds once believed to have been released by the proto-historic Noah to bring the good news after the great flood.

The second piece – Bombs of Beirut – puts to wildly agitating music the first near-annihilation of Beirut. This thundering three-part suite builds up to the monumental architecture of Silent Cranes, a return to the featured Armenian messenger (the Gourng). Only this time, in a stunning, relentless crescendo the Kronos pit their agitated strings against the voices of old women and men who have survived that massacre only to tell of its devastation in painful detail. Celebrated Canadian auteur Atom Egoyan’s superb booklet notes and Osheen Harruthoonyan’s foreboding cover photograph are masterful contributions.

Scott Brickman - Baltic Sketches (collected symphonies 2006-2020)
Various Orchestras
Navona Records nv6698 (navonarecords.com/catalog/nv6698)

American composer/music and education professor Scott Brickman is inspired by his Baltic and Slavic ethnic background in Baltic Sketches, his five symphonies composed between 2006 and 2020.

The three movement Symphony No.5 (2019) is influenced by his experiences with Latvian culture and history. Latvian folk songs, dances and Lutheran music inspire first movement Allegro con Spirito, with its loud, fast and dramatic sections employing the full orchestra. The attention grabbing rhythmic percussion parts and dance-along feel contribute to its accessibility.  There is gentle, slower tonal melody and accompaniment in Cantabile (Valse Melancholique). Energetic loud effects in Energico with shifting meters, textures and a crashing percussive full orchestral ending.

The four movement Symphony No.1 (2006) is based on neoclassical 12-tone rows. Brickman writes that it “tells a story of a struggle,” scored with aggressive strings and horns in the final movement.

The single movement Symphony No.4 “Restoration” (2018) is inspired by folksongs from Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine who celebrated the 100th anniversary of independence of the Baltic states in 2018. Although there are no direct musical quotations, the dramatic marching music, modern orchestration, alternating dynamics and closing high pitched held note makes for memorable listening.

Symphony No.6 Sinfonia for Wind Ensemble (2020) was composed after Brickman finished chemotherapy treatments. Diverse instrumental textures, colours, and quieter held notes add to the solemnity of the second movement Cantabile: Risoluto. 

Each symphony is performed perfectly by a different world-class orchestra. Brickman’s talented composing encompasses diverse forms and stylistic influences, which include loud, percussive sections and quieter relaxing, tonal and atonal listening.

Lei Liang - Dui
Wu Man; Steven Schick; Maya Beiser; Cho-Liang Lin; Zhe Lin; Mark Dresser; loadbang;
Islandia Music Records IMR015 (islandiamusic.com/lei-liang-dui)

The expert in the qin (seven-string zither) Dr. Liang Mingyue tell us that the Chinese word for music is yue. In its inclusive meaning, yue refers to the “arts” and to “music,” and, together with morals, law, and politics, was considered to be one of the four fundamental societal functions. The repertoire of Dui (meaning “to face”) composed by Lei Liang most certainly has a connotation so all-encompassing that this music must be listened to and understood with “big” ears. 

Such a characteristic is not necessarily the exclusive domain of only the most discerning of aficionados. However, it begs employing the heart and mind and requiring the inner ear to open, a tall ask of cultures not as ancient and erudite as that of Central/East Asia. This would explain why (for instance) the celebrated Japanese performance artist Yoko Ono is so misunderstood. Her incorporation of Noh and (aragoto or “rough style”) Kabuki into her music mean nothing to the uninitiated.

This may not be true of Lei Liang’s music – albeit the fact that some may be more difficult even for sophisticated, academically-qualified listeners. However, other works here may be more accessible. I want to go on record and say that I am besotted by the charms of this composer – not simply with word paintings such as Luminosity and Landscape V but especially the album’s apogee, Mongolian Suite which demands intensely deep listening.

Dark Moon
Holly Cole
Rumpus Room Records 0246557815 (umusic.ca/products/dark-moon)

Gifted chanteuse Holly Cole has just released her 13th studio album – a project that promises to be one of her most notable musical offerings to date. Cole serves as producer here and has also assembled a stellar coterie of musical colleagues that includes Aaron Davis on piano, George Koller on bass, Davide DiRenzo on drums, Johnny Johnson on sax as well as eminent guitarist Kevin Breit, harmonicist Howard Levy (famed member of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones), and the Nashville-inspired harmonic stylings of the Good Lovelies.

