Jazz and Improvised

Tippin' - Carl Allen; Christian McBride; Chriss Potter

Tippin'
Carl Allen; Christian McBride; Chriss Potter
Cellar Music 011424 (carlallen.bandcamp.com/album/tippin)

Canadian Cory Weeds’ Cellar Music is an extremely well curated label, and they’ve accomplished the commendable feat of achieving a unified sound amidst a diverse catalogue. Tippin’ is drummer Carl Allen’s first album as a bandleader in over two decades, and he’s chosen to showcase himself in an intimate trio format. Allen’s work as both a sideman and a leader features grounded and swinging aesthetics, and he’s chosen 12 unique pieces of music that allow him to shine in a playful and interactive manner.

The drummer is joined by two fellow Americans, saxophonist Chris Potter and bassist Christian McBride. They are all stalwarts of the New York jazz scene, and the album is recorded across the Hudson River at the legendary Van Gelder Studio in New Jersey. The trio becomes a quartet for Kenny Barron’s composition Song For Abdullah, when Canadian multi-instrumentalist John Lee joins the group on piano. Lee has released several albums with Cellar Music and fits right in as a guest on this uplifting number.

The trio takes advantage of contrasting sounds and textures, with Potter doubling on soprano sax and bass clarinet, and McBride contributing some immaculate bowed melodies and solos. Allen penned two of the album’s compositions, Hidden Agenda, and Roy’s Joy, a nod to the late trumpeter Roy Hargrove. These fit neatly alongside a smattering of contemporary jazz pieces and torch songs.

Charlie Parker’s Parker’s Mood is the first track of the album, and it sets the mood for what’s to come. A recording that’s simultaneously spot-on and virtuosic, but “chill” and intimate enough for a more casual jazz listener to enjoy.

Old Adam on Turtle Island - Dikeman/Hong/Lumley/Warelis

Old Adam on Turtle Island
Dikeman/Hong/Lumley/Warelis
Relative Pitch RPR 1203 (relativepitchrecords.bandcamp.com/album/old-adam-on-turtle-island)

As intense as it is international, Old Adam on Turtle Island’s two extended tracks showcase the collective skills of four Amsterdam-based players in creating modern layered improvised music. The disc is built around the seemingly inexhaustible ability of American tenor saxophonist John Dikeman to propel note bending screaming smears, split tones and altissimo shrieks with constant ferocity as rolling clips from Polish pianist Marta Warelis alternately decorate or drive the expositions. Korean drummer Sun-Mi Hong’s measured clunks or reverberations underline sequences with beats more felt than heard, while Canadian bassist Aaron Lumley divides his string sweeps between rhythmic continuity and interludes which add to the strident polyphony without upsetting linear motion.

The encounter reaches its apogee on Groove - Choral - Manifest, the second track, which is introduced by Lumley’s multi-string sul ponticello slides and stops. Superseding weighted drum ruffs and tolling keyboard clips, hefty pizzicato sweeps prod Dikeman and Warelis to filet enough discursive keyboard shakes and bellicose overblowing to reveal a moderated horizontal group finale.

With enough solid interludes to allow each musician to depict progressive and reactive skills, the session is also elevated to a definition of creative music sophistication.

Hommage à Galina Ustvolskaya - Steve Swell’s Imbued With Light

Hommage à Galina Ustvolskaya
Steve Swell’s Imbued With Light
Silkheart SHCD 166 (silkheart.bandcamp.com/album/hommage-galina-ustvolskaya)

Surrounded by a coterie of six fellow New York improvisers, trombonist Steve Swell blends these players’ tones to honour the oeuvre of Russian composer Galina Ustvolskaya (1919-2006). A unique home-grown avant-gardist whose music was often out of the Kremlin’s favour, her idiosyncratic creations are saluted by Swell and company with a nine-section suite influenced by her sound blocks and frequent triple forte sequences.

The instrumentation means that these salutes highlight more than Ustvolskaya’s favorite motifs like percussive piano dynamics played by Robert Boston or Chris Hoffman’s strained spiccato cello slices. Also highlighted are Sara Schoenbeck’s pinched bassoon undulations, which introduce Essential Workers and often harmonize with Ben Stapp’s tuba burps; as well as Harris Eisenstadt’s percussion patterning. Swell’s brass skills contribute as do Herb Robertson’s trumpet yelps, grace notes or squeaky toys which produce layered cadences on Composite #12.

With slurry honks, gutbucket snarls and speedy note bending, at times in unison with the other brass, the trombonist puts an individual stamp on such pieces as Hammer, Rocks and Toe The Wet Sprocket. Simultaneously his portamento connections with metronomic keyboard work and tuba stops confirm the tunes’ horizontal evolution – and unexpected marching band resemblances – despite frequent interludes of thematic mutation.

This CD should introduce more people to Ustvolskaya’s works and at the same time confirm how exceptional the Swell septet’s tribute to her music is since it’s created with its own distinctive sounds.

Happy Faces - Dave Robbins Big Band

Happy Faces
Dave Robbins Big Band
Reel to Real Records RTRCD015 (thedaverobbinsbigband.bandcamp.com/album/happy-faces)

The big band is often associated with being a kind of period piece of the proverbial Swing Era and we tend to forget that the best of them can come to represent the very epitome of an all-encompassing concert instrument. Truth be told this vaunted position is not only the exclusive domain of the flashiest outfits such as the Duke Ellington and Count Basie, or the Benny Goodman and Lionel Hampton orchestras either.

On this disc the redoubtable American/Canadian bandleader Dave Robbins and his illustrious colleagues explore the fire power of controlled chamber music that arises when various brass, reeds and woodwind instruments, and piano, bass and drums, are put in the hands of some quite legendary musicians. Happy Faces, the resultant album is a magisterial edifice of music in numerous lyrical and colourful contexts, each one reflecting the singular ability of each of the contributing musicians to swing with proverbial style and abandon.

