MAY 2024: Music I Lived to Listen To

This was a tough month. I was finishing up teaching and getting ready to start up again, very fatigued; trying to organize scholarship awards in memory of a too-soon-departed friend; playing Cecil Taylor albums every day very loudly (Nicole hadn’t finished teaching yet, so I was home alone with six cats and the stereo turned to 11), thanks to Phil Freeman’s outstanding upcoming biography In the Brewing Luminous (read my pal Ken Shimamoto’s outstanding review here); experiencing unusual trouble really getting into new albums (I can hear my current Conservatory students and my lovable provocateur Kevin Bozelka whispering, “Get into singles, get lit, and sing some karaoke, Phil!”); and…also being more than a bit depressed about the state of the country and this world, my mom having to be in an assisted living facility, and already having 62 trips around the sun under my belt while, with Sandy Denny on heavy rotation, wondering in vain who really knows where that time has gone. I couldn’t even imagine getting this done.

BUT the indefatigable Adeem the Artist–why could I not muster the energy to go see them when they were playing a little club here, after all they’ve done for humanity in just three albums?–Mdou Moctar‘s defiant guitar and words, and a wonderfully weird Sun Ra excavation jolted me into action. I hope you all are not having the same struggles. But I bet you are having some of them.

(I would also like to thank, along with the above artists, my current students in an alleged “rock and roll” class at Stephens College for delighting me with their work and commentary–enjoy their “Top 5 Album” lists below.)

These records made me happy in May.

Adeem The Artist: ANNIVERSARY (Thirty Tigers /Four Quarters) From the personal to the public, this pansexual writer continues to vividly capture the complications and cruelties that are us–they could stand to work on the melodies, though, but I’ll settle.

Les Amazones d’Afrique: Musow Dance (Real World). Jumpin’, jubilant, empowering, even if I’m not an African woman and I don’t understand the words–and I love the synths and 808s!

Anitta: Funk Generation (Republic / Universal) This Brazilian temptress is edging toward “force of nature” status, and I think the label may have misspelled the first word of the album title.

Bloodest Saxophone featuring Crystal Thomas: Extreme Heat (Continental Record Services) I am charmed by this jubilant 25-years-together-and countin’ Japanese jump blues outfit, and Ms. Thomas, while not exactly Ruth Brown or Etta Jones–those are high bars–gives it her boisterous all.

Creation Rebel: High Above Harlesden 1978-2023 (On-U Sound) I am pretty new to the Creation Rebel experience–I knew not of their Prince Far I and Adrian Sherwood connections–but the inexpensiveness and cover photo, plus a reggae jones that I can never quite dampen, pushed me forward with the following result: I’ve listened to the entire six-disc box three times and, thanks to some pit-stops in space and other non-Caribbean locations, they hold one’s attention.

Billie Eilish: HIT ME HARD & SOFT (Dark Room / Interscope) I listened to it and heard a remarkable stylistic tour de force for one so young (including a very welcome opening-up of her voice and one of the most vivid, longing, and funny oral sex songs I’ve ever heard); many others listened and heard a scattershot record, so…whom do you trust more, me or the many?

Ibibio Sound Machine: Pull the Rope (Merge) 2017’s Uyai lifted me so much I still have a poster of Eno Williams up in my office, but she and they have struggled to match that one since, though this comes awfully damn close.

Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh, and Tyshawn Sorey: Compassion (ECM) A bracingly calming (is that a possible state of being?) set by three relatively young masters–I can simply listen to Sorey and be entranced–and maybe that’s what they mean by “compassion”: couldn’t we all stand to be braced by calm?

Matt Wilson’s Good Trouble: Matt Wilson’s Good Trouble (Palmetto) I received a review copy of this and, for some reason, the cover photo (which is fine) left me in a mood of obligation when I slid it into the CD changer, but I found it exciting: a) John Lewis’ title concept we still need to be reminded to mind; b) Wilson’s one helluva a drummer; c) the saxophonists–Jeff Lederer and Tia Fuller–are on fire; and d) they cover Prime Time Ornette (“Feet Music”!) with panache.

Joe McPhee (with Ken Vandermark): Musings of a Bahamanian Son (Catalytic Sound) Anyone who’s followed my blog for long knows I ride or die with this 84-year-old multi-instrumentalist, imaginative noise-maker, and cultural envoy from Poughkeepsie–but damned if I expected he’d release a terrific album of original poetry (with some honking assists by long-time buddy Ken Vandermark) that any young gun will have trouble topping this year.

Mdou Moctar: Funeral for Justice (Matador) I have been to many concerts in my life, and heard some amazing guitar players–including Sonic Youth’s at their absolute peak–but the 10+-minute wildfire I saw Moctar start in a little cafe in Columbia, Missouri, in 2019 tops them all, and this AOTY candidate’s his first one that gets within spitting distance of that (oh, and the translations are worth reading, as the album title has probably already tipped you).

Rapsody: Please Don’t Cry (We Each Other / Jamla Records) I’ve actually been longing for a new Rapsody record for awhile, as perhaps many of you have, and, for the patient–it’s a bit of an epic–the wait’s been worth it, especially because one of the best rappers alive tempers her wrenching reportage of her mental health struggles with a very combative spirit.

Sun Ra: Excelsior Mill (Sundazed / Modern Harmonic) The Sun One, in a perfect sound-image of the Phantom of the Opera, playing “the biggest pipe organ in the South” at Atlanta’s title club with just a bit of percussional help from the Arkestra–if you think that over 40 minutes of that would have to be a bit much, you’re just wrong, as it is an astonishing aural trip–complete with wry quotes, Ellingtonian choo-choo noises, phantasmagoria, and (of course space) travel–that was by far my favorite trip of any kind in May.

Sun Ra: Pink Elephants on Parade (Modern Harmonic) Most readers who know the work of Sun Ra and His Arkestra also know they would occasionally knock out a Disney cover, and, while this could actually benefit from a little more weirdness, it’s fun for the whole family, unlike most Arkestra records.

Students in Stephens College’s outstanding Conservatory are taking an asynchronous online course with me that’s stubbornly titled “Rock and Roll History” by the school. It’s actually built around Berklee neuroscience professors Susan Rogers and Ogi Ogas’ book This is What It Sounds Like, which examines what brain science tells us about our connections to music, most fascinatingly through establishing a listening profile that asks the reader to truly examine their attractions. The neat thing–to me, anyway–is that students bring their own musical passions to the course and don’t have to endure me cramming “historically significant works” down their throats. To try to keep a toe in the titular pool, every week they are required to ask me a question about “rock and roll history”–and I ask them one. I often go to great lengths to answer their questions (it’s actually the lecture section of the course) and they (wisely) go to lesser lengths to answer mine.

Last week, I asked them to assess Billie Eilish’s new album (their takes resemble very closely the current critical division on that subject), plus post their Top 5 albums. When I ask students about their jams, I’m consistently amazed, considering how much music I listen to and how widely I range to do so, how little I really know about. For your pleasure, here are their lists (for their amusement, I bolded the relatively few albums they’ve chosen that I’ve actually heard). Mine (at least at the time of my posting them) are at the end–they change daily, if not hourly.

Student 1

(I am only naming the students if I have their permission, and I’m still waiting for some of those.)

A Letter To My Younger Self – Quinn XCII

Inside – Bo Burnham

Death of a Bachelor – Panic! at the Disco

Off to the Races – Jukebox the Ghost

The Greatest Showman – Various Artists

Student 2

Cowboy Carter – Beyonce

GUTS – Olivia Rodrigo

Emails I can’t send – Sabrina Carpenter

The Rise and Fall Of a Midwestern Princess – Chappell Roan

IGOR – Tyler, The Creator

Student 3

Obviously – Lake Street Dive

SOUR – Olivia Rodrigo

Emails I Can’t Send – Sabrina Carpenter

Oh the Places You’ll Go – Doechii

Stick Season – Noah Kahan

Student 4

The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology – Taylor Swift

Songs I Wrote in My Bedroom – Anson Seabra

cemeteries and socials – Paris Paloma

Now That I’ve Been Honest – Maddie Zahm

EPIC: The Underworld Saga – Jorge Rivera-Herrans

Student 5

Shrek the Musical

Hadestown

The Lightning Thief

Come from Away

Something Rotten!

