Playlist Week of 2013-12-07

* Stockhausen: Prozession (Kontarsky, Stockhausen, et al.) (Candide LP)

* Charles Mingus: Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus (Impulse! CD)

* Charles Mingus: Mingus Plays Piano (Impulse! CD)

* John Coltrane: Live Trane: The European Tours (d.3-4) (Pablo 7CD)

* Dave Holland: Prism (Dare2 CD)

* Cecil McBee: Mutima (Strata East LP)

* McCoy Tyner: Song Of The New World (Milestone LP)

* McCoy Tyner: Fly With The Wind (Milestone LP)

* McCoy Tyner: Atlantis (Milestone 2LP)

* Charles Lloyd: Forest Flower: Charles Lloyd At Monterey (Atlantic LP)

* Chick Corea: Return To Forever (ECM LP)

* John McLaughlin: Johnny McLaughlin, Electric Guitarist (Columbia LP)

* Stanley Clarke: School Days (Epic/Friday Music LP)
* Julian Priester Pepo Mtoto: Love, Love (ECM LP)

* Tom Rainey Trio: Cornelia St. Café, Brooklyn, NY 2013-10-19 (AUD WAV)

* LARK (Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey/Kris Davis/Ralph Alessi): LARK (Skirl CD)

* Kris Davis: Capricorn Climber (Clean Feed CD)

* Kris Davis: Massive Threads (Thirsty Ear CD)

* Dawn Of Midi: Dysnomia (Thirsty Ear CD)

* Automatic Man: Automatic Man (Island LP)

* Daryl Hall & John Oates: Do What You Want, Be What You Are (d.1-3) (Legacy 4CD)†/‡

* I Am The Center: Private Press New Age Music in America 1950-1990 (LITA 3LP)†/‡

* John Fahey: Let Go (Varrick LP)

* Grateful Dead: Family Dog At The Great Highway 4/18/70 (GDP/Rhino HDCD)

* Grateful Dead: Rocking The Cradle: Egypt 1978 (selections) GDP/Rhino 2+1HDCD/DVD)

* Pink Floyd/Grateful Dead, et al.: Zabriskie Point (Original Soundtrack) (MGM/Watertower 2LP)

* Robert Wyatt: Rock Bottom (Virgin LP)

* Gong: You (Virgin LP)

* Goblin: Tour 2013 EP (Death Waltz EP)

* Brian Eno: Here Come The Warm Jets (Island LP)

* Phil Collins: …But Seriously (Atlantic/Audio Fidelity CD)

* Toto: Toto (Columbia LP)

* Television: Marquee Moon (Elektra/Rhino LP)

* R.E.M.: Chronic Town (IRS LP)

* Gastr Del Sol: Mirror Repair (Drag City EP)

* Earth: Pentastar: In The Style Of Demons (Sub Pop LP)

* Robert Pollard: Blazing Gentlemen (GBV, Inc. LP)

* Yo La Tengo: “Super Kiwi” (Matador 7”)

* Boards Of Canada: Twoism (Warp EP) †

* Boards Of Canada: In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country (Warp EP) †

* Boards Of Canada: Trans Canada Highway (Warp EP) †

* Shpongle: Museum of Conciousness (Twisted 2LP)

* Baroness: Yellow & Green (Relapse 2CD)

* Locrian: The Clearing & The Final Epoch (Relapse 2CD)

* Locrian: Return To Annihilation (Relapse CD)

†=iPod/iTunes

‡=car

Commentary:

Although pianist Kris Davis has been active in the Downtown New York avant-jazz scene for more than a decade, it is only recently that her work has been consistently documented on record. In fact, 2013 is something of a breakout year for Davis, appearing as she does on a slew of terrific albums released in the past twelve months, including Ingrid Laubrock's latest Anti-House record, Strong Place (Intakt); Capricorn Climber (Clean Feed), featuring her own quintet featuring Laubrock, Mat Maneri, Trevor Dunn and Tom Rainey; and the debut CD from LARK (Skirl), an improvisational collective with Laubrock, Rainey and Ralph Alessi. Her most recent is a solo set out last month on Thirsty Ear’s Blue Series titled, Massive Threads—and, wow, it is a stunner!