Robbins (1923-2005) was a generous purveyor of musical good taste, and it is not only charts such as Have Vine Will Swing and Africa Lights that provide indubitable evidence of this. There are reasons beyond those charts to savour the disc. Fraser MacPherson’s tenor saxophone on March Winds Will Blow, and Don Clark’s trumpet solo on Asiatic Raes is another; as is Don Thompson’s tasteful contrabass on the abovementioned Have Vine Will Swing.

Released on Cellar Live’s Reel to Real label for historic performances, Happy Faces comprises Jazz Workshop broadcasts recorded at Vancouver's Cave Supper Club between 1963 and ’65. It is an elegant reminder of the swinging legacy of Dave Robbins.

On Fire: Jazz from the Blue Morocco - Freddie Hubbard

On Fire - Jazz from the Blue Morocco
Freddie Hubbard
Resonance Records HCD 2073 (resonancerecords.org/artists/freddie-hubbard)

Few jazz trumpeters have had the initial impact or sustained achievement of Freddie Hubbard. Born in 1938, he made a substantial impact in New York in 1960, in both hard bop circles and the avant-garde, recording his first date as a bandleader for Blue Note and appearing on Ornette Coleman’s landmark Free Jazz. In the following year, he joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and appeared on John Coltrane’s Olé and Africa/Brass. Merging elements of both schools in his own music, Hubbard also managed to combine the trumpet’s brassy power with the fluency of line associated with saxophonists.

On Fire is a two CD or three LP set recorded at a Bronx club called Blue Morocco in 1967. While one might lose the precise separation of a recording studio, a live recording has a special spontaneity and the real scale of a performance. Hubbard’s own contribution to the standard repertoire, the waltz Up Jumped Spring, stretches to 17 minutes, while separate traditional standards – Bye, Bye Blackbird and Summertime – combine for 40 lively minutes.

Hubbard is joined here by his regular working band, youthful musicians (ages range from 23 to 26) who would all go on to have significant careers. On Hubbard’s True Colors, he and tenor saxophonist Bennie Maupin press the envelope to explosive free jazz. Throughout pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Herbie Lewis and drummer Freddie Waits contribute to the overall excitement, making individual statements as well as supporting Hubbard’s creative energies.

Bill Evans in Norway - The Kongsberg Concert Bill Evans; Eddie Gomez; Marty Morell

Bill Evans in Norway - The Kongsberg Concert
Bill Evans; Eddie Gomez; Marty Morell
Elemental Music (elementalmusicrecords.bandcamp.com/album/bill-evans-in-norway-the-kongsberg-concert)

To say that iconic jazz pianist Bill Evans has been a profound influence on several generations of jazz pianists would be something of an understatement. Evans (who passed in 1980) emerged as a sideman on the New York scene in the 1950s, and through his work with a long list of jazz luminaries, Evans not only helped usher in contemporary jazz (with all of its modern expressions), but also perfected the Art of the Trio as we know it today. This never previously released music was originally recorded at a concert at Norway’s Kongsberg Jazz Festival in June 1970. The recording was produced for this release by “Jazz Detective” Zev Feldman. Evans is joined here by his longest-running trio – Eddie Gomez on bass and Marty Morrell on drums. This comprehensive, annotated recording includes rare interviews with Evans with extensive notes by Evans scholar Marc Myers.

The brilliantly restored programme includes a cornucopia of standards from legendary tunesmiths, and features fresh versions of two Evans compositions, 34 Skidoo and Turn Out the Stars. At the time of the performance, Evans was in a particularly positive space, which is very much apparent in the lively tempos and energy of the trio. Harold Arlen’s Come Rain or Come Shine is performed here with a free, extended bass solo by Gomez, framed by the relentless rhythm of Morell. Evans jumps in with joy, in a celebration of both the melody and its improvisational possibilities.

During What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life the audience is reverential as they experience both the sheer artistry and great sensitivity of Evans. Other standouts include an almost modal, up-tempo Autumn Leaves, a sumptuous piano performance of Denny Zeitlan’s Quiet Now and the nearly unbearable beauty of Bernstein’s Some Other Time. Every track here is a gem – and a living tutorial of how jazz should be understood and played.

Moment of Truth: Ella at the Coliseum - Ella Fitzgerald

Moment of Truth - Ella at the Coliseum
Ella Fitzgerald
Ume 602475454267 (shop.ellafitzgerald.com/products/the-moment-of-truth-ella-at-the-coliseum-digital)

Now this right here is a true discovery! On June 30, 1967 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, Ella Fitzgerald appeared with her trio, members of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and entertained a rapturous audience that inspired her deeply.

While the First Lady of Song’s voice was a few years beyond the peak of her powers, it was still a magnificent instrument at the time of this recording. She still had the bell-like tone for ballads (You’ve Changed), the sensational ability to swing like a gate (The Moment of Truth), and a childlike imagination in her scat singing (In a Mellow Tone). Most impressive is her adventurous phrasing throughout; the coda on Don’t Be That Way stretches the title phrase effortlessly into upwards of 40 notes, in what is just one of several jaw-dropping moments in the set.

The inclusion of songs never before heard in Fitzgerald’s discography make this album particularly exciting, especially the pitch-perfect version Alfie, which of course was a big hit the year before this concert, and Music to Watch Girls By, a great example of her ability to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Bye Bye Blackbird is loose as a goose with the delicious spontaneity of a late-night jam session.

Audiophiles should know that the mixing and mastering of this album are very impressive – it feels like you are right there in the audience, cheering on one of the greatest artists in jazz history.