Student 6

evermore – Taylor Swift

Muna – Muna

The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess – Chappell Roan

the record – boygenius

The Tortured Poets Department – Taylor Swift

Claire McLewin

Build a Problem – Dodie

Demidevil – Ashnikko

WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? – Billie Eilish

Typical of Me EP – Laufey

Midwest Kids Can Make It Big – Lauren Sanderson

Student 8

Misadventures – Pierce the Veil

The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess – Chappell Roan

How to Be a Human Being – Glass Animals

After Laughter – Paramore

SOUR – Olivia Rodrigo

Sawyer Nevins

Julie Is Her Name – Julie London

Latin ala Lee – Peggy Lee

Tragic Kingdom – No Doubt

Under the Pink – Tori Amos

Les Demoiselles de Rochefort – Michel Legrand

Student 10

ORQUÍDEAS – Kali Uchis

Gemini Rights – Steve Lacy

Willow – Willow

Volcano – Jungle

Portals – Melanie Martinez

Student 11

Montero – Lil Nas X

Call Me By Your Name Soundtrack – Sufjan Stevens and Various Artists

Something To Give Each Other – Troye Sivan

Night Work – Scissor Sisters

I Disagree – Poppy

Student 12

WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? – Billie Elilish

RAZZMATAZZ – I DON’T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME

American Boys – Don McLean

The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess – Chappell Roan

Now, Not Yet – Half•Alive

Izzy Porzillo

AAAH!BA – Brian David Gilbert

SCREAMING IN THE MIRROR – Sunday Cruise

Big Man Says Slappydoo – GUPPY

LOUDMOUTH – VIAL

Am I Pretty? – Sunday Cruise

Makenzie Schutter

Impera – Ghost

The Connect: Déjà vu – Monsta x

How to: Friend, Love, Freefall – Rainbow Kitten Surprise

Who Am I? – Palewaves

Inside – Bo Burnham

Kaley Sikora

Next to Normal – Tom Kitt & Brian Yorkey

THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: THE ANTHOLOGY – Taylor Swift

Happier Than Ever – Billie Eilish

Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 – Dave Malloy

Love Me Forever – Pinkshift

Paige “Blue” Trew

When the World Stopped Moving: The Live EP – Lizzie McAlpine

Prelude to Ecstasy – The Last Dinner Party

Sunset Season: EP – Conan Gray

Through the Tides – Fish in a Birdcage

Waterfall – Fish in a Birdcage

Student 17

Into The Woods – 2022 Broadway Cast Recording

Faith In the Future (Deluxe) – Louis Tomlinson

The Comeback – Zac Brown Band

Portraits – Birdy

Kid Krow – Conan Gray

Student 18

Where Owls Know My Name – Rivers of Nihil

The Violent Sleep of Reason – Meshuggah

Masego – Masego

It Is What It Is – Thundercat

Remember That You Will Die – Polyphia

My Lists (of course I had to make two)!

My five favorite albums when I was 19:

The Clash: London Calling

Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited

Public Image Limited: Second Edition

Gang of Four: Entertainment

John Coltrane Quartet: A Love Supreme

My five favorite albums at 62 (these change from day to day–I have thousands of them):

Professor Longhair: Crawfish Fiesta

Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys: The Tiffany Transcriptions, Volume 3–Basin Street Blues

Carmen McRae: As Time Goes By-Alone-Live at the Dug

Joni Mitchell: Blue

Tie: The Velvet Underground: 1969 Live / The Flying Burrito Brothers: The Gilded Palace of Sin

April 2024: Music I Lived to Listen To

I will again try to comment meaningfully on each of the following alphabetically-ordered new release in single complete sentences. Two introductory notes, though:

Later this year, Phil Freeman’s Cecil Taylor biography In the Brewing Luminous will be published. I’m reading a review copy, and I’m here to tell you it’s outstanding. First of all, this book was badly needed, given Taylor’s singular genius and influence; second of all, in well-documented form it gathers much info that’s out there in one place; third, it’s so comprehensive it’s alerted this passionate fan to recordings he’s never heard of; fourth–no surprise with Mr. Freeman–it advances some critical arguments very convincingly; and fifth, in a continuance from Freeman’s stellar electric Miles investigation, Running the Voodoo Down, the author excels–really excels–at describing a furious, sometimes byzantine music in very distinctive and accurate detail. That’s a trick I really envy; if I could do a fifth as good a job as Freeman, I’d be writing about jazz much more frequently. Check out Phil’s chock-full Burning Ambulance Substack to learn more.
I’m not that much a fan of Light in the Attic’s new Lou Reed tribute The Power of the Heart–at all–but that damn Bobby Rush will be ninety-one in November, and if Sally truly can’t dance, he sure as hell can. He elides a few phrases in Reed’s lyric I bet he wasn’t wholly comfortable with, but he, as per usual for many, many years, sells the song. Hear it in the Spotify Playlist linked at the bottom!

April Top 15 New Platters:

Byron Asher’s Skrontch Music: Lord, when you send the rain (Sinking City)–Like Asher’s previous Skrontch Music album, the problems of New Orleans’ (and other places’) present send him backwards into the future, with spoken clips, traditional instrumentation, and post-modern feints and juxtapositions helping us get why.

Bruno Berle: No Reino Dos Afetos 2 (Psychic Hotline)–The Bandcamp description of this soothing singer’s project (the first volume is excellent, too) informs us that lo-fi, dub step, and other ingredients are utilized to help Berle break away from the Brazilian expected–but I also note that it notes the album’s “sun-soaked” and “sun-drenched” affect, so maybe that’s just historical gravity, not at all a bad thing.

Beyonce: Cowboy Carter (Parkwood Entertainment)–OK, so it’s not all that country (please dig out featured vet Linda Martell’s Color Me Country if you want that)–it’s just a really good Beyonce album, but, with much less pre-release hype and in-release bombast, I’d argue Mickey Guyton made a stronger statement with Remember Her Name in ’21 without riding a horse or wearing a cowboy hat (plus she turned whiskey into wine).

Buck 65, doseone, Jel: North American Adonis (Handsmade)–Rap earworm line of the year from this on-a-serious-verbal-roll Canadian MC is that he bets his CDs are gonna be “alive in a landfill”–that’s thinking ahead.

Cedric Burnside: Hill Country Love (Mascot / Provogue)–The North Mississippi Hill Country blues practitioners are getting whittled down something considerable, R. L.’s grandson’s has gamely tried keep the style alive with some gently modern tweaks, and he finally nails it here.

James Carter: UN (J.M.I. Recordings)–J.M.I.’s cutting analog jazz vinyl, and, while I have not heard them all (David Murray’s 2023 offerings, solo and with Plumb, were impressive), this is tops for them so far, causing one to wonder why it’s taken JC this long to wax an unaccompanied set…though I’m still waiting for his Earl Bostic tribute album.

Big Freedia & The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra: Live at the Orpheum Theater (Queen Diva)–A bounce orchestra’s taking it too far, you might think, but you SHOULD already know not to sell the Queen Diva short.

Miha Gantar: New York City (Clean Feed)–When I received a digital review copy of this 5-disc collection of new compositions and improvisations by the 26-year-old Slovenian pianist, I rolled my eyes but, as I have sworn to do with these “gifts,” gave it a shot–then found myself so mesmerized not only by the variable moods and configurations (strings, solo, drums only, collab with sax sensation Zoh Amba, etc.), but also by the distinctiveness of the six-count-’em-six pieces that I listened to the whole thing straight through and determined that it’s my favorite jazz release of the year.

