Musical Ramblings

Emotional Storm...

Avishai Cohen trio. This is fairly representative of what I saw two weeks ago at the New Morning. Excellent stuff.

Compilation: Murder by Numbers

I've finally migrated all my old CD compilations to iTunes. What I mean by that is that the home-made CDs I used to make filtered from my extensive (and my wife would probably say excessive) CD collection are all scratchy and jump in the car, so instead of just burning them anew, I created them as playlists in iTunes which also allows me to listen to them when I'm traveling.

I try and have some form of coherence with these compilations although they tend to go through multiple genres, but at least I try to ensure some transitions, either by style affinity, instruments, mood, etc. I never have the same artist twice on the same CD (unless he's frontman and sideman, tricky me!) The titles are always from one track present on the compilation.

Anyway, I thought I'd share the track selections, if that's of interest to any of you... I can't set these up as iTunes playlists because most of the tracks don't even exist on iTunes (and I didn't buy most of the music there, it's from good old silver CDs...)

So the first one is one I reworked before burning again. It's called Murder by Numbers.

It's kind of a jazz meets rock thing, starting with what is probably The Police's most intricate song, and then moves on to a jazz-rick number from Derek Trucks' Out of the Madness. Greg Szlapczynski is a soul jazz thing in Polish which I absolutely love. Then we move into progressive jazz territory with the Bad Plus and stay in more classic swing territory with an interesting take on Jimi's Wind Cries Mary by Jamie Cullum. Bojan Z's CD-Rom is a weird jazz meets eastern europe piece with a guest Ulean pipe playing crazy jazz lines, wich is a nice, reedy transition into Hazmat Modine's wonderfully wordly Bahamut. Which nudges us into world jazz territory with Renaud Garcia-Fons' fat sounding five string double bass. From double-bass to cello, we move into William Sheller, and from there back into acoustic jazz with Romane (and wonderful bass player MMLB...) From serious gipsy jazz then onto fun gipsy jazz (not that the serious stuff isn't fun, mind you) with the Lost Fingers and Sanseverino. Thierry Crommen's harmonica carriers us through to harmonica rich Moriarty, and the acoustic spirit is maintained with Siegmeth's very modern take on Petite Fleur. Back to the reeds, and King Crimson's I Talk to the Wind is full of reeds...

1. The Police - Murder by Numbers
2. The Derek Trucks Band - Pleasant Gardens
3. Greg Szlapczynski - Czas Wyleczy Z Ran
4. The Bad Plus - Smells like Teen Spirit
5. Jamie Cullum - Wind Cries Mary
6. Bojan Z - CD-Rom
7. Hazmat Modine - Bahamut
8. Renaud Garcia-Fons - Berimbass
9. William Sheller - Le Témoin Magnifique
10. Romane & Richard Manetti - Invitation
11. The Lost Fingers - Billie Jean
12. Thierry Crommen & Sanseverino - Démolissons les mots
13. Moriarty - Private Lily
14. Hugo Siegmeth - Petite Fleur
15. King Crimson - I Talk to the Wind

Sweet sweet sweet (bulgarity)

Brendan Power is at it again with a video of a second track from his new album on Candy Rat records Lament for the 21st Century. I've always loved Sweet Bulgarit, both live and on Pure and Simple. It's oriental sound is haunting, and the rhythmic riff is so cool.

Well, here it is, a sparse version with just harmonica and Bodhran.

Verrrrrrrrrrrrrrry sweet! And Lucy Randall can groove and then some!

Tee-Tot Quartet: Always Outnumbered

I came in contact with Steuart Liebig's work through Bill Barrett since Bill collaborated to the two Mentones CD and I tend to follow most of Bill's output. The Tee-Tot Quartet is Stuart's latest formation (sans Bill), an unusual blend of instruments for a progressive type of jazz-rock that really is outside the realm of what I commonly listen to.

Always Outnumbered is the Tee-Tot quartet's first release. I don't know if the term jam-jazz-rock has been coined, but to me it's an apt description of what this surprising band does. The line up is Joseph Berardi on drums, Steuart Liebig on bass, Scot Ray on dobro and Dan Clucas on cornet. The latter two bring different sonorities and related influences to the overall sound of the band. Clucas' spans the period between 30s early jazz and blue note era trumpet while Ray brings in a rootsy blues sound as well as the more oriental material he's known for in his solo work (on his stunning album Rumi).

Since the material written is in neither of these genres, what you get is an avant-garde blend of these that's hard to define stylistically. It's very listenable however, which is the first quality I tend to look for in a jazz record. That's not to say that the avant-garde nob is not cranked up quite high, but there's always in anchor in the music, whether it's a background groove by Liebig and Berardi (as in 07-04-00, the opening number) or a melody by Clucas, Ray and/or Liebig himself (as in Mercy Kitchen).

The sonar landscape ranges from quiet, sparse moments (Serenade) to pretty brutally intense parts (as in Chucktown) where the improvs range pretty far out. I'm sometimes surprised myself that these sections don't actually lose me. I suspect it's partly due to my own ears (and brain) having adapted to a higher degree of harmonic exploration than what I used to be able to take (listening these last couple of years to a lot of MMW, Bad Plus and Ray and Barrett's own Gutpuppet must have helped...) I also think that there's an element of familiarity in the sounds, and despite being stylistically nowhere near the 30s jazz, blues or indian music that form of the sonic influences, these constitute a grounding that I relate to to take in the wilder things happening.