There are 11 exquisitely produced and performed tracks here, including compositions from Irving Berlin, Johnny Mercer, Bert Bacharach, Henry Mancini and Peggy Lee – all presented on a tasty platter of originality, and the highest musicianship. Steppin’ Out With My Baby is voiced at the bottom of her contralto register and supported by sweeping arco bass lines from Koller; Cole imbues this classic with a languid, contemporary eroticism. Moon River is performed with honesty and pure melodic integrity, while soulful and facile work from Davis is the icing on the cake.

Another shining gem is the moving, re-imagining of Bacharach and David’s Message to Michael. The forthright arrangement and Breit’s guitar contribution propel this Brill Building hit into a contemporary anthem of loss and longing. The rarely performed title track is a deft odyssey into Southern Swing motifs, replete with appropriate guitar support from Breit as well as vocal harmonies from the Lovelies that harken back to the incomparable Boswell Sisters. Cole’s take on the classic, Walk Away Renée is another triumph, as well as a fine piano/vocal duet featuring sublime intonation, communication and creative entanglement from Cole and Davis.

Bone Bells
Sylvie Courvoisier; Mary Halvorson
Pyroclastic Records PR 40 (sylviecourvoisier.bandcamp.com/album/bone-bells)

The title track begins with a slow, steady pulse trading hands. This pulse has a destination, and will gradually reveal itself as cyclical, but at the start, it is just the slightest notion of a march. Guitar first, and then as if flipping a switch, the piano seamlessly picks up the very next beat. One instrument creates space, one scribbles in the margins, and then this process repeats until that pulse begins to grow heavier, slower, more laboured. Finally, after almost stalling entirely, the original tempo and dynamic return, velocitizing the listener into feeling that initial interval of time as something lighter. 

The improvised passages between Sylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson begin to defy timeflow even more; melodic phrases finding subversive entry and exit points, glitches that embed themselves in the logic of everything we’re hearing. When we come to a standstill again, Courvoisier seems to always play the same piano chord that suddenly anticipates the next pulse, with Halvorson picking two notes at a time to almost illusively hold up any form of stability that is left. The piece ends with the pattern being abruptly cut short in a manner that implies perpetual continuity. What ensues is a series of increasingly intricate ideas trading hands, back and forth, down to the way the tracklist cycles back and forth between the two composers’ offerings. Always there is fullness in the spaces in between.

Gravity
Jeremy Ledbetter Trio
Canefire Records WBH003 (jeremyledbetter.com)

If you’re a musician or just have an appreciation or love for music, you know that a “sweet spot” is when a group comes to make music together, is on the same wavelength and meshes instantly. It makes for a certain kind of magic that is perceptible through the music itself. This musical phenomenon is present on highly acclaimed pianist, composer and producer Jeremy Ledbetter’s latest album. The record has recently won a JUNO for Best Jazz Recording and features Grammy-award winning drummer Larnell Lewis as well as renowned bassist Rich Brown. With a tracklist of all original compositions penned by Ledbetter himself, this exhilarating disc is one for all music-lovers to check out. 

The listener is transported into a world of fiery rhythms and searing melodies right from the first track, Flight. As the title suggests, Ledbetter’s digits “fly” over the keys with modern, captivating chords and tunes, underpinned by Brown’s tight bass line and Lewis’ complex beats. The inspiration for this album comes from Venezuelan and Trinidadian music which can be heard within the rhythms and melodies throughout each song. 

The record takes you on both a musical and cultural journey, introducing the listener to something completely new while also somehow managing to create a sense of familiarity and comfort. A truly experiential and captivating collection of tunes, we’re left wanting more and awaiting what this talented musician comes up with next.

Crossing Paths
Renee Rosnes
Smoke Sessions Records SSR-2408 (reneerosnes.bandcamp.com/album/crossing-paths)

Illustrious jazz pianist/composer Renee Rosnes has just released a recording that has been in her thoughts for more than 30 years. This formidable, Brazilian-infused project was co-produced by Rosnes and Paul Stache, and all arrangements here were created by Rosnes, embracing her unique perspective on the compositions of Edu Lobo, Egberto Gismonti, Gaetano Veloso, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Gilberto Gil and Milton Nascimento. Rosnes performs on Fender Rhodes and acoustic piano, surrounded by a stellar coterie of hand-picked co-creators, including legendary vocalist/composer Lobo, vocalist/composer Joyce Mareno and luminous chanteuse, Maucha Adnet. Noted instrumentalists here also include John Patitucci on bass, guitarist Chico Pinheiro, drummer Adam Cruz, percussionist Rogerio Boccato, saxophonist Chris Potter, trombonist Steve Davis and flutist Shelley Brown. 