Matt Lavelle and the 12 Houses: The Crop Circles Suite, Part 1 (Mahakala Music)–NYC clarinetist, trumpeter, composer and conductor Lavelle, long a very underrated player on the jazz scene, released this, (it looks like the first half of) his “life’s work,” on his 54th birthday: easily one of the genre’s most ambitious, successful and inspiring records of the young year.

Meshell Ndegeocello (and Friends): Red Hot & Ra – The Magic City (Red Hot Org)–You know you cannot resist the pull of the perennially underrated Ndegeocelleo, assisted by jazz compatriots Immanuel Wilkins and Darius Jones, putting a fresh spin on The Sun One–which the Red Hot Org label seems recently dedicated to doing, with a Kronos Quartet set in the offing.

Tomeka Reid Quartet: 3 + 3 (Cuneiform)–More and more predictably, when you put Reid and guitarist Mary Halvorson in the same room, sparks will fly along with those fingers, and aural magic will be the result, as it is here.

Ann Savoy: Another Heart (Smithsonian Folkways)–Surprise of the month: a passionate combo of covers (Springsteen, Sandy Denny, Kinks!) and originals sung and played by acclaimed Cajun historian and member of one of the style’s most acclaimed and hardest working families, a Top-Tenner to my ears (and…heart).

Reyna Tropical: Reyna Tropical (Psychic Hotline)–I swear I’ve run into one of these albums every month for a couple of years: a moody, sexy, lithely swinging, electronic trance-r&b–maybe in this case, yeah, trance–tropical–album that I can’t quit playing and beats monkey gland shots or whatever, which means I might need to dive into the artist’s considerable (for her age) back catalog.

Fay Victor: Life is Funny That Way—Herbie Nichols Sung (TAO Forms)–I’ll admit that, while an earlier 2024 group from Brazil did successfully sing Bill Evans, I thought star-crossed jazz pianist Nichols’ quirky compositions were too high a hurdle, but then I didn’t know diddley about Victor, whose scatting isn’t just experimental but vies with Carter, McRae, Ross, and Vaughan (stylistically, not really Ella, though) at their most daring; the band makes it over the bar as clearly.

Bob Vylan: Humble as the Sun (Ghost Theater)–A youngster for our times, though, compared to his last two records, this one seems almost autumnal, as if the pure revolutionary fire he regularly lights has prematurely aged him–but these times can do that, too.

April Top 10 Old Platters [Post-Record Store Day CD Meteor Shower (for me, every day is RSD)].

Alice Coltrane: The 1971 Carnegie Hall Concert (Impulse!)–The latest entry in the Alice Coltrane revival is the rowdiest and maybe the best, thanks to horns shaking things up.

Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru: Souvenirs (Mississippi Records)–As they do a Professor Longhair platter, all homes that dig music need a record by the recently-departed, ghost-fingered Ethiopian pianist and nun, but this is her first recording with vocals, which I wasn’t completely certain hadn’t slowed down her already sauntering roll–but, upon two more listens, I was wrong again.

Grupo Irakere: Teatro Amadeo Roldan Recital (Mr. Bongo)–Cuban bands come no hotter than this one, and this is their long-unavailable debut recording (and it’s not just hot).

Rail Band: Rail Band (Mississippi Records)–Another debut recording by a legendary band, this one from Mali, this one too long-unavailable, and featuring not one but two legendary vocalists: Salif Keita and Mory Kanté.

Sonny Rollins: Freedom Weaver–The 1959 European Tour Recordings (Resonance)–My good pal Chris Gray, referring to this album, wondered who could complain about “live Rollins ’59,” and. while I whole-heartedly agree, especially since Sonny’s working in a trio format, Sonny would soon hit the bridge to…woodshed; I promise you that if you’re ever this good at what you do that you think you’re not good enough, you might just need lysergic therapy. (Note: RSD 2024 choice now available on CD.)

Sun Ra: At the Showcase Live in Chicago 1976-1977 (Elemental Music)–Ra in Chicago, always a spot for top-of-the-line spaceworks, with the band orbiting. (Note: RSD 2024 choice now available on CD.)

Art Tatum: Jewels In the Treasure Box (Resonance)–Mainly, you need to know this Tatum is in trio mode, which naturally cuts into his usual carnival of pianistics but also allows guitarist Everett Barksdale and legendary bassist Slam Stewart to show their scintillating stuff. (Note: RSD 2024 choice now available on CD.)

Various Artists: Congo Funk! Sound Madness From The Shores Of The Mighty Congo River (Analog Africa)–Key words: “Congo,” “Funk!” (exclamation point earned), “Sound Madness,” “Mighty”–and “Analog Africa; in other words, “Merde, putain, lâche-toi le cul et jam !” (Et j’adore de la confiture!)

Various Artists: New York City Hardcore: The Way It Is (Revelation Records)–I had not heard of any of these bands, but all the vocalists sound in some way like my best friend, former ranter, opera buff, free jazz buff, French-Canadian advocate, European football nut, and scientist Mark Pelletier, so it’s a win.

Mal Waldron & Steve Lacy: The Mighty Warriors Live in Antwerp (Elemental Music)–Both these now-underrated instrumentalists started out trad, in a way–pianist Waldron accompanying twilight-era Billie Holiday, soprano saxophonist Lacy playing New Orleans jazz–but ended up taking things just out enough to be trenchantly in, and they were master players, especially live, and here they are backed by two more flexible and pretty legendary rhythm controllers you heard about last week: bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille. (Note: RSD 2024 choice now available on CD–and it might be the pick of the litter.)

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST:

LABELS TO WATCH: Psychic Hotline (Durham, North Carolina), Sinking City (always—New Orleans), Mahakala Music (Little Rock, Arkansas)

IT ENDS HERE: My Favorite Albums of 2023

As DJ Heraclitus said, you can’t listen to the same record twice. I was lucky to simply listen to each of these records once (I at least did that), and many of them changed with me when (if?) I came back to them. Anohni’s, though, held my top spot for most of the year and finished there: it’s not a fun record, but this ain’t a fun planet, and I don’t live in a fun state (Missouri), and her album title rings too true around here and so many other places in the world. It’s a reminder to keep fighting, keep living, and keep loving–as well as to knock people off that bridge–and it documents an artist whose singing and writing has grown considerably over the years (the commitment was always there). I might have been influenced by her appearance in two 2023 books on Lou Reed, which caused me to re-examine her early work as well as the Berlin DVD. Anyway, the untamed Niafunke guitarist Bounaly made a strong run at her top spot, even took it for a spell, but that was pure rush instead of a finely honed artistic statement of the times, so…I ended up sticking to my guns. Support trans human beings and fight the heartless to the end.

It was a stunning year for jazz, of all challenging and/or beautiful stripes, and (across genres, too) women continue to make their mark (see next ‘graf). Canto, Chimaera, and Beyond Dragons were among the Top 10 jazz records of the year by anyone, period. The indefatigable Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii (as usual) delivered multiple engaging albums of her own as well as participating in those of others (see the list–they all made it unless I missed one). Make it a 2024 project to investigate her if you’ve yet to.

Jamila Woods took Joni Mitchell to the southside of Chicago. Gina Birch still wears her Docs and plays her bass loud. boygenius are girlgenius. Jessie Ware made us feel good when Roisin Murphy made us feel bad or at best confused. Romy delivered a gorgeous, same-sex-heartbroke (please excuse my awkwardness), late-night electronic telegram. Transformative, liberating lightning hit Corinne Bailey Rae. Big Freedia grew bigger. Kari Faux, Sexxy Red, and–on a different level–K. Michelle handled their shit on the urban streets of the midwest and midsouth. And…oh yeah…Olivia (though could she not have totally rocked OUT on SNL?).

It’s easy to dismiss old soul-blues dudes. I beg of you, LISTEN: 90-year-old Bobby Rush waxed a record that isn’t just good for a nonagenarian–he can still sing, pick, blow, and parse the times with players a quarter of his age–and relative greenhorn Robert Finley handed in a hard-assed, funny, and deep record that Dan Auerbach endowed with just the right touch, do not fear.