Even with all this recent exposure, Massive Threads is not quite what I expected. The opening track, “Ten Exorcists,” utilizes a prepared piano and machine-like, repetitive rhythms to summon up the sound the buzzing of kalimbas and murmuring log drums while acrobatic right-hand figures dance around the hypnotic, splintered groove. This reminds me a little bit of what Amino Neyamani is doing on Dawn of Midi’s Dysnomia (another fantastic recent release on Thirsty Ear). Similarly evoking electronica’s trance-inducing state while remaining disciplined and thoroughly acoustic, Davis subdivides the beat into infinitesimal segments with near-superhuman expertise, with the underlying pulse variously receding and coming together as the piece gradually unfolds. Even within the wide-ranging realm of the current Downtown avant-garde, this is far away from anyone’s definition of “jazz”—and that is part of what makes it so interesting.

Of course, Davis is a classically trained pianist and composer, who has been privately exploring the works of Gyorgi Ligeti, Luciano Berio and other ultra-modernists and these multifaceted influences can be heard on tracks like “Intermission Music, “Dancing Marlins” and “Leaf-Like.” Elsewhere, quiet mediations like “Desolation and Despair” and “Slow Growing” display a profound sensitivity amidst thick harmonic complexity, effectively transcending such arbitrary delineations between “jazz” and so-called “classical” chamber music. I call it "Art" with a capital-A.

The eleven-minute title track is the centerpiece of the album. Originally composed for six pianists, Davis sounds like she has twelve hands as she executes the astonishingly complex layers of rhythm, like Conlon Nancarrow’s player piano made flesh. At times, what she is doing sounds physically impossible, with every note cleanly and exquisitely articulated. Then, just as you think the piece has ended, the music slows down in a trick of metrical modulation, moving smoothly into plaintive yet densely harmonized block chords, which bring to mind the towering tone clusters of Carl Ruggles. This is simply some of the most amazing piano playing I have ever heard—in any genre. Her impeccable technique redefines the notion of virtuosity, never getting in your face with a barrage of notes yet demonstrating astonishing independence of hands and fingers, bringing out the latent melodies in the chord voicings, while also maintaining perfect control of the damper pedal. As the volume level and intensity increases, a massive resonance builds up precipitously but never overwhelms the subtle inner details. “Massive Threads” needs to be heard to be believed.

A rendition of Thelonious Monk’s “Evidence” reinforces the notion that this is indeed a “jazz” album, regardless of what it might sound like to new ears. But it is Monk as re-conceived by Morton Feldman: sparse, quiet and beautifully dissonant, gentle clouds of notes floating on a barely perceptible beat, only cohering once in a while around the well-loved and road-worn tune. Again, her sense of touch is uncanny, never rising above a mezzo piano yet imbued with subtle dynamic shadings, which unveil the cantabile melody within. If you think these old standards are played out, listen to this and be amazed.

Thirsty Ear has really been knocking it out of the park this year, with no less than three releases which will easily make my top-ten of 2013, including the Dawn of Midi’s Dysnomia, Matthew Shipp’s latest solo set, Piano Sutras—and now Kris Davis’s Massive Threads. All three reimagine what “jazz” can be in the 21^st Century while transcending the boundaries of any genre.

Playlist Week of 2013-11-30

* Miles Davis: The Complete Birth Of The Cool (Capitol CD)

* Joe Henderson: Our Thing (Blue Note CD)

* Andrew Hill: Black Fire (Blue Note CD)

* Andrew Hill: Smokestack (Blue Note CD)
* Andrew Hill: Judgment! (Blue Note CD)

* Andrew Hill: Point Of Departure (Blue Note CD)

* Herbie Hancock: Sextant (Columbia LP)

* Herbie Hancock: Headhunters (Columbia LP)

* Herbie Hancock: Thrust (Columbia LP)

* Bill Dixon: November 1981 (Soul Note CD)

* Bill Dixon: Thoughts (Soul Note CD)

* Bill Dixon: Son Of Sisyphus (Soul Note CD)

* Bill Dixon: Vade Mecum (Soul Note CD)

* John Abercrombie: Class Trip (ECM CD)

* Pat Metheny Group: Speaking Of Now (Warner Bros. CD)

* Pat Metheny Group: The Way Up (Nonesuch CD)

* Music Revelation Ensemble: Music Revelation Ensemble (DIW CD)

* Shelby Lynne: Just A Little Lovin’ (UMG CD)†/‡

* George Harrison: Brainwashed (Dark Horse/Capitol CD+DVD)

* Grateful Dead: From The Vault Vol.1 (d.1) (GDP/Light In The Attic 3LP)

* Grateful Dead: Dave’s Picks Vol.8: Fox Theatre, Atlanta GA 11/30/80 (GDP/Rhino 3HDCD)

