 |
 |
Music: Current count 27128 [27090] rated (+38), 374 [369] unrated (+5).
Fairly ordinary week here. I've mostly been looking for recent jazz beyond what's come in the mail. I don't think there's any non-jazz this week (aside from a Haitian comp that has Jazz in the title). Wound up playing many of the downloads I had been sitting on, including ECM's Peter Erskine (really John Taylor) box, and grabbed some older records while failing to find newer ones. Most turned out to be fairly unremarkable, but I did turn up two A- records fronted by saxophonists I've long enjoyed, one retro and one avant.
I suppose the focus on jazz has been a side effect of starting a project to turn my old Jazz Consumer Guide columns into some sort of, well, I call it Recorded Jazz in the Early 21st Century: A Consumer Guide. I wrote 26 Jazz Consumer Guide columns for the Village Voice from April 2004 to May 2011 (archived here), self-published a 27th column in December 2011, and had a draft file open for a 28th. I managed to squeeze a little more than 1000 records into those columns, and I've collected all that writing in a Libre Office Writer file -- using default page and style formats it comes to 144 pages. Probably the best way to view it is as a PDF file, so I've set up a page you can use todownload it.
The page has a form which asks for some questions before you download. I thought it might be nice to keep a count of how many times the file has been downloaded, and to collect some basic information, but the latter is strictly voluntary. I'm not sure, even, that I'll use any collected email addresses, but they would make it possible to interact more in the future. At 144 pages, the book is far from realizing the ambitions of its title. But I still have a lot more writing I can slide into the manuscript: starting with the 7th column in December 2005 I kept two extra files with extensive working notes ("Prospects" and "Surplus"), covering everything I listened to but didn't include in JCG. After that I postedJazz Prospecting andStreamnotes, so I've done a fairly good job of covering new jazz from 2004 to present. There are also reviews inRecycled Goods columns from 2003 through 2013, and a few other scattered reviews (inStatic Multimedia and theVillage Voice).
Thus far I've collected about half of the Prospects/Surplus files, some 330,000 words. Maybe half of that is redundant either with itself or with the published drafts, and what's left needs to be edited more compactly. Still, I expect that when I've done that -- what I call "stage two" -- the manuscript will more than double in size. Then on to "stage three" picking up the post-2011 drafts, which will almost certainly add a like amount.
I'm less sure about "stage four," which involves trying to fill in important albums I missed -- most obviously from 2000-04 but also later. Perhaps that's why I've been focusing more on jazz lately. It's beginning to seem like I may have something tangible to show for what in recent years has often felt like a colossal waste of time.
Not that I'm looking for sheer bulk, but any attempt to cover even just the highlights of jazz records since 2000 is bound to be massive: a quick check of myMusic Database shows that I have listings for 9920 jazz albums where my earliest recording or release dats is 2000 or later. Some of those I haven't heard or rated -- about 10% of post-2000 artists (369/3773) -- so I could wind up expanding the current 144 pages by a factor of something like eight (to 1152 pages). I'm not sure I'm up for all that, but the hard part of the job has already been done.
Would appreciate any feedback on the book project.