Last, this year was the first time I actually witnessed a Top-Tenner play in person. The Columbia Experimental Music Festival went out with a bang, bringing in the titanic tenor of James Brandon Lewis, whose 2-CD For Mahalia / These are Soulful Days (the latter one of the greatest jazz-horn-with-strings performance ever recorded) was the peak of his relatively brief career. We got to see him play with one of his favorite drummers, Chad Taylor, and they ’bout blew the top off of the First Baptist Church of Columbia, Missouri. Speaking of the CEMF, the ending of which has at least temporarily crippled our music scene, its founder Matt Crook somehow found a way to bring the Ukrainian pianist and inventor of continuous music, Lubomyr Melnyk, to town for a solo piano performance in our historic Methodist church downtown. Melnyk debuted a piece called “The Sacred Thousand” at the concert; it had not yet been recorded in the studio. The Bandcamp site for the recently released version says it best: The piece is “[d]edicated to the heroic Ukrainian soldiers who held out against the enormous Russian army for several weeks in the Azov Steel Plant of Mariupol…. it is a spiritual journey into the soul of man… into the Beautiful Depths of our spiritual strength.”

Thank all of you who have visited this blog and worried that I hadn’t bathed in weeks in order to keep up. I have indeed listened to most of these albums at least twice and I vouch for their ability to move you. IF you’re receptive. Happy hollerdays and may 2024 not crush us.

My Final 2023 List

–If an album makes the list, it sounds and feels to me like the equivalent of a Pitchfork 7.5 or better, an All Music 3 ½ stars or better, or an Xgauvian **Honorable Mention or better.
–At this point, one can assume that my Top 20-50 sound to me the equivalent of an A-, but I’m a teacher in my other incarnation, so watch me for grade inflation. It cannot be assumed safely, though, that my Top 10 are all straight A’s.
–After the first 50, my “rankings” are a bit loose—though I’ve been toning them up to represent comparative quality to the degree my sanity is not threatened; similarly, the entirety of my “Excavations and Reissues” I rank pretty loosely other than the Top 10 (in this “final” case).

Items in bold are new to the list I posted at the end of the previous month. I just added a few today—and I’m done.

