My Top Five Album Releases for 2017--Now at Part-Time Audiophile

My Top Five album releases are now live at Part-Time Audiophile as part of a survey of all the PTA writers. You can read it here.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Gregory Lewis' Organ Monk Blue

Here's some more Hammond B-3 music for you. This one's grittier, more down and dirty than some of the other B-3 recordings I've been reviewing. Of course, this one is from a maestro--Gregory Lewis. I've discussed his groundbreaking work before when I reviewed The Breathe Suite back in June. That release, which contained tracks dedicated to African-Americans who had been killed during confrontations with police, was serious and inspired. "If you love the Hammond as much as I do, you'll appreciate the newness he brings to these keys, the clarity and the speed and the energy," I said.

Organ Monk Blue is the fourth album from Gregory Lewis to celebrate the work of Thelonious Monk. This one, as you might suspect, is more centered on the blues with such compositions as "Blues Five Spot" and "Raise Four" and "Blue Sphere." The feel is more bluesy as well, which is why I used the term "down and dirty" before. I don't think I've ever used that term to describe music before, but that's the first thought I had while listening to this new release. It's raw and gutsy and dark and sounds like it was performed in a place where you might feel the urge to burn your clothes when you get back home.

Lewis' work on the B-3 is far more guttural than some of the other Hammond players out there right now. I've already gone on the record as a fan of the B-3, and I love all the organic and earthy textures you can extract from what is basically an electronic instrument. Lewis takes that to another level, a subterranean spot where the grime is tangible and the duct tape is about to give out. With legendary guitarist Marc Ribot acting as a melodic partner, as well as Jeremy Bean Clemons beating the hell out of his drums, Lewis takes us on a tour of back alley B-3, where you might run into some shady characters. And when they ask if you have a cigarette, you light it for them and hang out with them until they've finished their smoke break.

It's also surprising how much rock and roll slips into these blues, more than The Breathe Suite which was far more experimental in structure and tone. Perhaps that is the Ribot influence. It's certainly jazz at its core, but there are plenty of moments where this unique trio lets loose and tracks down some rock and roll history in the same vein as scholars such as Bill Frisell. Organ Monk Blue puts you into a dark, dank world where the music is fierce but cool, and you might need a shower afterward. It's worth it.

Roy McGrath's Remembranzas

It's a bit dissonant, listening to Latin jazz while the outside world is covered with ice. This is some of the coldest weather I've experienced on the East Coast, and yet I keep thinking of palm trees and traveling down to the Caribbean with a suitcase full of silk bowling shirts so I can smoke a couple of Behike 52s. This Roy McGrath album is that good--it makes me ignore the fact that everything outside that window behind me is white and frozen.

Saxophone player McGrath has one of those names that makes him sound like an old legend, but he's actually a pretty young guy. He plays like he's been doing this for multiple decades; his understated playing comes from a soul who's been around the block a few times and has no urge to show that off to anyone else. He has a serious pedigree, however--born in Puerto Rico, McGrath has strong ties to the jazz community there and was recently commissioned to compose a jazz suite in honor of poet Julia de Burgos. The project evolved to the point where McGrath started thinking about all of the memories he had growing up in Puerto Rico, and how those "flashbacks" were informing his compositions. (Remembranzas" translates loosely to flashbacks, or fleeting memories.)

Knowing that adds an extra layer of appreciation for this album, but it's also one of those contemporary jazz releases that's immediately likeable and engaging. Excellent sound quality aside, this whole project has a loose, improvisational feel that really fleshes out the tiniest details from each performer. (Pianist Bill Cessna, bassist Joseph Kitt Lyles, drummer Jonathon Wenzel and percussionists Barril de Bomba-Buleador-Ivelisse Diaz and Junito Gonzalez are all spot on and as smooth as it gets.) But it's when you focus on McGrath's performances that you start to notice how he starts to explore outside the box, how he isn't afraid to let loose with a few wild ideas, muttering them quickly to see if you're paying attention.