The opening salvo is appropriately Gismonti’s Frevo (Fever). The tune is based on marching rhythms from the north of Brazil, and the complex, rhythmic, melodic line is presented in rapid fire, with stirring unison motifs and unfettered soloing from Rosnes and Pinheiro, while Brown’s expressive flute enhances the high-energy track. Next up is Lobo and lyricist Torquato Neto’s emotional composition Pra Dizer Adeus (To Say Goodbye), in which Neto’s poignant lyrics reflect his 1972 suicide. Previously recorded by over 75 artists, this version boasts a unison line with Rosnes in duet with Lobo’s heart-rending vocal performance. A fine inclusion is Veloso’s Trilhos Urbanos (Urban Tracks). Veloso and Gil’s importance to Brazilian music cannot be underestimated, and Davis’ facile trombone solo enhances the arrangement. Of special delight is Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes’ Canta, Canta Mais (Sing, Sing More) featuring the lovely tones and meaningful interpretation of Adnet. 

Another stand out is Lobo’s classic Casa Forte. Lobo’s vocal and the free solo sections (particularly Potter’s soprano solo) make this one of the finest contributions to this programme, but every track here is a work of art – a creative concept germinated and supremely brought to fruition by Rosnes and her colleagues.

Roots
Ostara Project
Rhea Records RR CD 00001 (ostaraproject.ca)

Without context, given song titles alone, this music still conveys so much. So much feeling, so much meaning, so much narrative, so much image, and so much life from every voice within the six-piece ensemble. However, the liner notes provide the context behind each piece and the overall vision of this album and how the pieces transform into exploratory reflections and tributes through sound. For example, the notes describe how the album’s title, Roots, takes on a double meaning, referring to honoring the foundations and experiences integral to one’s very being, while also resonating deeply with the welcoming of spring. 

Each member contributes at least one of their own sonic offerings of personal storytelling, either by composition or arrangement, and while commonality between these distinct statements could be reduced to “they sound seasonal,” the more you listen, the less reductive that actually becomes. Seasonal changes are above all else, transitional. In the case of the coldest season giving way to one very often associated with emerging colours and rebirth, that transition becomes emblematic of new ways of receiving a story. Allison Au’s 2601, Shruti Ramani’s Rajalakshmi, Rachel Therrien’s Papa and the collective improvisation Voyage Sans Retour all honour specific family members, in a way that feels transitional between remembrance and the power of stories to be retold and given new life. Meanwhile Amanda Tosoff, Jodi Proznick and Valérie Lacombe honour places, letting us see/hear for ourselves.

Dr. Purgatory - The Consumption: A Tragic Folktale in Six Parts
David Riddel; Aline Homzy; Colleen Allen; Conrad Glutch; Noah Lemish; Andrew Downing; Stefan Hegerat
Independent (drpurgatory.bandcamp.com)

Dr. Purgatory is the nom de plume of Toronto guitarist and composer David Riddel who studied at the U of T and who has figured centrally into several exciting jazz and creative music fusions in this city over the last ten or so years. 

Assembling a great band of Aline Homzy, Colleen Allen, Conrad Gluch, Noam Lemish, Andrew Downing and Stefan Hegerat, Dr. Purgatory’s second album, The Consumption (A Tragic Folktale in Six Parts) combines the influences of Reinier Baas (an Amsterdam-based guitarist and composer with whom I was unfamiliar until now), the French impressionist Maurice Ravel, and the Icelandic singer and composer Björk into an idiosyncratic, but always musically satisfying package. Over ten compositions, including a Prologue, Intermission and Epilogue, the group traverses what seems like every improvisatory chamber group subgenre. On Necropolis, exciting musicianship and well-executed unison lines between the strings and reeds are employed to great effect. Riddel’s guitar playing is marvelous throughout, and includes soaring single note lines, beautiful wide intervallic solo playing, such as the beginning of The Philistine, and genre-less musical improvisations throughout. 

Included is a short novella that relates the folktale in prose,that is explored musically on the recording so Riddel can now add author to his already impressive list of credits. The head-spinning mix of genres represented here, from Aleister Crowley to Björk to Ravel, remind me of the post-Third-Stream teaching and music of Ran Blake, who, like Riddel and company, somehow managed to coalesce a dizzying list of disparate influences into an always impressive and unified whole. I am not sure if Riddel knows Blake, but I have a feeling they would find sympatico musical and philosophical ground. A creative and thought-provoking new recording.