Anohni: My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross (Secretly Canadian)
Bounaly: Dimanche a Bamako (Sahel Sounds)
James Brandon Lewis: For Mahalia (with Love) (AUM Fidelity 2-CD version)
Jessie Ware: That! Feels Good! (Universal)
Lubomyr Melnyk: The Sacred Thousand (Jersika Records)
Gina Burch: I Play My Bass Loud (Third Man)
boygenius: the record (Interscope)
Robert Finley: Black Bayou (Easy Eye)
Romy: Midair (Young)
Jamila Woods: Water Made Us (Jagjaguwar)
Sylvie Couvousier: Chimaera (Intakt)
Noname: Sundial (AWAL Recordings America)
Buck 65: Punk Rock B-Boy (self-released)
The Mark Lomax II Trio: Tapestry (CFG Multimedia)
Miguel Zenon & Luis Perdomo: El Arte del Bolero, Volume 2 (ArcArtists)
Wild Up: Julius Eastman, Volume 3—If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich? (New Amsterdam)
100 gecs: 10,000 gecs (Dog Show/Atlantic)
Corinna Bailey Rae: Black Rainbows (Black Rainbows)
Zach Bryan: Zach Bryan (Belting Bronco)
Armand Hammer: We Buy Diabetes Test Strips (Backwoodz Studios)
Big Freedia: Central City (Queen Diva)
Buck 65: Super Dope (self-released)
Ohad Talmor: Back to the Land (Intakt)
The Fugs: Dancing in the Universe (Fugs Records)
Olivia Rodrigo: Guts (Geffen)
Jason Moran: From the Dancehall to the Battlefield (Yes Records)
Hamell on Trial: Bring the Kids (Saustex)
billy woods & Kenny Segal: Maps (Backwoodz Studios)
Gard Nilssen’s Supersonic Orchestra: Family (We Jazz)
Aesop Rock: Integrated Tech Solutions (Rhymesayers)
Mark Turner: Live at the Village Vanguard (Giant Step Arts)
Assiko Golden Band de Grand Yoff: Magg Tekki (Mississippi Records)
Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Spirit Gatherer—A Tribute to Don Cherry (Spiritmuse)
Wadada Leo Smith: Fire Illuminations (Kabell)
Meshell Ndegeocello: The Omnichord Real Book (Blue Note)
Adriana Calcanhotto: Errante (BMG)
Tyler Mitchell Octet: Sun Ra’s Journey featuring Marshall Allen (Cellar Live)
Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah & Chief Adjuah: Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning (Ropeadope)
National Information Society: Since Time is Gravity (Eremite)
Allen Lowe and the Constant Sorrow Orchestra: In the Dark (ESP-Disk)
Liv.e: Girl in The Half Pearl (Real Life / AWAL)
Angelika Niescier, Tomeka Reid, and Savannah Harris: Beyond Dragons (Intakt)
Jelly Roll: Whitsitt Chapel (Stoney Creek)
Fire! Orchestra: Echoes (Rune Grammofon)
Filipe Catto: Belezas Sao Coisis Acesas por Dentro (Joia Moderna)
Dropkick Murphys: Okemah Rising (Dummy Luck Music)
Susan Alcorn: Canto (Relative Pitch)
DJ Maphorisa & Tman Xpress: Chukela (New Money Gang)
Jason Adasiewicz: Roscoe Village—The Music of Roscoe Mitchell (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
K. Michelle: I’m the Problem (No Color No Sound)
Janelle Monae: The Age of Pleasure (Bad Boy)
Joe McPhee and Bill Orcutt: A Mouth at Both Ends (ISSUE)
Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter Five—In the garden (Constellation)
Kari Faux: REAL BITCHES DON’T DIE (drunk sum wtr records)
Brandy Clark: Brandy Clark (Warner)
Ashley McBryde: The Devil I Know (Warner Nashville)
Sexxy Red: Hood Hottest Princess (Open Shift)
Poli & The Gwo Ka Masters: Abri Cyclonique (Real World)
Bobby Rush: All My Love for You (Deep Rush / Thirty Tigers)
Irreversible Entanglements: Protect Your Light (Impulse! / Verve)
Jaimie Branch: Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) (International Anthem)
Yaeji: With a Hammer (XL Recordings)
Bettye LaVette: LaVette! (Jay-Vee)
London Brew: London Brew (Concord)
William Hooker: Flesh & Bones (Org Music)
Tyshawn Sorey: Continuing (Pi Recordings)
J.D. Allen: This (Savant)
Ryoko Ono & Satoko Fujii: Hakuro (label unknown)
Rodrigo Campos: Pagode Novo (YB Music)
Kali Uchis: Red Moon in Venus (Geffen)
Kelela: Raven (Warp)
Isach Skeidsvoll: Dance to Summon (Ultraani Records)
Killer Mike: Michael (Loma Vista)
Emil Amos: Zone Black (Drag City)
Marina Sena: Vicio Inerente (Sony)
Young Fathers: Heavy Heavy (Ninja Tune)
Maria Jose Llergo: Ultrabella (Sony)
David Mirarchi: Ink Folly, Orchid Gleam (Unbroken Sounds)
Superless: Superless (Oyvind Jazzforum)
Algiers: Shook (Matador)
Buselli – Wallarab Jazz Orchestra: The Gennett Suite (Patois Records)
Lewis Capaldi: Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent (Vertigo Berline)
Low Cut Connie: Art Dealers (Contender)
Tyvek: Overground (Gingko)
corook: serious person (part 1) (Atlantic)
Ice Cold Bishop: Generational Curse (Ice Cold Entertainment)
Allen Lowe and The Constant Sorrow Orchestra: America—The Rough Cut (ESP-Disk)
Tri-County Liquidators: cut my teeth (Hitt Rex)
ensemble 0: Jojoni (Crammed Discs)
JLin: Perspective (Planet Mu)
Henry Threadgill: The Other One (Pi)
Zoh Amba & Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt: The Flower School (Palilalia)
Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids: Afro-Futuristic Dreams (Strut)
Amanda Shires & Bobbie Nelson: Loving You (ATO)
aja monet: when the poems do what they do (drink sum wtr)
Dlala Thukzin: Permanent Music 3 (Dlala Records EP)
Knoel Scott (featuring Marshall Allen): Celestial (Night Dreamer)
Steve Lehman & Orchestre National de Jazz: Ex Machina (Pi)
Emmet Cohen & Houston Person: Houston Person—Masters Legacy Series, Volume 5 (Bandstand Presents)
Peso Pluma: GENESIS (Double P)
Chappell Roan: The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (KRA)
Elijah Shiffer: Star Jelly (self-released)
Grupo Frontera: El Comienzo (Grupo Frontera)
Ember: August in March (Imani)
Kevin Sun: The Depths of Memory (Endectomorph Music)
Florian Arbenz: Conversation #10—Inland (Hammer)
Withered Hand: How to Love (Reveal)
Lafayette Gilchrist: Undaunted (Morphius)
Taj Mahal: Savoy (Cheraw S.C.)
Haviah Mighty: Crying Crystals (Mighty Gang)
Willie Nelson: I Don’t Know a Thing About Love—The Songs of Harlan Howard (Legacy)
Morgan Wade: Psychopath (Ladylike)
Shabazz Palaces: Robed in Rareness (Sub Pop)
Parannoul: After the Magic (Poclanos/Top Shelf)
Felo Le Tee & Mellow & Sleazy: The Ill Wise Men (New Money Gang)
The Necks: Travel (Northern Spy)
Lori McKenna: 1988 (CN Records / Thirty Tigers)
Tyler Keith & The Apostles: Hell to Pay (Black & Wyatt)
KAYTRAMINE: KAYTRAMIUNE, Amine, & KAYTRANADA (CLBN)
Various Artists: Red Hot & Ra—Nuclear War (Red Hot Org)
Rome Streetz: Wasn’t Built in a Day (Big Ghost)
Hein Westgaard Trio: First as Farce (Nice Things)
The Urban Art Ensemble: “Ho’opomopono” (CFG Multimedia 16-minute single)
Itamar Borochov: Arba (Greenleaf)
Rodrigo Amado / The Bridge: Beyond the Margins (Trost)
ANTiINDSTRY: Numinous Interference (Muteant Sounds)
Islandman (featuring Okay Temiz and Muhlis Berberoglu: Direct-to-Disc Sessions (Night Dreamer)
Edward Simon: Femeninas (ArtistShare)
Trio San (featuring Satoko Fujii and Taiko Saito): Hibiki (Jazzdor)
Kill Bill—The Rapper: Fullmetal Kaiju (EXO)
Speaker Music: Techxodus (Planet Mu)
Andy Fairweather Low: Flang Dang (The Last Music Company)
ARO40: On the Blink (Aerophonic Records)
Bob Vylan: Bob Vylan Presents the Price of Life (Ghost Theatre)
Bombino: Sahel (Partisan)
Son Rompe Pera: Chimborazo (AYA Records)
Rough Image: Rough Image (WV Sorcerer Productions)
Ingrid Laubrock: The Last Quiet Place (Pyroclastic)
Victoria Monet: Jaguar II (Lovett Music)
Homeboy Sandman: I Can’t Sell These Either (self-released)
Havard Wiik & Tim Daisy: Slight Return (Relay)
Various Artists: Red Hot & Ra—SOLAR Sun Ra in Brasil (Red Hot Org)
Rob Mazurek & Exploding Star Orchestra: Lightning Dreamers (International Anthem)
Kaze & Ikue Mori: Crustal Movement (Circum/Libra)
DJ Black Low: Impumelelo (Awesome Tapes from Africa)
Belle and Sebastian: Late Developers (Matador)
Satoko Fujii & Otomo Yoshihide: Perpetual Motion (Ayler Records)
feeble little horse: Girl with Fish (Saddle Creek)
Rocket 88: House of Jackpots (12XU)
L’Rain: I Killed Your Dog (Mexican Summer)
DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ: Destiny (Spells on the Telly)
Nasty Facts: Drive My Car (Left for Dead)
Taiko Saito: Tears of a Cloud (Trouble in the East)
JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown: Scaring the Hoes (self-released)
Rodrigo Campos & Romulo Froes: Elefante (YB Music)
Kalia Vandever: We Fell in Turn (AKP Recordings)
Water from Your Eyes: Everyone’s Crushed (Matador)
Lakecia Benjamin: Phoenix (Whirlwind)
Amaarae: Fountain Baby (Golden Angel/Interscope)
Blondshell: Blondshell (Partisan)
Satoko Fujii: Torrent (Libra Records)
Javon Jackson: “With Peter Bradley”—Soundtrack and Original Score (Solid Jackson)
Doja Cat: Scarlet (Kemosabe)
Tianna Esperanza: Terror (BMG)
YMA & Jadsa: Zelena (Matraca)
Palehound: Eye on the Bat (Polyvinyl)
J Hus: Beautiful and Brutal Yard (Black Butter)
Das Kondensat: Anderen Planeten (Why Play Jazz)
Iris DeMent: Workin’ On a World (FlariElla)
David Murray, Questlove, and Ray Angry: Plumb (J.M.I.)
Tyler Childers: Rustin’ in the Rain (Hickman Holler)
Baaba Maal: Being (Atelier Live/Marathon Artists)
Ed Sanders: The Sanders – Olufsen Poetry and Classical Music Project (Olufsen)
Bob Dylan: Shadow Kingdom (Columbia)
City Girls: Raw (Quality Control/Motown)
Grrrl Gang: Spunky (Kill Rock Stars)
Lana Del Rey: Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (Polydor)
Teenage Jesus and The Jean Teasers: I Love You (Triple J Unearthed)
Caroline Davis: Alula—Captivity (Ropeadope)
Kiko El Crazy: Pila’e Teteo (Rimas)
Romulo Froes & Tiago Rosas: Na Goela (YB Music)
Florian Arbenz: Conversation #9—Targeted (Hammer Recordings)
James Brandon Lewis: Eye of I (Anti-)
Sofia Kourtesis: Madres (Ninja Tune)
DJ Manny: Hypnotized (Planet Mu)
Josephus and The George Jonestown Massacre: Call Me Animal—A Tribute to the MC5 (Saustex)
Joanna Sternberg: I’ve Got Me (Fat Possum)
Tracey Nelson: Life Don’t Miss Nobody (BMG)
Etran De L’Air: Live in Seattle (EP) (Sahel Sounds)
Ricardo Dias Gomes: Muito Sol (Hive Mind)
Ice Spice: Like…? (10K Projects / Capitol Records EP)
otay:onii: Dream Hacker (WV Sorcerer Productions)
Sylvie Courvoisier & Cory Smythe: The Rite of Spring—Spectre d’un songe (Pyroclastic)
Money for Guns: All the Darkness That’s in Your Head (CD Baby)
Nourished by Time: Erotic Probiotic 2 (Scenic Route)
Walter Daniels: “From Death to Texas” / “Seems Like a Dream” (Spacecase Records 45)
Nakimbembe Embaire Group: Nakimbembe Embaire Group (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
Shirley Collins: Archangel Hill (Domino)
Karol G: Manana Sera Bonito (Universal Music Latino)
Tinashe: BB/ANG3L (Nice Life)
Hollie Cook: Happy Hour in Dub (Merge)
Andrew Cyrille: Music Delivery / Percussion (Intakt)
Kate Gentile: b i o m e i.i (Obliquity)
Yves Tumor: Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) (Warp)
Dan Ex Machina: Ex’s Sexts (self-released)
Open Mike Eagle: another triumph of ghetto engineering (AutoReverse)
Yonic South: Devo Challenge Cup (Wild Honey)
Rudy Royston: Day (Greenleaf Music)
Chien Chien Lu: Built in System—Live in New York (Giant Step Arts)
Pangaea: Changing Channels (Hessle Audio)
Lewsberg: Out and About (Lewsberg / 12XU)
Basher: Doubles (Sinking City)
That Mexican OT: Lonestar Luchador (Good Talk)
Daniel Villarreal: Lados B (International Anthem)
Staples Jr. Singers: Tell Heaven (EP) (Luaka Bop) Note: the vinyl gets you more great minutes of testifying.
Brandee Younger: Brand New Life (Impulse!)
Babe, Terror: Teghnojoyg (self-released)
Heinali: Kyiv Eternal (Injazero)
Vinny Golia Quartet: No Refunds (Unbroken Sounds)
Kresten Osgood / Bob Moses / Tisziji Munoz: Spiritual Drum Kingship (Gotta Let It Out)
The Art Ensemble of Chicago: From Paris to Paris (Rogue Art)
Clarence “Bluesman” Davis: Shake It For Me (Music Maker Foundation)
The War and The Treaty: Lover’s Game (Mercury Nashville)
Mendoza Hoff Revels: Echolocation (AUM Fidelity)
Aroof Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad, Ismaily: Love in Exile (Verve)
Asher Gamedze: Turbulence and Pulse (International Anthem)
Normal Nada the Krakmaxter: Tribal Progressive Heavy Metal (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
Natural Child: Be M’Guest (Natural Child Music)
Tanya Tucker: Sweet Western Sound (Fantasy)
Roman Norfleet and Be Present Art Group: Roman Norfleet and Be Present Art Group (Mississippi Records)
David Dove & Joe McPhee: Where’s the Wine? (C.I.A. Records)
Various Artists: 10 (Music from Memory)
Nellie McKay: Hey Guys, Watch This (Hungry Mouse)
Everything But the Girl: Fuse (Buzzin’ Fly)
Tomas Fujiwara’s Triple Double: March On (self-released)

