Favorite new BN release from the last 5 years???

[king ubu]

Paul Bley, maybe.

This sounds like a lost opportunity, Jim! Why not let them try it!

Or - as I'm not always totally happy about Mehldau on these, myself: how about NO piano and add Attila Zoller on guitar? I know this cannot be done... (funny enough AMG notes him having died IN Vermont, so noone had to move him there...)

ubu

[Nate Dorward]

I've always loathed Mehldau's solos on Alone Together--I recall there were entire choruses in which he simply shunts the same four-note phrase around the keyboard, e.g. No taste: just listen to the contrast between Konitz's brilliant melodic perversion & improvisation on "Round Midnight", & then Mehldau's completely disruptive solo that follows...... Konitz is in really good form on that date, so I still listen to it anyway.

Truthfully, though I've heard many Blue Note releases from the past 5 years, few of them have moved me strongly. I do like Patricia Barber's Verse & Modern Cool, neither of which has yet been mentioned--perhaps a minority taste (she does seem to acquire fans & detractors in equal measure).

[JohnT]

Another vote for Black Stars!! Although my favorite is an "old" new release -- Andrew Hill's "Passing Ships" -- the best CD I've heard in years!!

[Free For All]

Another vote for Black Stars!! Although my favorite is an "old" new release -- Andrew Hill's "Passing Ships" -- the best CD I've heard in years!!

I'm sure Passing Ships was high on many lists, but Rooster knowingly limited the parameters to material recorded in the last five years.

This is an impressive list actually, including many things I'd forgotten about.

I spend so much time thinking about the reissues, I tend to overlook all the great new music BN's been producing. Bravo.

Edited February 2, 2004 by Free For All

[mikeweil]

Paul Bley, maybe.

This sounds like a lost opportunity, Jim! Why not let them try it!

Or - as I'm not always totally happy about Mehldau on these, myself: how about NO piano and add Attila Zoller on guitar? I know this cannot be done... (funny enough AMG notes him having died IN Vermont, so noone had to move him there...)

ubu

Having Zoller would have been a repetition or reunion of some earlier date, or at least a similarity. I find it principally very interesting to have players of differing age on such a date. With Bley and Haden there would have been two old buddies from the L.A. free jazz poineering days, but I agree this choice looks intriguing.

Did Konitz and Bley ever record together? If so, was it successful? That would be something to buy!

Is there any pianist under 35 that plays more sparingly like Bley does? I'm afraid not.

[brownie]

Did Konitz and Bley ever record together? If so, was it successful? That would be something to buy!

I know of at least one recorded encounter: 'Pyramid' where Lee Konitz and Paul Bley are joined by Bill Connors on guitar. This was released on Bley's IAI label. It is as beautiful as can be imagined. I have this on LP. Not sure it was issued on CD but is l worth the search.

[king ubu]

I heard that LP several years ago. Got to look if I have it on tape, but I guess not. Would love to hear it again!

I am not sure regarding younger pianists, Mike, I do not know very much about younger/contemporary mainstream/postbop musicians - but I sure think there would be some around - yet another question would be if they would fit Konitz/Haden. And Mehldau certainly is a pianist able to fit in many a situation (think about his record with Scofield, to have another example), and a very fine player with good ears.

ubu

[Nate Dorward]

I tend to be a bit cautious about IAI discs because they're from a period when Bley was often using rather dated-sounding synthesizers. But there is a much more recent disc with Konitz & Bley on Steeplechase, called Out of Nowhere. I haven't heard it, though. There is also one track by Konitz, Giuffre, Bley & Peacock on Konitz's Rhapsody (a 20-minute themeless improvisation on "All the Things You Are").

[skeith]

The one that comes to mind is Pat Martino's "Live at Yoshi's" !!!!!!!

[Morganized]

What is your single favorite BN release, from anything released on the label in the last five years???

(I'm talking about newly recorded material, stuff recorded within the last five years.)

Me?? Without thinking about this very much, I'm temped to say...

Greg Osby - Symbols of Light (A Solution) (from 2001)

I'll think it over some more, and revisit this thread again in the next day or so -- and see if I think of anything else that tops "Symbols...".

