It's that time of year when critics and reviewers create their "Best-of" lists. I am no different but I look at this group of recordings as music that informs, changes, and enhances my life and teaching. Here is the group of albums from the past year that helped me through illnesses, sadness, joy, and much change.
Miguel Zenón - "Musica De las Américas" (Miel Music) – It's no secret how much I admire the music and work of Miguel Zenón. With his long-time ensemble, composed of Luis Perdomo (piano), drummer Henry Cole, and Hans Glawischnig (bass and truly the "glue" of the band). This new album celebrates the music of Central and South America as well as the Caribbean, showing how various elements have entered into the music of the United States (and beyond). Along with the latest album by rapper Bad Bunny ("Un Verano Sin Ti"), whose music celebrates the rhythms that inspire reggaeton, the album has deep grooves, evocative melodies, and the inventive musicianship one has come to expect from Señor Zenón and company. Percussionists Paoli Mejías, Victor Emmanueli, Daniel Díaz, and the five member Los Pleneros de La Cresta each appear on one track during the eight-song program.
Enjoy the fiery "Opresión y Revolución":
Wadada Leo Smith w/ Pheroan akLaff, Andrew Cyrille, Han Bennink, and Jack DeJohnette - "The Emerald Duets" (TUM Records) – Trumpeter, composer, conceptualist, historian, and philosopher Wadada Leo Smith celebrated his 80th birthday on December 18, 2021 (meaning he just turned 81 yesterday, as I write this). The Finnish-label TUM Records celebrated that momentous occasion by issuing two multi-disc box sets by Mr. Smith, the seven-CD "String Quartets: Nos. 1-12" and the five-CD "The Emerald Duets". Both are amazing but I expect it will take many more months to truly take in the scope of the string music. Whereas five albums with drummers captured me immediately. All the sessions stand out (this is the first time Mr. Smith played with Mr. Bennink) but the two CDs feature Mr. DeJohnette, a long-time musical compatriot. The drummer plays piano as well as percussion; it's not hard to fall under the spell of this music.
Marta Sanchez - "SAAM (Spanish American Art Museum") (Whirlwind Recordings) – Pianist and composer Sanchez had a tumultuous time during the Pandemic as her mother passed early on. She found time to write new music for her group – saxophonists Roman Filiu and Alex LoRe, bassist Rashaan Carter, and drummer Allen Mednard – and it's her most mature and realized program. The music sings throughout the album plus there are fine solos from all involved. Subtle, emotional, and intelligent, "SAAM" draws from myriad influences, is never imitative, and draws in the listener on the strength of the melodies. One track, "Marivi", features Ms Sanchez, Mr. Carter, and Mr. Mednard with Camilla Meza (vocal, guitar), Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet), and Charlotte Greve (synths).
Listen to "Dear Worthiness":
Tyshawn Sorey Trio + 1 (with Greg Osby) - "The Off-Off Broadway Guide to Synergism" (Pi Recordings) - Another impressive year for drummer, composer, and educator Sorey, filled with debuts, impressive gigs, and two great albums. This live three-album set of standards, jazz classics, and more, is a splendid exploration of melody, improvisation, and interplay featuring Mr. Sorey with the impressive pianist Aaron Diehl, bassist Dana Hall, and the very welcome alto saxophonist Greg Osby. Three long sets (75 + minutes) yet the music never gets dull or stale because the musicians are free of any expectations other than play the melody, improvise, and follow your creative flow. The week before I wrote about the album, I listened to, at least, one set a day, especially on my daily walk. The addition of Mr. Osby, whose musicianship is impressive throughout, is such a delight!
Hear "Solar":
Noam Lemish – "12" (TPR Records) – This album, from the pianist, composer, and educator Noam Lemish, was one of the more impressive releases of the last six weeks. The Israeli-born, American-educated, and Canadian resident, had recorded several albums with oudist Amos Hoffman, duets with percussionist (and one of his teachers) George Marsh, plus several solo piano explorations. Here, he leads a 12-piece ensemble comprised of many fine Canadian musicians, supplying them with fine, often episodic, pieces with impressive arrangements. There's humor, pathos, wit, and emotion throughout the album (one of the initial releases on Three Pines Records, a new Canadian label led by Amy and Ernesto Cervini). This album gets better each time I listen––give it a whirl!