Excavations and Reissues

Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens: Music Inferno—The Indestructible Beat Tour 1988-89 (Umsakazo Records)
Kashmere Stage Band: Texas Thunder Soul 1968-1974 (Now-Again)
The Replacements: Tim—Let It Bleed Edition (Rhino)
Various Artists: Piconema–East African Hits On The Colombian Coast (Rocafort Records)
Les Rallizes Denudes: Citta ’93 (Temporal Drift)
Dorothy Ashby: With Strings Attached (New Land Records)
The Jazz Doctors: Intensive Care & Prescriptions Filled 1983-84 (Cadillac Records)
Walter Bishop, Jr.: Bish at the Bank—Live in Baltimore (Cellar Live)
Various Artists: Yebo! Rare Mzansi Party Beats from Apartheid’s Dying Years (BBE)
Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra: 60 Years (The Village)
Os Tincoas: Canto Coral Afrobrasiliero (Sanzala Cultural)
Various Artists: Ecuatoriana (Analog Africa)
Leon Keita: Leon Keita (Analog Africa)
Hiroshi Yoshimura: Surround (Temporal Drift)
Balka Sound: Balka Sound (Strut)
Sonic Youth: Live in Brooklyn (Silver Current)
John Coltrane: Evenings at The Village Gate (Impulse!)
Various Artists: Playing for The Man at The Door (Smithsonian Folkways)
Les Rallizes Denudes: BAUS ’93 (Temporal Drift)
Gabe Baltazar: Birdology (Fresh Sounds)
Hiatus Kaiyote: Choose Your Weapon (Flying Buddha / Sony Masterworks)
Dream Dolphin: Gaia—Selected Ambient & Downtempo Works (1996 – 2003) (Music from Memory)
Various Artists: The Soul of Congo – Treasures of the Ngoma label (1948-1963) (Planet Ilunga)
Sonny Stitt: Boppin’ in Baltimore—Live at the Left Bank (Jazz Detective)
Ihsan Al-Munzer: Belly Dance (BBE)
Dredd Foole & The Din: See God 1985-1986 (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
Johnny Griffin: Live at Ronnie Scott’s, 1964 (Gearbox)
Nina Simone: You’ve Got to Learn (Verve)
William S. Burroughs: Nothing Here But the Recordings (Dais Records)
Eddie & Ernie: Time Waits for No One (Mississippi Records)
Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 1 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 2 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
The Southern University Jazz Ensemble: Goes to Africa with Love (Now-Again)
Roy Campbell / William Parker / Zan Matsuura: Visitation of the Spirits—The Pyramind Trio Live, 1985 (No Business)
Sonny Rollins: Live at Finlandia Hall, Helsinki 1972 (Svart)
Various Artists: The Best of Revelation Records 1959-1962 (NarroWay)
Shizuka: Heavenly Persona (Black Editions)
Jacqueline Humbert & David Rosenboom: Daytime Viewing (Unseen Worlds)
Dorothy Carter: Waillee Waillee (Palo Alto Records)
Various Artists: Blacklips Bar—Androgyns and Deviants / Industrial Romance for Bruised and Battered Angels 1992-1995 (Anthology Recordings)
Wes Montgomery: Maximum Swing (Resonance)
Various Artists: Con Piano, Sublime—Early Recordings from the Caribbean 1907-1921 (Magnificent Sounds)
Various Artists: Space Echo—The Mystery Behind the Cosmic Sound of Cabo Verde Revealed! (Analog Africa)
Ibrahim Hesnawi: The Father of Libyan Reggae (Habibi Funk)
RP Boo: Legacy Volume 2 (Planet Mu)
Les Raillizes Denudes: ’77 Live (Temporal Drift)
Alon Nechushtan: For Those Who Cross the Seas (ESP-Disk)
Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Shirley Scott: Cookin’ With Jaws and The Queen (Craft)
Professor James Benson: The Gow-Dow Experience (Jazzman Records)
Little Bob and The Lollipops: Nobody But You (Mississippi Records)

International Jazz Day (April 30th, 2018, Columbia, MO)

I selected three jazz CDs I hadn’t listened to in awhile to celebrate the day. They all were good medicine.

Junko Onishi: Baroque

Ms. Onishi put her all into this outing, which is clearly an homage to her pianistic mentor Jaki Byard, a player of deep-pocketed wiles who ought to be a household name, jazzwise. Best in show are her own Byard-Mingus (and Brechtian) nod “The Threepenny Opera” and a Byard-Months cover that continues, unfortunately, to resonate: “Meditation on a Pair of Wire-Cutters.” Abetted her powerfully in her aims are the irrepressible James Carter (on four instruments in his best performance of the ‘teens), the fiery trumpeter Nicholas Payton, and Detroit secret weapon Rodney Whitaker on bass, whose opening to “Threepenny” will crack your neck.

Houston Person and Ron Carter: Chemistry

These two old pros embody the title concept. The menu is Tin Pan Alley with a side of Monk, and, before you roll your eyes, let me tell you, a) in jazz at least, never underestimate masters who know the nooks and crannies of the grand canon, and b) this is one of Rudy Van Gelder’s last sessions behind the board, which I only mention because the tenor man and the four-string snapper seem to rise to the occasion’s gravitas.

Sun Ra: Discipline 27-II

As I’ve written before in this space, the valve’s all the way open on Sun Ra’s leavings, and not only are they considerable, but, of course, they aren’t all prime. I’m a helpless Ra collector, but I do have a bullshit detector, and this Corbett vs. Dempsey excavation is fo’ real. “Pan Afro” and “Discipline” are not only wonderful, but they are underrepresented in the Arkestra’s recorded pantheon. There’s plenty of prime John Gilmore blowing, and just enough and not too much space for June Tyson and The Space Ethnic Voices. There’s a squeak-squawk add-on, but I judge this the best of the raging Sonny Blount reissue boom.

Short-shrift Division:

Fugazi: 13 Songs

Ahhh, youth. They leaned a bit too heavily on staccato guitar and Minutemen innovations, but, returning to them almost 30 years after they backgrounded the relationship that changed my life, I find they’re a largely perfect companion for my rage at the ugliness of my state and federal representation. A linguistic theme is burning, and it all still is, right now, in the moment.