This is a great thread for me because my focus has largely been on the classics. I am interested in exploring some of the new guys but have found much of their work to be spotty. I have a few Kenny Garrett, cds that I enjoy occasionally but I have been looking for the best of the other new artist. I generally agree with the recommendations I get from this board so keep them coming.

As a side note, I thought it was interesting that AMG gave Symbols of Light something like 2** or something and generally panned it in the review. Not that I always agree with AMG but if the board members are right ( which I have already said that I think they are) then AMG is really off the mark on this one.

Black Stars didn't even garner AMG's check mark as Moran's best, but there again I would have to go along with the board.

Keep it coming, I am making note of the recommendations.

[Rooster_Ties]

As a side note, I thought it was interesting that AMG gave Symbols of Light something like 2** or something and generally panned it in the review. Not that I always agree with AMG but if the board members are right ( which I have already said that I think they are) then AMG is really off the mark on this one.

That AMG review of "Symbols..." is WAY off the mark. As soon as I can find it, I'll get you a better review. I know there's one one-line, just take me a sec to find it.

(I probably can't figure out how to cut-n-paste both the URL for the article, and the article itself (while I'm using my mom's iMac), so you may have to be content with just the article, when I find it. Off to find it now.)

OK, here's a good one...

Greg Osby

Symbols of Light (A Solution)

(Blue Note)

by Maurice Bottomley

PopMatters Music and Books Critic

The danger of passing from Young Turk to Senior Statesman, a feat which Greg Osby seems to have managed without anyone noticing, is that your endeavours, once the subject of great controversy, are now taken for granted. They are praised of course, as is the Great Man's due, but they are no longer open to scrutiny in the way that earlier efforts were. Osby joins a long list of jazz musicians whose mature work is every bit as groundbreaking as his younger projects (most notably as part of M-Bass) but whose reception latterly consists merely of polite, albeit universal, approval.

This is unfortunate, though perhaps inevitable. Yet it is especially regrettable in the light of the recent Burns-Marsalis mantra, "Where are the current Armstrongs, Ellingtons etc?". For if the critical spotlight was focused a little less complacently on Steve Coleman, Greg Osby and one or two others, then the mainstream jazz tradition might not be so easily condemned to eke out its remaining days as a specialised branch of the heritage industry.

Symbols of Light is not like this or that album -- though it is so steeped in any number of historical reference points that not even Stanley Crouch could complain. It is not another sub-Coltrane extended tour, it does not skip skillfully but pointlessly down paths blazed long ago by Free Jazz legends of the past. Despite its use of a string quartet it is not Parker with Strings for the new millennium. Nor is it Milhaud-Russell Thirdstream coming back for more. It is not even Max Roach's short-lived double quintet, to which it does bear superficial resemblance. This is jazz in the best creative sense, exploratory, confident in its structural soundness and dependent for its ultimate success on the extemporising gifts of its principal soloist. It waves respectfully to its forebears but sees no reason to tug its forelock.

OK. You get the picture. I like this album, I think Osby is a major artist and I believe that contemporary jazz is still capable of innovation and standing on its own creative feet. I do not think it died some time around the era that Miles Davis discovered Marshall amplifiers. I also know that if Osby had not been part of our consciousness for so long then this album would be making serious waves.

So what have we got? Quite simply, Osby has augmented a standard quartet (sax/piano/bass/drums) with another standard quartet -- of strings. These he has used as a sort of fifth instrument. They are not a backdrop, nor are they individual soloists. They do play a major role on the session and allow Osby a whole new set of possibilities for his considerable solo skills. Here, I have to own up to ignorance. What I know about string quartets would not hold you up in the street for five minutes. I do know this though. If Osby has ever had an instrumental line-up that suited his playing better, I missed it. He weaves his way around, soars above and jostles alongside the string voice in a burst of sustained creativity you will travel a long way to hear matched.

