AllenLowe

anybody wanna sell theirs? I'll trade you two shiny quarters and an autographed photo of Larry Kart.

I like this list because it includes plenty of non-jazz: My Top Ten Albums of 2011 David Hajdu Best music of the year? I'll hedge and say only this: Here's a list of ten of my favorite albums of 2011, in no particular order. Elbow: Build a Rocket Boys! (Downtown/Cooperative Music) Seriously wonderful grown-up pop on the theme of growing up from a British band that sees no shame in charm or beauty. (Video below.) Sam Rivers and the Rivbea Orchestra: Trilogy (Mosaic Select) Rivers, the jazz composer and multi-instrumentalist who was a leading voice of the postwar avant-garde, died at age 88 on December 26, within weeks of the deaths of several other important figures in jazz: the composer-arrangers Bob Brookmeyer and Russell Garcia, and the singer Barbara Lea (about whom I'll be writing more next week). Best remembered for his free but rigorous work in small groups, Rivers also composed some dizzying orchestral music that I had never heard until the release of this three-CD set this year. Lykke Li: Wounded Rhymes (Atlantic) Dense and clever, sexy Nordic art-pop suitable for dancing, listening, and occasionally even thinking. Hilary Hahn, Valentina Lisitsa: Charles Ives: Four Sonatas (Deutsche Grammophon) Hahn, the young violinist, brings out the hope and wit of Ives' odd, sweet violin sonatas. Paul Simon, So Beautiful or So What (Hear Music) Lyrical and droll, Simon's rumination on aging and mortality has none—or very little—of the glib smugness that has tainted so much of his work. This is one Paul Simon that actually deserved a Grammy nomination. Fucked Up, David Comes to Life (Matador) An impeccable mess from a hardcore band so imaginative and rangey that it subverts its own genre. Sonny Rollins: Road Shows, Vol. 2 (Emarcy) Four of the six tracks on this collection of live performances were recorded at the great New York concert Rollins gave to celebrate his eightieth birthday last year, and one of them— "Sonnymoon for Two," the only duet Rollins and Ornette Coleman have ever played together— is historic, and not only for its novelty. Tyshawn Sorey: Oblique 1 (Pi) Sorey, a deeply musical percussionist, has fully emerged now as a major voice in contemporary jazz. The only problem with this album is the misleading title of this bright, clear music. In One Wind: How Bright a Shadow (Primary) Appealingly erratic, genre-smashing chamber pop from a new band out of Brooklyn. Terri Lyne Carrington: The Mosaic Project (HCM) Carrington, the jazz-funk percussionist, brought together some of the most gifted musicians in jazz, including the pianist Geri Allen; the bassist Esperanza Spalding; the trumpeter Ingrid Jensen; and the singers Cassandra Wilson, Dianne Reeves, and Dee Dee Bridgewater, among others. If I had more than ten titles on this list, the next few would be these: Kate Bush: 50 Words for Snow(ANTI) Fred Hersch, Alone at the Vanguard (Palmetto) Ambrose Akinmusire: When the Heart Emerges Glittering (Blue Note) Allen Lowe: Blues and the Empirical Truth (Music & Arts) The Divine Comedy: Bang Goes the Knighthood (101 Distribution)

that's my next purchase.

that's ok, UBU; but I will continue to plug myself, since I seem not to have made too many top ten lists herein; just found out that Blues and The Empirical Truth placed 51st in the top 600 CDs in the upcoming Village Voice poll -

first or second takes?

I have a couple of privately produced LPS that Carmen gave me; they include a terrible young woman flutist, but Carmen plays alto on these and he is on fire.

you got it.

wait - if this is a "new album released" and it has Moonlight in Vermont on it, then how can it be the unreleased version? I'm confused.

I kinda suspected that....the McArthur awards, when it comes to jazz/pop/whatever, seem seriously misguided.

another McCarthurite - he plays nice (and fast) but something doesn't connect with me in his work. Any other opinions?

it's got plenty of distribution; don't know the answer to that. They carried my last CD.

thank you - we placed number 52 in the top 600 records in the upcoming Village Voice poll.

I thought they were extremely small people visited by Gulliver.

well, we can always hope.

no pay for musicians? Call Spike Wilner.

two great regrets in life: 1) didn't buy Polaroid at 8 and a half; 2) didn't grab Carmen and make a recording together love that guy.

there's a very interesting Cadence interview from a while back - he just couldn't catch a break; he also mentions, interestingly enough, that in all the big bands he played in the leaders pretty much preferred the soloing of other players in the band. I never could figure out why, except that the jazz world is as inconsistent and unfair as the rest of society. I don't remember how I met him, but back in the '90s he referred me to an excellent sax repair man in Connecticut. This guy told me how Carmen liked everything "stock" - generic mouthpiece, and an old horn that played well but was nothing special. Last time I saw him was probably the early 1990s; I was at Van Gelder's with a friend of mine, and there was some session for Venus, I think, with Bill Crow, Davey Jones (a drummer), Carmen, and I cannot remember who else. They played a very slow tune with Cherokee changes and everybody was knocked out by Carmen's solo.

yeah, but he could nall those tempos - this one's a little rushed at times, but there's something very personal about his whole approach,

I'm just goofin' around, Chewy - I had kinda figured that out -

sweetheart of a guy, and one of the greatest saxophonists I ever heard -as nice as Sonny Stitt could play, Carmen could wipe him out any day of the week - here's a little tidbit:

actually half of America has that sign - just as a precaution. It's standard issue.

is that real? Because the one I saw said "Detour Ahead." And then as you go down the driveway it changes: "Give me a ticket for an airplane" and then "Travelin' Light" and then "Stormy Weather" and finally "get the fuck outta here, Chewy."

I like those Bob WIlle yea-haws. They're actually neo-yodels, a minstrel remnant.

just to note, (since I feel invisible here), we've made 7 top ten lists for jazz CDs 2011; New Republic Stash Dauber Blog Gene Seymour Chris Robinson Scott Albin (writer for Jazz Times) Larry Kart (hope I'm not speaking out of turn) the Big City Blog I'm proud to say that on most of these lists I'm pretty much the only musician listed who does not operate near a big media center.

more like Hank's yoyo. Same thing I guess.