Altogether a very cool record, that I will be listening to again and again, probably discovering a lot of new stuff to it over time. Much recommended!

Avishai Cohen in Paris

Last Friday, me and some friends went to the New Morning for a concert by Israeli double-bass player Avishai Cohen and his trio. I fell in love with Cohen's Continuo last year, and that particular album was my soundtrack for driving during the summer holiday. I purchased the recent Gently Disturbed when it came out earlier this year, but I hadn't had the time to delve deep into it. Something this concert has now remedied.

The evening, to be frank, didn't start off all that well. The queue in front of the New Morning was like nothing I'd ever seen before, the New Morning had clearly sold over capacvity, and not only was there no way to be seated, but there was virtually no way to be standing either. We were a little bit pissed off waiting for the trio to take the stage, standing on one feet or behind a pillar, but fortunately as soon as the music started, all that was washed away.

The thing I find miraculous about Avishai Cohen's trio is that their music is incredibly organic, integrated. This is not, in the tradition of American jazz trios, a rhythm section of bass and drums supporting a pianist. It is not either an unusual rhythm and harmony section of piano and drums that would somehow put forward a bass soloist. Every composition is a trio piece, in the same way that classical (or prog rock) arrangements work, and while that still leaves some space for improvisation, I would venture to say that that is not the most interesting thing about Avishai Cohen's Trio, amazing as the musicians that constitute it are individually.

Another very interesting aspect of their music is that, though this is undeniably jazz, the baggage that the three musicians contribute is not, or very little, a jazz baggage. Pianist Shai Maestro (very apt surname, let me tell you...) is clearly steeped in a classical music tradition while drummer Marc Giuliana bathes in polyrhythms with occasional furious forays into a past that must have included heavy rock at some stage. Cohen himself is perhaps the most "american jazz school" of the three, but draws heavily from the oriental music tradition of his country (Israël).

With such a mix of influences you might fear a pot-pourri feel to the music, but it's the opposite that happens. As I said, it's incredibly organic. Very western sounding harmonies underpin the melodies, and both Cohen's and Maestro's improvisations are very melodic (though Cohen remains mostly in whereas Maestro wanders out a little more often).Cohen's playing is very lyrical and even though he's a lot less exploratory in his solos than Maestro, he has a beautiful fat sound that contributes emotional power.

As distinctive as the trio's compositions are, I didn't always manage to associate themes with titles, but I did recognise Nu Nu and Elli from Continuo as well as Eleven Wives and a stunning Ever Evolving Etude from Gently Disturbed. This last piece is very characteristic of the rhythmic work done by Maestro and Guiliana. It starts with a near mechanical sequence of notes on the piano, soon doubled by the bass, but gradually Maestro intersperses counter-rhythms as Giuliana joins the fray. I felt jubilation hearing them build up the tune by gradually adding melodic and rhythmic ingredients, like a post-modern non-US centric jazzed up Memphis Soul Stew.

Another very interesting feature of the trio is that, depite their music being more written and arranged than your average jazz formation, and despite the intricacy of it all, these guys groove like all hell. They manage to get the whole audience up on their feet shaking their bums on very odd time signatures (I'm not good at identifying exactly the signatures, but I do notice when they go outisde 4/4 and 12/8, which was more or less all the time.)

To top it all, stage presence and interaction was excellent. Cohen didn't talk much, but the stage set-up was such that you could see the three musicians very well, and they could see each other very well. The smiles, winks and other head nudges were unmistakeable, this was music in the making, with its surprises and subtle interplay. These guys were having fun, and when Cohen started jumping behind his double bass, the energy was palpable.

For the encore, Cohen came back on his own and started singing a melancholy Yiddish song, accompanying himself with the bow. It was a real change of pace, and very moving. Cohen has a deep melodic voice. Maestro then crept to his piano and began backing the bandleader very subtly. When Giuliana extracted his sticks and started breaking the rhythm patterns, we knew we were in for another treat. Pressure (and groove) started mounting, Cohen was still singing, and plucking his bass, grooving up the line. The whole audience got up and started dancing.

They followed with another sung number that had a catchy chorus we could all sing, and by now everybody in the room was just into it. It was, it has to be said, an unusual jazz audience with many ladies who did not look like they'd just been dragged here by their husbands/boyfriends (as opposed to what it usually looks like, unfortunately...) and were just as charmed and stunned as the rest of us. When the band finally left, the crowd continued chanting that chorus until they finally walked back on stage and re-joined the song for another 5 minutes or so. It was a very uplifting way for the concert to end.

This was my first experience of Cohen's trio live, and I sure hope it's not the last. I saw that they were playing the Bataclan in Paris in October, and if my international travels allow me, I sure intend to be there.

Muppets Lurve!

Brendan Power's drunken landlady

Brendan Power is releasing a couple of new records including, a solo harmonica record (at least I'm assuming it's solo...) called 21st Century Lament. There's a video on Youtube of him recording an Irish reel ( or is it a jig, I never know?) called The Drunken Landlady and it's simply stunning.

Have a good laugh, it's on me !

I like Joe Cocker. I'm not a humungous fan, but the man's got guts and he expresses them. But he can sound a little bit like he's singing with his mouth full of chewing gum at times...