Sometimes the Quartet carries the central motif, as in the rather Nyman-esque "Repay in Kind", but mostly they have a role equivalent to the pianist Jason Moran's -- joint second-in-command, though without his improvising function. The key factor is that they are, in Osby's words "integrated into the general fabric" and act neither as generic contrast (as happened with Roach) nor as "sweetener" (as happened with nearly everyone else). Whether it is down to the scoring, the arranging, Osby's talent or sheer luck I have no idea, but the result is a more coherent use of this embodiment of European Classical music than has hitherto been the case. Jazz-Classical encounters have tended to be inhibiting affairs, like two groups of guests at a dinner table who can find little in common with each other. Here the dialogue is free-flowing and inspired.

There are 11 pieces -- all relatively concise yet of sufficient length to allow for the necessary thematic developments. It is invidious to have to choose individual dishes from such a feast but the pick for me is "This is Bliss" which actually lives up to its title, and features the awesome sound of Osby appearing to use the sax's full range. The downbeat "Northbound" and the very noir "Minstrale Again" also stand out. Osby is at all times magnificent, rarely repeating himself and finding new points of departure with each change in time signature. Whether the underpinning is a waltz ("3 for Civility") or a showbiz tune (Johnny Mathis'"Wild Is the Wind"!) there is no hint of anything other than absolute fluency.

Interesting to note the inclusion of "Golden Sunset", a self-penned number that first saw light of day on a set with Andrew Hill. If there is a guiding light behind this album it might well be someone like Hill, who showed that there were (and still are) other roads to follow in modern jazz to those mapped out by the twin giants, Coleman and Coltrane. Osby is, of course, no mere disciple, but Hill's "third way" seems to me to be as close to Osby's approach as any that comes to mind.

This is music that takes some exhausting and will, I believe, stand the test of time. It is also downright beautiful and not at all "difficult". The level of performance is exceptional and I have not even praised Osby's other players -- Moran, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Marlon Browden. All are excellent, though Moran's Monk-with-a-Classical-training style will never make him my favourite player. Really, it is Osby and the strings that take this session somewhere special. If Chamber Music and Avant-Garde Jazz are two of the most terrifying phrases in your vocabulary, don't worry -- they are in mine too. This is bold, forthright but very accessible contemporary music. I call it jazz but, whatever ends up being the preferred term, it sure as hell beats yet another album of standards, no matter how proficiently executed.

Osby hasn't gone all blasé and lazy on us. Jazz fans should be just as alert. Symbols of Light is something more than just another well crafted set of tunes from a trusted but overly familiar figure. It is as fresh as any hungry first record could ever hope to be and it is happening right now.

And, actually, here's the review I was thinking of...

Reviewed by Jeff Morris

Greg Osby: Symbols of Light (A Solution)

Blue Note

2001  Time: 53

Musicians: Greg Osby (alto & soprano saxophones), Jason Moran (piano), Scott Colley (bass), Marlon Browden (drums & percussion), Marlene Rice-Shaw, Christian Howes (violin), Judith Insell-Stack (viola), Nioka Workman (cello).

Songs: 3 for Civility, Repay in Kind, "M", The Keep, Golden Sunset, This Is Bliss, One Room, NOrthbound, Wild is the Wind, Social Order, Minstrale Again (The Barefoot Tap Dancer).

Rating: * * * * 1/2  (Meaning: 4.5 stars out of a total of 5 possible)

For a few years the refrain was, "If only Greg Osby would settle down." An odd thing to say about a player who was clearly jonesing to find his own voice in a time of widespread, hype-induced homogeny. After a brilliant, M-Base schooled debut with 1987's Sound Theater, the alto saxophonist started dabbling in hip hop and electronics and took a good five years to get out of the figs' doghouse. The unspectacular acoustic sets Art Forum and Further Ado paved the way for Osby's true breakout in '98, with the complex "here I am"' aesthetic of Zero and the even better low-fi live set, Banned in New York. Another key development was bringing likeminded young pianist Jason Moran into the fold. It set Moran off on a promising solo career, but the collaboration most benefited Osby and his records immediately became more pointed, focused. In some ways, it was Moran's absence that accounted for last year's slightly lacklustre The Invisible Hand.