As I listen to Roy McGrath and his tenor sax, I keep making an unlikely comparison to John Lurie back when he was playing with the Lounge Lizards. Lurie was informed by his knowledge of jazz and yet could stand out on the edge of it and suggest phrasing from other genres such as old rock and R&B. McGrath is standing on yet another edge, looking down, asking us to revel in such genuine and heartfelt Latin jazz while suggesting, on the sly, that certain notes and certain melodies may not belong until you play them like they belong. It's a subtle idea, one that requires concentration, but it does elevate this recording into something special.

My First Music Column for Part-Time Audiophile Is Now Live!

Just in time for the holidays--literally--my first music column for Part-Time Audiophile is now live! I cover three holiday jazz releases from Chris Pasin, Eyal Vilner and John Paul Curtis. You can read it here.

Enjoy, and Happy Holidays!

Robert Kennedy's Closer to Home

If the world of contemporary jazz is going to have a theme for 2018, it's probably going to be "The Year of the Hammond B-3." Over the last few weeks I've received so many new jazz releases that feature the classic B-3 organ, and if I've learned anything it's this: I love the B-3. It puts me in a great mood, a sunglasses kind of mood. I love the growl, and I love how the player can easily manipulate the dynamics. It's the kind of instrument that can hang back, almost as a drone, and just add a little texture to the music--and it can also take the lead and drive the melody. It's unique and flexible and I'm not surprised that B-3 recordings have become so popular.

Robert Kennedy's new album, Closer to Home, is one of my favorites to come down the pike. One of the main reasons is because Kennedy, who has been on the stage since the late '80s, plays the B-3 a little differently than everyone else. His Hammond is a little more low-key than usual, but also fun and playful. He fleshes out the sounds of the B-3, and holds them up for everyone to see. Sometimes these notes are round and breathy, and sometimes they are guttural and fluid. Most B-3 players seem hyper-aware of the timbre of the instrument and know, in advance, that certain feelings will be evoked. These feelings may be mostly nostalgic, which tends to give most B-3 recordings a specific sense of time and place. Kennedy can do that as well, when he wants, but it's surprising how he's more interested in creating layers of sound and texture that allow his fellow musicians to shine.

Closer to Home is sort of a sampler for Kennedy. He includes ten tracks from ten different composers including Bobby Timmons, Clifford Brown and Bill Bell, and they cover such a wide range of jazz genres--bebop, soul, blues and even gospel. That gives each tune a very different feel and yet Kennedy is the constant throughout, adding just enough of his keyboard magic to let you know he's the driving force behind these tunes.

Yet there's something more here, something that makes me really settle in and float along with this music. This isn't wild, rollicking jazz--it's deliberate and smooth and very relaxed. The sound quality is superb, and that allows you to hear the B-3 in its fixed point in space against the other superb musicians (guitarist Terrence Brewer, sax player Ben Torres and drummer Cody Rhodes), and that illustrates how the entire instrument is a living, breathing thing. That may be the characteristic I find most impressive about the B-3--it's an electronic keyboard that sounds utterly organic and natural. Robert Kennedy understands this, and that's what makes Closer to Home so rewarding.

El Eco with Guillermo Nojechowicz--Puerto de Buenos Aires 1933

I like this one because it's really nice.

Imagine if all music reviews were like that. (And I've definitely seen a couple of reviewers who say little more than that, in a couple of hundred words of course.) But when I say this new album from Argentine jazz ensemble El Eco is really nice, I mean exactly that. You listen to the romantic melodies, the tight playing, the gorgeous sound quality, the passionate performances and, most importantly, the artistic risks and you think "Man, this is niiiice." It's not vague, it's not damning with faint praise. This is a jazz recording that immediately captures your interest and puts a smile on your face.