* Grateful Dead: Civic Center, Hartford, CT 3/19/90 (d.1-2) (GDP/Rhino 3HDCD)

* Big Star: Keep An Eye On The Sky (d.1) (Ardent/Rhino 4CD)

* Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me (Magnolia Blu-Ray)

* Automatic Man: Automatic Man (Island LP)

* My Bloody Valentine: MBV (MBV LP+CD)

* Lambchop: Damaged (Merge CD)

* Lambchop: OH (ohio) (Merge CD)

* Lambchop: Mr. M (Merge CD)

* Tortoise: A Lazarus Taxon (d.2) (Thrill Jockey 3CD+DVD)†

* OM: Conference Of The Birds (Holy Mountain LP)

* Anathema: A Natural Disaster (Music For Nations/Sony CD)†/‡

* Beach House: Beach House (Carpark LP)

†=iPod/iTunes

‡=car

Commentary:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Playlist Week of 2013-11-23

* Hesperion XXI (Savall): Spirit Of Armenia (Alia Vox SACD)

* Andrew Hill: Change (Blue Note CD)

* Charlie Haden/Jan Garbarek/Egberto Gismonti: Magico (ECM LP)

* Dave Holland: Prism (Dare2 CD)

* Dave Liebman: Lookout Farm (ECM LP)

* Keith Jarrett: The Survivor’s Suite (ECM LP)

* Keith Jarrett: Into The Light (ECM 2LP)

* Keith Jarrett/Jan Garbarek: Luminescence (ECM LP)

* Jan Garbarek/Kjell Johnsen: Aftenland (ECM LP)

* Jan Garbarek: Places (ECM LP)

* Jan Garbarek Group: Photo With… (ECM LP)

* Art Lande/Jan Garbarek: Red Lanta (ECM LP)

* Ralph Towner: Solstice (ECM LP)

* Egberto Gismonti / Nana Vasconcelos: Duas Vozes (ECM LP)

* Eberhard Weber: The Following Morning (ECM LP)

* Enrico Rava Quartet: Enrico Rava Quartet (ECM LP)

* Terje Rypdal: Odyssey In Studio & In Concert (ECM 3CD)

* Shankar: Vision (ECM LP)

* Manfred Schoof Quintet: Scales (ECM LP)

* Richard Beirach: Elm (ECM LP)

* Weather Report: Procession (Columbia LP)

* Weather Report: Domino Theory (Columbia LP)

* Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet: Apparent Distance (Firehouse 12 CD)

* Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet: Navigation (Possibility Abstracts X & XI) (Firehouse 12 2LP/MP3)(†)

* Taylor Ho Bynum 7-tette: Navigation (Possibility Abstracts XII & XIII) (Firehouse 12 2CD)(†)

* Book Of Three (T.H. Bynum/J. Hebert/G. Cleaver): Continuum 2012 (Relative Pitch)

* Tom Rainey Trio: Cornelia St. Café, Brooklyn, NY 2012-12-30 (AUD WAV)

* Tom Rainey Trio: Cornelia St. Café, Brooklyn, NY 2013-10-19 (AUD WAV)

* Dawn of Midi: First (Accretions CD)†

* Dawn of Midi: Live (Dawn Of Midi/iTunes MP3)†

* I Am The Center: Private Press New Age Music in America, 1950-1990 (d.1) (Light in the Attic 3LP)

* Frank Ocean: Channel Orange (Island/Def Jam CD)†/‡

* Shelby Lynne: Just A Little Lovin’ (Lost Highway LP/CD)(†/‡)

* Edgar Froese: Macula Transfer (Brain LP)

* Daryl Hall & John Oates: Do What You Want, Be What You Are (RCA/Legacy 4CD)

* Jansen/Barbieri: Worlds In A Small Room (Pan East LP)

* Earth: Earth 2: Low Frequency Version (Sub Pop 2LP)

* Earth: Phase 3: Thrones And Dominions (Sub Pop 2LP)

* Boards Of Canada: Twoism (Warp EP)

* Boards Of Canada: In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country (Warp EP)

* Boards Of Canada: Trans Canada Highway (Warp EP)

* Sunn O))): Black One (Southern Lord 2LP)

* Zombi: Escape Velocity (Relapse LP)

* Lumbar: The First & Last Days of Unwelcome (Southern Lord LP)