Four in One (Afternoon) (April 13th, 2018, Columbia, MO)

I had an afternoon free at the end of a hectic week, and I needed just the right sounds to put me straight for the weekend. That’s a harder task than it seems: I have a massive library from which to choose (well–so do you, if you’re reading this), and sometimes that can be paralyzing to the point of opting for…silence. Also, I often get caught between choosing things I need to listen and things I want to listen to, and things I need to understand better and things I know so well they will unquestionably deliver pleasure and enlightenment. Obligation–phooey!

On this day, I lucked out. I pulled four records, one I hadn’t listened to for so long I didn’t remember it well, one that was a sure shot of delight, one I hadn’t yet removed from the shrink wrap, and one that I’d in recent years ranked very highly on a poll but wanted to hear whether I was off the beam or not. Every single one was a wonderful experience. And it was a perfect celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month.

Billy Bang and Frank Lowe (top left and top right above): Above and Beyond–A Night in Grand Rapids. Not a particularly auspicious album title, plus considering the men in play and the title, it might be a free scrum. Actually, this is a beautiful and moving record. Bang and Lowe could indeed go out, with serious fire, and here they occasionally do, but the set list is full of tunes, with a long, hypnotic, brooding but catchy masterpiece (“Dark Silhouette”) at its core. On that track, Lowe conjures a quiet series of snuffling, whimpering, muttering, pleading sounds from his horn, which not only fit the mood but, in a sense, are heartbreaking: the saxophonist was dying of lung cancer–in a few months he’d be gone–and operating on a single lung, though his playing is masterful and those noises were obviously quite deliberate. Bang is inspired, and bassist Todd Nicholson is a wonder.

Sonny Criss (with Horace Tapscott) (second from top, left and right): Sonny’s Dream (Birth of the New Cool). That’s an audacious title, but Criss, a great and currently very unsung West Coast alto saxophonist, and Horace Tapscott, the legendary L.A. bandleader and teacher, and pianist, composer, and arranger here, earn it. It’s an answer, I think, nearly two decades later, to Miles’ Birth of the Cool; quite honestly, I prefer this record and have played it three times as much in my life. Criss’ playing is intense but disciplined, Tapscott’s writing is characteristically imaginative and idiosyncratic (try “The Golden Pearl” or “Daughter of Cochise), and the orchestra contains such luminaries Teddy Edwards, Conte Condoli, and Tommy Flanagan. It’s a masterpiece knockin’ on the canon’s door.

Sun Ra and His Arkestra, featuring John Gilmore (second from bottom, right): Of Abstract Dreams. I’ll be the first to admit that there is too much Ra on the market; though the music he created over forty years is amazingly consistent in its quality, he wasn’t foolproof: he (and to a lesser extent the Arkestra) could noodle, tinkle and futz around, and the navigation of / communication from the cosmos does not guarantee excitement or even simple interest. However, this new Strut find, a ’74 Philly radio station performance, has three things I like: Ra on acoustic piano, Gilmore expressing himself on tenor, and three compositions available elsewhere that are actually in significantly different (and more focused form).

JD Allen (bottom): Americana. Guess what, kids? The contemporary album I’d most strongly recommend to music fans who, for jazz, only go to Coltrane…is not available for streaming on any platform! I can dig it! I ranked this album in my Top 10 for the year 2016, and yesterday it forced me stop everything else I was doing and lock in–I actually may have underrated it. Allen and his ace fellows, Rudy Royston on drums and Gregg August on bass, dive DEEPLY into Black America’s past–and into the blues. Americana delivers something contemporary jazz often struggles with: unfettered emotional depth. If you don’t believe me, just listen to it. (Also, you could read David A. Graham’s sharp piece from The Atlantic.)

Short-shrift Division:

The Swan Silvertones: My Rock / Love Lifted Me: I’m still crying holy unto their lord. My second-favorite edition of the Swans, but that’s like saying peanut butter is my second-favorite to chocolate. Rawer, purer maybe, with Reverend Jeter very much on the case.

‘14, ‘17, ‘24, ‘31 (March 6, 2018, Columbia, Missouri)

https://youtu.be/mq_FtrTiwso

I spent half my day with a group of my favorite jazz pianists. This was set in motion by the unexpected arrival from Strut Records of Sun Ra’s In Some Far Place: Roma 1977(Earth’s water supply may run out before Mister Ra’s vault does). I’d subscribed to the label’s Original Masters series in February of ’17, mostly out of interest in some curated international dance records but also because the cost of my purchase was being donated to a great social justice organization. Four records were to come my way, but the label couldn’t secure rights to the fourth, so in its stead I received this double-disc sans-Arkestra show. Hearing Sun Ra alone or with drums only (as one does here) can be a revelation: his sense of humor comes more to the fore, the path of his thinking’s a little easier to trace, and, while I prefer to hear him leading the Arkestra, it’s a fun and trippy ride across styles and eras, with the pianist occasionally switching from acoustic to electronic keyboards as the mood suits him and toggling between his own catalog and beloved standards.

As Nicole and I settled in to read in the evening, I loaded three study-friendly discs into the changer. The first was Memphis pianist Phineas Newborn Jr.’s 1956 outing, Here is Phineas. As the Ellington interpretation linked above demonstrates, the man could fly across the 88s–perhaps, as this early album occasionally reveals, too speedily for his own good. But his light, precise touch and feeling for the blues tempers that tendency; the album’s a decent way in for the beginner. (According to the expert Memphis sources I’ve consulted, his name’s pronounced FEE-nuss.)

Next up was 1959’s Thelonious Alone in San Francisco. Every night’s a great night for Monk’s music in the Overeem home, and, after the pleasantly wandering experimentalism of Sun Ra and the full-bore momentum of Newborn, this solo recording, featuring both familiar and relatively obscure originals as well as some very mischievous interpretations (like the above), was the perfect shift. Listen to this ’53 version of “There’s Danger in Your Eyes, Cherie,” from Rich, Young, and Pretty (!), then try Thelonious’ adventure navigating it, and ask yourself, “What did he hear in this tune that attracted him to it? Without the assistance of words, what does he transmute it into?”

We closed out the night with Bud Powell’s 1956 recording, Bud Plays Bird, which is one of the few releases I’ve owned in which the notes significantly enhance the music. They’re penned by old hand Ira Gitler, who examines the complicated musical and personal relationships between the titular two, shares his experience having witnesses the men play, and leads us through some very close and adept listening. Powell, while not in his earlier, frighteningly skilled and intense turn-of-the-decade form, plays exceptionally well, and is fluently augmented by George Duvivier on bass (that man’s invaded my house!) and Art Taylor on drums. A great addition to any be-bop enthusiast’s collection.

Note: The post title refers to the respective birth years of Ra, Monk, Bud, and Newborn. The earliest-born outlived them all. With the exception of Bud, whose career was damaged by the brutality of racist law enforcement in the North, these men were Southerners who came of age and worked in the shadow of Jim Crow–how might their work have shone more brilliantly without the obstacles of systematic oppression?

Short-shrift Division:

Oh, and before all that I listened to the expanded edition of Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures, learning to appreciate the production ideas of Martin Hannett (I hadn’t realized that the effects didn’t also emanate from Ian Curtis’ tortured soul) and the raw-and-daily-growing attack of the band on stage in ’79.

Tomorrow:

Influenced by the man pictured below, who spoke to my comp / pop music class this morning about writing record reviews, I am going to interface at length with K-Pop–specifically, Jonghyun’s POET | ARTIST. Wish me luck! Dive in with me and we can compare notes tomorrow.