Mi Hogar II
Rachel Therrien Latin Jazz Project
Lula World Records LWR048A (racheltherrien.bandcamp.com/album/mi-hogar-ii)

Renowned trumpeter and flugelhornist Rachel Therrien’s newest release is a collection of tunes that contains spicy Latin and Afro-Cuban, jazz-fusion goodness. Her eighth release, a follow up to Mi Hogar I, brings together acclaimed, all-star musicians for an immersive, ear-catching musical experience that is sure to get your head bobbing and feet moving. The selection of songs features many original compositions by Therrien and a couple penned by her bandmates thrown into the mix. The album “continues her exploration of Latin jazz… reflecting Therrien’s deep connection to her musical community and the myriad influences that have shaped her sound.”

What stands out is the way in which each piece is a unique journey, evoking its own emotions and soundscapes, yet a cultural thread strings together and unites these separate “stories.” Take the tune Back Home: the listener gets a taste of various Latin and Afro-Cuban rhythms, complemented by searing piano chords and sizzling trumpet melodies, with a mid-song lengthy bass solo that captivates and dazzles. The composition is a great example of the way in which “each piece reflects Therrien’s commitment to blending traditional Latin rhythms with contemporary jazz elements.” 

Another piece to note is Beauty Free, which closes out the album on a mellow yet intriguing note, featuring beautiful vocals by Mireya and Andy Ramos. A tasty morsel that evokes the hopeful question: will there be a Mi Hogar III in the near future?

Kenny Wheeler Legacy - Some Days are Better
Royal Academy of Music Jazz Orchestra;  Frost Jazz Orchestra
Greenleaf Music (glmstore.bandcamp.com/album/some-days-are-better-the-lost-scores)

Canadian Jazz trumpeter/flugelhornist Kenny Wheeler’s position is analogous to Norman Bethune’s: more famous abroad than at home. Toronto-born Wheeler (1930-2014), who moved to the UK in 1952 was equally proficient playing commercial studio gigs; big band jazz with Johnny Dankworth and others; and free music with the likes of Anthony Braxton. He also composed intricate scores, most of which were played only once for BBC radio concerts in the 1970s.

Not really “lost,” 11 of these scores are performed by 34 musicians drawn from Miami’s Frost School of Music and London’s Royal Academy of Music. Reconstitutions of these impressionistic, quietly swinging tunes are expanded when the ensemble(s) add veteran soloists who earlier collaborated with Wheeler himself. 

The title suite for instance uses brass blasts to surround Norma Winstone’s wordless vocals both shredded and soulful, with Evan Parker’s circular breathed emphasis following contemporary electric piano jangling. Parker’s pressurized tenor saxophone is inventively matched with growls and flutters from trombonist Sam Keedy on C.P.E.P., as drum beats push the large ensemble forward; while flugelhornist Brian Lynch’s measured pitches face off with a three-saxophone choir blend on D.G.S. 

Not every track is given over to the professionals however. Maria Quintanilla’s bel canto vocal coloration on a couple of tracks, bassist Nikolas Lukassen steadying swing throughout and Some Doors Are Better Open’s gentle duet of flugelhornist Etienne Charles and tenor saxophonist Emma Rawicz confirm younger players’ skills and the continued appeal of Wheeler’s music.

Wind Forms
Greg Burk; Michel Lambert
Tonos Records (gregburk.bandcamp.com/album/wind-forms)

This idea of putting Wind Forms to music is interesting, especially when you pair piano and drums and more especially when the musicians are as adventurous as Greg Burk and Michel Lambert. The “trick” (a word used with caution so as not to denigrate the musical gestures employed here) would be to astutely meld the majestic chordal power of the piano and extend its percussive possibilities.

This seems easy thanks to the intrepid technical ingenuity of Burk. Conversely it is the extension of Lambert’s facility as a percussion colourist by finding ways to turn the rolling thunder of the drums and the hissing of cymbals into the realm of melody and harmony. These strange bedfellows coalesce in a dynamic partnership.

The disc gets off to a fiery start with Scirocco, a searing desert wind that sweeps across the sand dunes that could scorch anything in its path. Other ingenious improvisations may be heard on Aeolian Awakenings (a clever little play on an ancient mode), the darkness of the play on Hamartian (Aristote’s fatal syllogistic flaw) in which piano and drums incessantly – but brilliantly – argue musically. And then there is the majestic Zephyrus, crafted as a wall of music to recall both the Greek demi-god and winds heralding the arrival of spring. The collision of intellectuality with poetic imagery makes for a wonderful study in improvised music.