New records rated this week:
- Anthony Branker & Imagine: Beauty Within (2016, Origin): [r]: B+(**)
- Peter Brotzmann/Heather Leigh: Ears Are Filled With Wonder (2015 [2016], Not Two): [r]: B
- Burning Ghosts: Burning Ghosts (2015 [2016], Orenda): [r]: B+(**)
- Ron Carter Quartet & Vitoria Maldonado: Brasil L.I.K.E. (2016, Summit): [r]: B+(*)
- Chris Cheek: Saturday Songs (2016, Sunnyside): [r]: B
- The Roger Chong Quartet: Funkalicious (2016, self-released): [cd]: B+(*)
- Tim Davies Big Band: The Expensive Train Set (2013-15 [2016], Origin): [cd]: B
- Paolo Fresu/Richard Gallliano/Jan Lundgren: Mare Nostrum II (2014 [2016], ACT): [r]: B+(**)
- Generations Quartet: Flow (2015 [2016], Not Two): [r]: A-
- Ricardo Grilli: 1954 (2016, Tone Rogue): [cd]: B+(**)
- Scott Hamilton/Harry Allen: Live! (2014 [2016], GAC): [r]: A-
- Darrell Katz and OddSong: Jailhouse Doc With Holes in Her Socks (2015 [2016], JCA): [cd]: B
- Sinikka Langeland: The Magical Forest (2015 [2016], ECM): [dl]: B+(**)
- Shawn Maxwell: Shawn Maxwell's New Tomorrow (2016, OA2): [cd]: B+(**)
- Francisco Mela: Fe (2016, self-released): [r]: B+(**)
- Naima: Bye (2015 [2016], Cuneiform): [dl]: B+(*)
- The Phil Norman Tentet: Then & Now: Classic Sounds & Variations of 12 Jazz Legends (2015 [2016], Summit): [cd]: B+(***)
- Mark Solborg & Herb Robertson: Tuesday Prayers (2016, ILK): [r]: B
- Vinnie Sperrazza/Jacob Sacks/Masa Kamaguchi: Play Tadd Dameron (2015 [2016], Fresh Sound New Talent): [r]: B+(**)
- Michael Jefry Stevens: Brass Tactics (2008 [2016], Konnex): [r]: B+(**)
- Al Strong: Love Strong Volume 1 (2016, Al Strong Music): [cd]: B+(**)
- The U.S. Army Blues: Swamp Romp: Voodoo Boogaloo (2008 [2016], self-released): [cd]: B
- Peter Van Huffel/Alex Maksymiw: Kronix (2015 [2016], Fresh Sound New Talent): [r]: B+(*)
- The Doug Webb Quartet: Sets the Standard (2016, VSOP): [r]: B+(*)
- Nate Wooley: Seven Storey Mountain V (2015 [2016], Pleasure of the Text): [r]: B+(*)
- Denny Zeitlin: Early Wayne: Explorations of Classic Wayne Shorter Compositions (2014 [2016], Sunnyside): [r]: B+(*)
Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries rated this week:
- Harry Beckett: Still Happy (1974 [2016], My Only Desire, EP): [r]: B
- Peter Erskine Trio/John Taylor/Palle Danielsson: As It Was (1992-97 [2016], ECM, 4CD): [dl]: B+(*)
- Tanbou Toujou Lou: Merenge Kompa Kreyou Vodou Jazz & Electric Folklore From Haiti (1960-1981) (1960-81 [2016], Ostinato): [r]: B+(***)
Old music rated this week:
- Ray Anderson/Han Bennink/Christy Doran: A B D (1994-95 [2011], Hatology): [r]: B+(**)
- Harry Beckett's Flugelhorn 4+3: All Four One (1991, Spotlite): [r]: B
- Christy Doran: What a Band (1991 [1992], Hat Art): [r]: B+(***)
- Pierre Dørge & New Jungle Orchestra: Live at Birdland (1999 [2003], Stunt): [r]: B+(***)
- Peter Erskine/Palle Danielsson/John Taylor: You Never Know (1992 [1993], ECM): [dl]: B+(*)
- Peter Erskine/Palle Danielsson/John Taylor: Time Being (1993 [1994], ECM): [dl]: B+(*)
- Peter Erskine/Palle Danielsson/John Taylor: As It Is (1995 [1996], ECM): [dl]: B+(*)
- Peter Erskine/Palle Danielsson/John Taylor: Juni (1997 [1999], ECM): [dl]: B+(*)
- Marco von Orelli 6: Close Ties on Hidden Lanes (2010 [2012], Hatology): [r]: B
- Marco von Orelli 5: Alluring Prospect (2015, Hatology): [r]: B+(*)
Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
- Carol Bach-Y-Rita: Minha Casa/My House (2016, self-released): September 23
- Lou Caimano/Eric Olsen: Dyad Plays Jazz Arias (self-released): September 14
- Gene Ess: Absurdist Theater (SIMP): September 26
- Ricardo Grilli: 1954 (Tone Rogue): October 7
- Barry Guy/Marilyn Crispell/Paul Lytton: Deep Memory (Intakt): advance
- Hearts & Minds (Astral Spirits)
- Honey Ear Trio: Swivel (Little (i) Music)
- Christoph Irniger Pilgrim: Big Wheel Live (Intakt): advance
- Joëlle Léandre/Theo Ceccaldi: Elastic (Cipsela)
- Joe McPhee: Flowers (Cipsela)
- Tony Moreno: Short Stories (Mayimba Jazz, 2CD): October 7
- Eric St-Laurent: Planet (Katzenmusik): September 23
- Rik Wright's Fundamental Forces: Subtle Energy (Hipsync): October 1