Here's the delightful "Beethoven's 7th Visit to Romania":
PUBLIQuartet – "What Is American" (Bright Shiny Things) – I don't write about classical music very much but this album (plus the Johnny Gandelsman album in Part 2) truly caught my attention. The PUBLIQs––violinists Curtis Stewart and Janina Norpoth, violist Nick Revel, and cellist Hamilton Berry––often blend European and American classical music but also have a expressive modernist bent. One of the group's ongoing projects, dubbed "Mind| The| Gap|", features arrangements of music by Nina Simone, Ornette Coleman, Tina Turner, Ida Cox, Alice Coltrane, and others into stew that really alters the way you listen to a string quartet. This album features music by Antonin Dvorák, Vijay Iyer, Roscoe Mitchell, Rhiannon Giddens, and others––it certainly does make you think about "what is American"!
Give a listen to "Improvisations on "Law Years" and "Street Woman" (composed by Ornette Coleman):
Trish Clowes – "A View With a Room" (Greenleaf Music) – Composer and saxophonist (tenor and soprano) Trish Clowes signed with Dave Douglas's Greenleaf Music this year and gifted listeners with "A View With a Room". Featuring her long-time band My Iris––guitarist Chris Montague, pianist and organist Ross Stanley, and drummer James Maddren––the music may, at times, remind you a bit of the quieter music of Jimmy Guiffre but, to this listener, Ms. Clowes has really created her own sound. The band interaction is impressive and the music makes you want to return to the album often. They have not toured the US yet––if they do, I would recommend you spend a night in their company.
Here's the delightful "Amber":
Somi – Zenzile: The Reimagination of Miriam Makeba (Salon Africana) – The vocalist and composer Somi has truly blossomed into a world-class artist, celebrating the sound of the African continent even as she updates it. Here, she pays tribute to the great Miriam Makeba (1932-2008), creating one of the most uplifting programs you will ever hear. In fact, Somi also created a play, "Dreaming Zenzile", around Ms. Makeba that debuted off-Broadway earlier in 2022. The album sounds so good, with such delicious rhythms, attractive vocals, and an impressive guest list including Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Angelique Kidjo, amd Gregory Porter (listen below) plus others. World music at its best–give a listen.
Here's the sensuous "Strawberries" featuring Gregory Porter:
Kate Wyatt – "Artifact" (Self-released) – The Montreal, Canada-based pianist Kate Wyatt, a native of British Columbia, has been active on the creative music in her native country for over two decades. "Artifact" is her debut recording as a leader and well worth the wait. Featuring drummer Jim Doxas, bassist Adrian Vedady (her husband), and trumpeter Lex French (on the Music Faculty of McGill University) the quartet explores this music with vigor, sensitivity, and emotional depth. Ms. Wyatt is a fine player but always makes sure you hear the other members of the group. One can hear a nod in the direction of the Kenny Wheeler, as much in the "open" sound and wit in the composition as well as in Dr. French's trumpet work. Impressive debut and one hopes there's more coming soon.
Listen to the lovely "A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing":
Sachal Vasandani with Romain Collin – "Still Life" (Edition Records) - This is the second collaboration for the vocalist with pianist Collin––like its 2021 predecessor "Midnight Shelter" (also on Edition Records), these performances are intimate, often spare, quiet, yet with an emotional intensity that draws in the listener from the beginning and does not let go until the last note fades. In fact, each time I listened, I played the album all the way through. When I spoke to the duo this past summer, they said that Mr. Vasandani stood right next to the piano during the recording session––the intimacy of the recording process translate to the music. Such a smart selection of tunes, from folk music to jazz standards to "pop" tunes to originals. Late night or early morning, this music is a comforting friend..
Listen to the emotional and heartbreaking "(I) Can't Make You Love Me":
30-plus years into a fascinating career, one is still impressed by the music Dave Douglas composes, records, and performs. When you think that trumpeter, educator, Greenleaf Music head, podcast host, festival coordinator, and so forth, is most comfortable in one of the various quintets he leads (or co-leads, in the case of Sound Prints), he'll record a solo trumpet album ("Hudson Solos") or work with an ensemble made up of students from Australia's Monash University ("The Dream: Monash Sessions") or record hard rock funk music for listening to during demonstrations with bassist Melvin Gibbs, guitarist Rhafiq Batia, and drummer Sim Cain ("Marching Music")––that's just in the last 24 months.