* Wild Nothing: Nocturne (Temporary Residence CD) †

* Wild Nothing: Empty Estates (Temporary Residence CDEP)†

* Chris Forsyth: Solar Motel (Paradise of Bachelors LP)

†=iPod/iTunes

‡=car

Commentary:

In his liner notes to his new release on the  Firehouse 12 label, Taylor Ho Bynum repeats a common criticism of recorded music – and in particular, improvisatory music—lamenting “the inherent contradiction of creating a permanent document of an ephemeral moment.” Indeed, the transformation of a spontaneous and unique moment in time into something fixed and commoditized is a troubling aspect of modern musical aesthetics, leading some artists disdain recordings altogether as, at best, a necessary evil. Bynum addresses the issue head on with Navigation, an ambitious four-album set released last week on multiple formats, with different performances of the same composition recorded both live and in the studio. By presenting four iterations of the extended, multi-segment work, the listener is invited to “consider the composition as a set of possibilities” (hence the subtitle, Possibility Abstracts X, XI, XII & XIII) and “to enjoy the mutable nature of the music in multiple realizations rather than focusing on one particular performance.”

Fortunately, the composition (and performances thereof) warrants such in-depth scrutiny. Navigation is a fittingly descriptive title, as the ensemble "navigates" its way through its six interchangeable movements: “ISH,” “WUK,” “ZADE,” “TRIST,” “MANCH” and “KID.” While the musical materials within each movement are pre-composed (to one degree or another), the order of performance and resulting structure is modular and improvisational, left to the ensemble to decide in real-time. As Bynum points out in his notes, “this only works with artists of exceptional creativity and musicianship” and his Sextet, with Bynum on cornet, Jim Hobbs on alto saxophone, Bill Lowe on bass trombone and tuba, Mary Halvorson on electric guitar, Ken Filiano on acoustic bass and Tomas Fujiwara on drums and vibraphone, is made up of some of the most interesting jazz musicians in New York. Their commitment and boundless inventiveness makes the four performances uniquely satisfying, each illuminating a different aspect or variegated approach to the material.

The complete Navigation consists of two different releases on two different formats: Possibility Abstracts X & XI is available only as a limited edition two-LP vinyl edition and was recorded live on December 7, 2012 while Possibility Abstracts XII & XIII was recorded in the studio on the following day and is available only on a two-CD set. Either way, a download coupon is included for the entire four-volume set, which is a nice touch (not everyone has a turntable these days—though they should!). Interestingly, none of the performances include all six movements and some of them are repeated, an indication of just how mutable these Navigations can be. And while you could say the live performances have the edge in terms of energy and intensity, the studio recordings (which add second percussionist Chad Taylor) sound more cerebral yet more vividly realized in a way, as if the performers had by then become so fully comfortable with the material they allowed themselves to dig in even deeper. Of course, savoring the subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) differentiation between various versions is the whole point of this mammoth, four-disc set and amply rewards careful and repeated listening.

The music ranges from the old-timey blues feel of “MANCH” to the spiky pointillism of “ISH”; from the outright rocking riffage of “TRIST” to the linear post-bop of “KID"—with plenty of opportunities for exuberantly free, group improvisation and densely textured avant-gardism along the way (“ZADE,” “WUK”). A wide variety of notational strategies are explored, from conventional to graphic to “cartographic,” and while the influence of Anthony Braxton is palpable, Bynum has developed his own organic compositional approach by this point and Navigation is by far his most coherent and fully integrated work to date. But, for me, what is exciting about these recordings is hearing how his Sextet (and 7-tette) has come together as a working band. There are moments on here that remind me of nothing more than the Grateful Dead at their most intuitive, as melodic fragments and rhythmic motifs are tossed around during the elongated transitions, gradually coalescing into the movement’s notated arrangements. This is the sound of a real group-mind thinking its way through music in way that only a well-seasoned band is capable of. The penurious economics of jazz usually dictate ad hoc groupings and a lack of rehearsal so it is really a treat to hear how this group has developed into a supple and adventuresome ensemble—a real band.

With Navigation, Bynum has created his first magnum opus, a large-scale masterpiece that demands your attention and thoughtful response. While any one of these performances would have sufficed to cement Bynum's reputation as both a player and composer, having four—in two different formats—offers the listener an opportunity to experience the multitude of possibilities inherent in this (and any) recording. Rather than presenting the work as fixed in time, self-contained and permanent, Navigation documents the evanescent yet transformative power of improvisational music.  Not just highly recommended—Navigation is essential listening for anyone interested in state-of-the-art musical expression.