Symbols of Light (A Solution) marks Moran's return, along with rhythm mates Marlon Browden and the ubiquitous Scott Colley. The "with strings" aspect of the recording has perhaps been exaggerated in its marketing--they're neither lush underpinning nor the kind of melodic force that drove, say, Stan Getz's Focus. The string arrangements are rarely even noticeable; they ratchet up the drama of the taut "Repay in Kind" and fill out the group sound by punctuating "Northbound" and others, but that's the extent of it. It's a mildly grander effect, but nothing as drastic as the press guys might have you believe. In fact, it might even be distracting potential buyers from Symbol of Light's real selling point: it's Osby's best since that banner 1998 year. Osby and Moran are as engaging and unpredictable as ever, even if the proceedings are more in than out on the whole. For one, there is an unlikely cover of "Wild is the Wind" (Osby admits an appreciation for Johnny Mathis in the liners), played noirish and meditative. Osby had previously recorded the closer, "Minstrale," on Zero; here's it's an alto-piano duet that mirrors the raggy old saloon feel of the disc's packaging.

The record boasts some of Osby's best, most memorable originals as well, including the loping "3 for Civility" and a wistful "One Room," with the leader on soprano. Gone is the near-mathematical precision of Zero; this is looser, a little less stone-faced, absolutely a small but significant step forward for Osby's quartet, strings or no.

JM

Edited February 7, 2004 by Rooster_Ties

[Muskrat Ramble]

I am interested in exploring some of the new guys but have found much of their work to be spotty. I have a few Kenny Garrett, cds that I enjoy occasionally but I have been looking for the best of the other new artist. I generally agree with the recommendations I get from this board so keep them coming.

In addition to the various BN cats mentioned here, two current artists I strongly recommend:Tom Harrell (and http://forums.allaboutjazz.com/showthread....=&threadid=2982 ) and The Bad Plus. While his first jazz album is quite good but not incredible, I really dig what Alex Skolnick is doing for jazz through his choice of playing standards for a younger generation.

Btw, http://www.gregosby.com has tons of free live mp3's if you're interested in checking out his work. See here for other artist sites with free mp3 downloads.

Edited February 7, 2004 by Muskrat Ramble

[Morganized]

Rooster,

Please forgive me if my previous post appeared insensitive. For some reason I just now read the thread containing the latest information regardng your Mom. Let me say how sorry I am to hear of your loss. Please know that my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family at this time.

Take care and know that all of us here are thinking of you.

Morganized

[Muskrat Ramble]

Speaking of AMG reviews, as an alternative or complement to AMG I strongly recommend the Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD. It's not as comprehensive since it focuses on in-print releases, but it is huge nonetheless, and the writing tends to be more intelligent, elegant, insightful, witty, and provocative. Great fun to just browse and discover new artists and discs, too.

[king ubu]

One that has not been mentioned often here: I just had another listen to it today: Joe Chambers, Mirrors. A tremendous album by a great composer and master percussionist!

ubu

[Nate Dorward]

AMG's reliability depends on the reviewers. If it's an entry by Scott Yanow, Brian Olewnick, Dan Warburton, &c then it's fine....but if it's Thom Jurek, for instance, run for the hills.

The Penguin Guide is the best single reference book, yes, despite a few off-the-wall notions (e.g. that Sign of 4 is worth 4 stars).

[Late]

I like 52nd Street Themes. Something comfortable, even cozy, about it. Lovano, in places, reminds me of Sonny Rollins, circa 1963 with his intentional stumbling-type phrasing. Love that.

I like the Penguin, too. For some reason, the 3rd edition is my favorite. Keeps in a lot of their better reviews, in my opinion.

Poor Thom. Why is he so reviled? He glistens with excitement!

[king ubu]

Another cool disc!

ubu

[Muskrat Ramble]

AMG's reliability depends on the reviewers. If it's an entry by Scott Yanow, Brian Olewnick, Dan Warburton, &c then it's fine....but if it's Thom Jurek, for instance, run for the hills.