The trumpeter's new album, "Secular Psalms", is a 10-song program inspired by "The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb", painted between 1420-1432 and hung in Sgt. Bavo's Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium. Douglas initiated the project before the pandemic shut down the world, choosing a band (six members in all) from Europe and the United States; artists include Berlinde Deman (tuba, serpent, voice), Marta Warelis (piano, prepared piano, pump organ), Frederik Leroux (guitars, lute, electronics), Lander Gyselinck (drums, electronics), Tomeka Reid (cello), and the leader on trumpet and background vocals. The blend of tuba or serpent (a wooden brass instrument!) with amplified guitar, cello, trumpet, the various keyboards, and voice is fascinating. While the music is inspired by 14th Century composers, there is a 21st Century "avant-garde" as well as 1960s-70s "prog-rock" feel (if there was a flute, this music could easily be linked to Jethro Tull (check out "Agnus Dei" and see if you agree).
Photo: Gemma Vander Hayden
You understand you are in a different musical right from the opening seconds of "Arrival". The trumpet melody is supported by electronic sounds, cello, and the guitar with Ms. Deman's serpent playing a quiet counterpoint. The drone created by cello and serpent carries the piece as does the subtle drive of the drums. "Mercy" jumps forward with the trumpet and cello on the melody––the lyrics blend Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy", "Kyrie Eleison", and a short phrase penned by Douglas. Leroux's funky, raunchy, guitar solo offsets the solemnity of the lyrics as does Ms. Reid far-ranging cello work. If you listen closely to the vocals, you can hear Douglas shadowing Ms. Deman's voice.
Photo: Johan Jacobs
If you listen closely, not only are Ms. Deman's vocals important to the sound but so are her tuba and serpent contributions (that's her on the left). Listen to how she and Ms. Reid join with Gyserlinck to create a rhythmic flow on "Instrumental Angels" and how her counterpoint enlivens "Hermits and Pilgrims". Her soulful vocal on "If I'm In Church More Often Now", based on lyrics composed by Christine de Pasan (1364-1430?), makes the poet's sentiment contemporary as we now see many people looking for answers from their spiritual leaders in these often-scary times. Douglas's original "Edge of Night" closes the album, the lyrics speaking to how music can heal, can serve to push us forward, all the while the drone created by the pump organ, the cello, and the lute takes on a chant-like feel. Leroux switches to electric, joining the trumpet, cello, percussion, and serpent in accentuating the closing lyrics "Making this music, will help us to heal/ Even as the world continues to reel/ We laugh/ We dance/ We love/ We pray/ Even as we mourn."
"Secular Psalms" is a stunning album, all the more so because all the parts were recorded remotely at different times, then edited and remixed by Tyler McDermid and Dave Douglas. The album stands out in the trumpeter's oeuvre not only because it's an amazing collection of music and performances but also because like 2012's "Be Still" and 2015's all-instrumental "Fabliaux", the songs, messages, and instrumental experimentation gives the listener deep insight into the trumpeter's inner life. Listen and be moved!
Saxophonist and composer Trish Clowes (pronounced "clues") hails from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. At the age of 19, she moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music. Seven years later (in 2010), Ms. Clowes issued her debut album "Tangent" on Basho Records––an ambitious project for sextet and, on two tracks, a full orchestra with vocalist. Two years later, not only did she release her second album as a leader ("And In the Night-Time, She Is There") which featured her touring quintet with a string quintet and guests, the saxophonist was named a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist. The BBC commissioned Ms. Clowes to compose for their Concert Orchestra which garnered her a British Composer Award in 2015. That piece of music can be heard on her third Basho release, 2014's "Pocket Compass", her first full album with her Quintet with three tracks featuring the BBC Concert Orchestra. Over the next few years, Ms. Clowes kept herself quite busy with many different commissions and projects including "Emulsion", a fascinating improvised music "happening" that continues to this day.
Photo: Brian Homer
In 2016, the saxophonist created MY IRIS, a quartet that features two members of her Quintet, guitarist Chris Montague and drummer James Maddren, plus pianist/ organist Ross Stanley. The bass-less ensemble's self-titled album was issued on Basho in early 2017 followed two years later by "90 Degrees Gravity" (also on Basho). The quartet was hoping to record in April of 2020 but the pandemic put that project on hold. Ms. Clowes did self-release "MY IRIS Live!", a digital-only album through Bandcamp in 2020, a "low-fi" six-track set from an October 2019 live date.