This project was the brainchild of drummer Guillermo Nojechowicz, who studied film scoring at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. As a child he used to travel to Buenos Aires with his family, and he discovered an old passport and photographs of his grandfather that triggered so many musical memories. When you think about the world in 1933, you'll understand why these memories are not necessarily happy ones--Nojechowicz's father was only three at the time his family left Europe for South America, and many of the people they left behind did not survive the Holocaust. That's why much of this beautiful music is imbued with deeper emotions such as the fear of change, or having to deal with extreme financial hardship so that your children might have a better future. We're no longer talking about things that are nice.

These hidden depths might not be immediately noticeable during a casual listen. Kim Nazarian's vocals, for instance, are very sultry and passionate and even border on celebratory, and it takes a keen ear to sense the sadness--but it's there. Many of the songs here start off with an almost funereal tempo, to reflect the troubles in Europe, and burst with energy once the South American influences emerge. And because we're talking mostly about Argentina, we do get those stirring undercurrents of the tango, with occasional punctuation from Roberto Cassan's accordion.

But this album belongs to Nojechowicz. It's his drumming and percussion that drives these songs, and his subtle inflections that determine where we are traveling at any given moment. He uses time signatures to underscore his themes with amazing subtlety. It's his attention to detail that makes the whole so musically pleasing, so complete in its execution. It's nice to hear a jazz release in 2017 that's both original and so very confident.

Ensemble 96's So Is My Love from 2L Recordings

Let me set this up. It's just a couple of days before Christmas, and it's snowing outside. It's really snowing. I know, because I just drove an hour and a half to get here, to the office, and it was an ordeal. Once I settled in I stuck this disc into the CD player, the latest from 2L Recordings in Norway, and to my surprise and delight it's a choral work. Choral recordings from 2L are even a bigger treat than normal since these are the albums where you really hear the big Norwegian churches that usually serve as a venue. The voices rise to the big wooden beams overhead and then blossom and expand in size. At the same time, you can hear each voice in the chorus. You can single one out and follow it all the way through--just like you would if you were actually present at the recording.

Sitting here in this warm room, listening to yet another beautiful recording from 2L, I'm suddenly realizing that I do this every year around this time. There's something about these 2L Recordings that really enhance the idea of winter, of staying inside and keeping warm. So Is My Love is indeed about love and faith, which is appropriate for December the 22nd, and the beauty of that is not lost on me even though I am a heathen. (I always feel compelled to throw that in somewhere.) It's becoming sort of a tradition for me, and I'm usually the last person to observe holiday traditions.

Ensemble 96, a chamber choir of 24 voices, is highly respected throughout Europe and has been nominated for a Grammy or two in the past. I mention this because So Is My Love has also been nominated for a Grammy this year (Best Surround Album). It's not hard to see why. Led by 34-year-old conductor Nina T. Karlsen and periodically augmented by Mari Skeie Ljones' gorgeous violin, the choir delivers their interpretation of choral works by Martin Odegaard, Torbjorn Dyrud, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur and Frank Havroy. It's hard not to be moved by all the sheer beauty in one single disc.

The album's title, according to the liner notes, has dual meanings: "For me, love is like this" and "This is what my beloved is like." These musical selections were chosen because they explore those themes in depth--the differences between love in and of itself, and the very nature of the things that we love. In particular this music describes how prayer can reflect opposites--longing and joy, passion and humor and so on. Many of the pieces here draw inspiration from the Bible, Song of Solomon in particular, but other sources are used such as William Blake's poetry and the music of Thomas Tallis.

It sounds like a deep and heady meditation for the holidays, but it is surprising how light and ethereal it all sounds coming out of the Uranienborg Church in Norway. This definitely music that expresses joy instead of loss--one of the Dyrud pieces is titled "Laughing song"--and as I listen to it and stare out the window at all of the falling snow, I can't help but smile.

Oh, and good luck to 2L's Morten Lindberg at the Grammy Awards!