For me, despite its omissions and errors, AMG is more useful as a database than as a source of reviews. The latter, regardless of writer, often seem rather dry and perfunctory (in fact a lot of them just have a star rating and no text). Whatever you think of the reviewers' opinions in Penguin--and I tend to agree with them--their reviews generally seem more thoughtful and insightful, as if they've really spent some time with the recordings in question. Their reviews are certainly better written on the whole and more fun to read.

[John B]

Poor Thom. Why is he so reviled?

Why is Thom Jurek reviled?

"He glistens with excitement!"

That has to be one of the most unpleasant mental images I've had conjured up by a thread, ever.

[GA Russell]

I am struck by how few albums have been listed by this group of hard core Blue Note afficionadoes! Five years is a long time.

I think my favorite is Pat Martino's Live at Yoshi's, but I'm sure I haven't heard as many as most of you have.

[Late]

Sorry, John. Maybe I should have added a ?

So, lemme get this straight ...

Brown hovers over the cymbals and tom-toms like a ghost as Ware delves into the heart of these different tonalities and opens them onto a new sonic landscape where Maneri moves across the drone to improvise alongside him. ... But it is on the title cut and the shimmering, melodic restraint of "Carousel of Lightness" that Ware makes his true sensibilities most plain. His acceptance of sonic ambiguity and harmonic opaqueness are brought under the command of dynamic on these tracks, and from the crack in the tension comes some of the most beautiful, intuitive, and forward-thinking ensemble playing in a decade by any American jazz group. ... This is Ware's masterpiece and the first really new compositional statement in jazz in years; if this record isn't — at least — nominated for a Grammy as 2003's best jazz record, then the entire category deserves to be struck from the ballot. — Thom Jurek

Are you suggesting that Jurek's reviled because he's moonlighting at Dusty Groove? I thought I recognized a similarity! You have to respect, however, that he contained himself — there's no utterance, in the above review, of "Cool Beans!"

[John B]

Sorry, John. Maybe I should have added a  ?

So, lemme get this straight ...

Brown hovers over the cymbals and tom-toms like a ghost as Ware delves into the heart of these different tonalities and opens them onto a new sonic landscape where Maneri moves across the drone to improvise alongside him. ... But it is on the title cut and the shimmering, melodic restraint of "Carousel of Lightness" that Ware makes his true sensibilities most plain. His acceptance of sonic ambiguity and harmonic opaqueness are brought under the command of dynamic on these tracks, and from the crack in the tension comes some of the most beautiful, intuitive, and forward-thinking ensemble playing in a decade by any American jazz group. ... This is Ware's masterpiece and the first really new compositional statement in jazz in years; if this record isn't — at least — nominated for a Grammy as 2003's best jazz record, then the entire category deserves to be struck from the ballot. — Thom Jurek

Are you suggesting that Jurek's reviled because he's moonlighting at Dusty Groove? I thought I recognized a similarity! You have to respect, however, that he contained himself — there's no utterance, in the above review, of "Cool Beans!"

I knew you were kidding, I just felt like being a wise-ass. B)

I just wish he wouldn't be so afraid to get excited by a record once in a while. His reviews are all so understated.

Edited February 9, 2004 by John B

[Nate Dorward]

Yeah, that Threads review is memorably grotesque; but I didn't specifically have it in mind--virtually everything he writes is equally drooling (he barely reviews anything without giving it at least four stars out of five). -- There are also other things that are equally inane on the site by other contributors; e.g. the wacky piece on Sunna Gunnlaugs' Mindful, which is evidently by someone whose knowledge of modern jazz is nil (the review suggests it's wild & way-out avantgarde jazz; suffice it to say, this would only be a fair description if you thought Keith Jarrett & Bobo Stenson avant-garde).

Jeez, I'm still thinking about what other Blue Note discs of the last 5 years I'm terribly keen on. I've heard plenty but truthfully it's not a label whose new releases really mean a lot to me all that often.

Edited February 10, 2004 by Nate Dorward

[JSngry]

I kinda liked that Lovano/Osby FRIENDLY FIRE. Kinda gonzo in a NYC way, but some good stuff got played. Maybe not a classic, but there's some meat there.