The group finally got into the studio at the end of August 2021 and the results of their efforts can be heard on "A View With a Room", Ms. Clowes debut for Greenleaf Music. Still working with MY IRIS, many of the saxophonist's eight original pieces were composed during the world's lockdown. One can hear a restlessness, an urgency, in several of the songs such as the funky title track and the driving "No Idea". The first track has such a "poppy" feel (note the bouncing piano line and dancing drums). The leader's solo is a joyful romp which leads right into pianist Stanley's spirited and playful spotlight. Montague steps out next and he makes a more intense statement and the band picks up on that fieriness. Ms. Clowes kicks off "No Idea" in musical conversation with drummer Maddren––notice how the piece then breaks into separate conversations (guitar with just drums before the piano reenters followed by sax, piano, drums, and quiet guitar).
"Amber" is dedicated to Amber Bauer, CEO of Donate4Refugees, a London-based charity that Ms. Clowes works as an ambassador––if the charity's head is an energetic as this music, she'll do well. The rhythm and main melody suggests Steely Dan (circa "Aja") and the band makes the most of the r'n'b swing of the piece. Guitarist Montague stands out on "Time", his Country-ish riffs reminiscent of Bill Frisell while there's a touch of Bruce Hornsby in Stanley's spot. The lovely ballad "Morning Song" is muted like the hour before daybreak, the handsome melody opening to a classically-inspired piano solo. The short yet hushed tenor solo makes way for a powerful guitar statement and the set of fascinating chord changes before the close.
The program closes with "Almost". The piece opens rubato, scurrying brushes on snare, scattered piano chords, atmospheric guitar phrases, and disjointed saxophones phrase that slowly take shape into a lilting ballad. Nobody rushes but the song seems to grow more soulful as Ms. Clowes rides the guitar chords and the piano glissandos forward. A shift in direction so that the guitarist can push the song forward and, as the intensity builds, the leader's soprano sax rises up above the rhythm section for a moment, like a colorful bird riding the thermals. Stunning, stirring, a momentary burst of pure joy.
Trish Clowes may be a new name to US audiences but do check out her music and, especially her work with MY IRIS. "A View With a Room" feels like a musical balm, creating a sense of joy in the midst of complicated and often dangerous world––do spend time soaking in these sounds!
I first became aware of Australian-born saxophonist Angela Davis back in 2013. At that time, she was studying for her Masters of Music at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. That was also the year Ms. Davis self-released her debut album, "The Art of the Melody". Two years later, her second album, "Lady Luck", featured the saxophonist alongside pianist Dan Tepfer, bassist Linda May Han Oh (who was also on the debut album, drummer Richie Barshay, and a string quartet. Ms. Davis moved back home, to Melbourne, where she serves as a lecturer at both University of Melbourne and Monash University. She's married to trumpeter Mat Jodrell and they have a son, Max. Since returning home, she's released one album, "Little Did They Know", for ABC Jazz, the label of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Ms. Davis's fourth album is the result of a Commission from the ABC Fresh Start Fund. "Suite for Max" (ABC Jazz) is dedicated to her son born right before the pandemic. The five-movement, 36-minute, "Suite" features the saxophonist's "working" quartet including guitarist Stephen Magnusson, bassist Frank De Sario, and drummer Patrick Danao. The opening "Movement" bears the influence of the Joe Lovano/ Bill Frisell/ Paul Motian trio, especially in floating rhythmic feel and Magnusson's guitar tone. Max's father, Mat Jodrell, shows on the next track and his addition charges the album's atmosphere with Danao being more aggressive without overwhelming the music. The leader's takes the first and most lyrical of the solos. The guitarist also creates a fine solo with his rippling phrases swooping and diving about the interactive rhythm section.
"Movement 4" opens like a quiet lullaby, Ms. Davis's gentle tenor leading the way. The handsome and fully-realized gives way to short solos then to the guitar and saxophone dancing around each other and landing back at the melody. Bassist De Sario provides the counterpoint while the drummer moves from his cymbals back to a solid beat as the music draws to a close. A tender guitar melody serves as a prologue on "Movement 5" which takes its lively feel from the engaging. Ms. Davis's playing, at times, has a feathery feel as she was a leaf dancing on an Autumn breeze. Magnusson lets loose on his solo without jacking up his volume, making the most of the dancing rhythms of the bass and drums. The saxophonist leads the band through a melodic coda, reminiscent of the way Keith Jarrett led his American Quartet (there's Paul Motian again) on their mid-70s albums.
"Suite for Max" won't shake your world but that's not its purpose. The music that Angela Davis composed for this project is the result of her watching her son begin to move, begin to claim his own space in the world, all the while wide-eyed at wonders all around. Ms. Davis rarely plays on the fiery side; instead, she gravitates towards the melodic side of music. Listen to this music at the break of dawn or at the close of the day; it's such pleasant company!
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