Good to My Earhole, February 5 – February 14:Walking the Negro Streets at Dawn

Highlights of my last week’s listenin’, in the truck cab and elsewhere, rated on a spin-the-bottle 10-point scale (w/a special touch). Also, I am deliberately diggin’ out dustbin doozies; please recall the Roger Price maxim, “If everyone doesn’t want it, nobody gets it!”:

ARE YOU FROM DIXIE: GREAT COUNTRY BROTHER TEAMS OF THE 1930S – 15 – Having trouble finding your way into old-timey music, seekers? Do it like I accidentally did 28 years ago, and dig up this can’t-stop-won’t-stop RCA comp. Across a single disc, the choices meet Harry Smith’s ANTHOLOGY even-up: you jake-walk on bad whiskey, chuckle along with your salty dog, get a line and go fer crawdads, stomp away an intoxicated rat, shoulder a nine-pound hammer, try to get your baby out of jail, and cozy up to someone ELSE from Dixie. It’s magic. Also: it needs a reissue. Extra bait: the Monroe Brothers, playing at punk tempos, inventing bluegrass as they go.

Catheters/STATIC DELUSIONS AND STONE-STILL DAYS – 9 – Best Stooges album since RAW POWER, not sure it’s been topped since its ’02 release, probably because these kids weren’t trying. Critically, only Greil Marcus gave a shit, and he was correct.

Julius Hemphill/JULIUS HEMPHILL PLAYS THE MUSIC OF ALLEN LOWE – 8.8 – I have sung the praises of Allen Lowe here multiple times, and if I ain’t convinced you yet, let the long-gone-but-not-forgotten sax master and arranging ace Mr. Hemphill do the honors. The record saunters through more rhythmic moves than has a cat on an easy chair (stole that from Roy Blount, Jr.), and closes up shop with the funky, greasy “Sleepless,” which justifies its title. (Note: there’s no tracks available via YouTube, so enjoy Hemphill’s amazing DOGON A. D. as a teaser. AND: grab the release from Bandcamp here, cheap!)

Mudboy and the Neutrons/NEGRO STREETS AT DAWN – 8.7 – Few but the likes of ‪#‎JimDickinson‬ (“The Pope of ‪#‎Memphis‬ Music”) could get away with the title reference/conceit, because he could put together the players. Chuck Berry-nugget opener, Sid Selvidge-crooned Southern stroke, surrender to capitalism loaded with subversive sermon lead off–sometimes I think they coulda topped ZZ Top if they’d cared.

Shaver/TRAMP ON YOUR STREET – 8.5 – Natural-born honky-tonk chronicler with hot-shit guitarist son as sidekick–some might call it schtick, but it’s by-God real. “Old Chunk of Coal,” “The Hottest Thing In Town,” and “Georgia on a Fast Train” are already playing a floor below Leonard Cohen’s in The Tower of Song. And closer to the ground floor is better.

Sun Ra/LANQUIDITY – 9 – Already in possession of 20+ “Sun One” records, I thought I’d heard all I needed. This late ’70s release almost goes disco–almost–without compromising the vision that kept a team of jazz aces together through five decades. Blaxploitation music with a more exalted vision–I dunno: YOU listen and YOU describe it. You will be better for it, whatever the outcome.

100+ Strong–2015 Fave Raves

UPDATED December 18

Overeem’s End-of-Year Best-of-2015

“Guaranteed Interesting” (at least)

Not all of the below are 2015 releases–some were released earlier but are just now breaking the cyber-surface. But the thing is, for those who argue good music is dead (ho-fucking-hum), here’s 121 slabs that have given me pleasure this year. Not all are perfect, but I stand behind this statement: it’s all good. Also, if you’ve looked at the list and are thinking, “Where’s x? What about y?” and it’s not Taylor Swift, I probably haven’t listened to it yet–like you, probably, I follow my nose, and it’s attuned to certain, um, scents. Note: These are in alphabetical order, obviously. The grading scheme is borrowed from master critics Bob Christgau and Tom Hull. The asterisks next to each B+ indicate how close that record is to excellent. Fascinating, isn’t it? Note 2: See my official Top 20 in meaningful order, plus a list of great reissues, also in order, here.

Rock and Roll and Such

Laurie Anderson: Heart of a Dog (Nonesuch) A-
Aram Bajakian: There Were Flowers Also in Hell(Dalava) A-
Courtney Barnett: Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit(Mom & Pop) A
Alex Chilton: Ocean Club ’77(Norton) B+ (***)
The Close Readers: The Lines Are Open(Austin) A-
Coneheads: aka “14 Year Old High School PC–Fascist Hype Lords Rip Off Devo for the Sake of Extorting $$$ from Helpless Impressionable Midwestern Internet Peoplepunks L.P.”(Erste Theke Tontraeger) A-
Continental Drifters: Drifting—In the Beginning and Beyond(Omnivore) B+
Dead Moon: Live at Satyricon (Voodoo Doughnut) A
Dead Weather: Dodge and Burn(Third Man) B+ (*)
Drive-By Truckers: It’s Great to Be Alive! (ATO) A
Bob Dylan: 1965-1966–The Cutting Edge: The Bootleg Series, Volume 12(Sony) B+ (*)
Bob Dylan: Shadows in the Night(Sony) B+ (***)
Robert Forster: Songs to Play(Tapete) B+**
Girlpool: Girlpool(Wichita) A-
Hop Along: Painted Shut(Saddle Creek) A-
The Horribly Wrong: C’Mon and Bleed…with The Horribly Wrong(Shitcan) A-
John Kruth: The Drunken Wind of Life—The Poem/Songs of Tin Ujevic(Smiling Fez) A-
John Kruth: Splitsville(Gern Blandsten) B+ (***)
Jinx Lennon: 30 BEACONS OF LIGHT FOR A LAND FULL OF SPITE THUGS DRUG SLUGS AND ENERGY VAMPIRES(Septic Tiger) B+ (**)
Jeffrey Lewis & Los Bolts: Manhattan(Rough Trade) A
Los Lobos: Gates of Gold(429) A-
Low-Cut Connie: Hi Honey (Ardent) B+ (***)
Mountain Goats: Beat the Champ(Merge) B+ (***)
Natural Child: Live at The End—Freakin’ Weekend V(self-released cassette) B+ (**)
Nots: We Are Nots(Goner) A-
Obnox: Boogalou Reed(12XU) B+ (**)
Obnox: Know America(Ever/Never) B+ (***)
Obnox: Wiglet(Ever/Never) A-
The Paranoid Style: Rock and Roll Just Can’t Recall (self-released) B+ (***)
Public Image Limited: What the World Needs Now Is… (PiL Official) B+ (**)
Pussy Riot: Kill the Sexist(self-released) B+ (***)
Reactionaries: 1979(Water Under the Bridge) B+ (*)
Rocket From the Tombs: Black Record(Fire) B+ (**)
Boz Scaggs: I’m a Fool to Care(429) B+ (*)
Ty Segall: Ty Rex(Goner) B+ (***)
Sleater-Kinney: No Cities to Love(Sub Pop) B+ (***)
The Sonics: This is The Sonics(Revox) B+ (**)
Sufjan Stevens: Carrie & Lowell(Asthmatic Kitty) (A-)
Kate Tempest: Everybody Down (Big Dada) (A-)
Richard Thompson: Still(Fantasy) B+ (*)
Titus Andronicus: The Most Lamentable Tragedy(Merge) B+ (*)
Various Artists: Burn, Rubber City, Burn(Soul Jazz) A-
Various Artists: Ork Records–New York, New York(Numero) A-
Various Artists: Oxford American Georgia Music Issue CD Companion (OxfordAmerican.org) A-
Various Artists: The Red Line Comp(self-released) B+ (*)
The Velvet Underground: The Complete Matrix Tapes(Polygram) A
Viet Cong: Viet Cong(Flemish Eye/Jagjaguwar) B+ (*)
Wreckless Eric: amERICa(Fire) A-
x_x: Albert Ayler’s Ghosts Live at The Yellow Ghetto(Smog Veil) A-
Yo La Tengo: Stuff Like That There(Matador) B+ (**)

R&B, Soul, and Blues

79rs Gang: Fire on the Bayou(Sinking City) A
Erykah Badu: But You Cain’t Use My Phone(self-released) A-
The Falcons:The World’s First Soul Group—The Complete Recordings (History of Soul) B+ (***)
Kelela: Hallucinogen(Cherry Coffee) A-
J. D. McPherson: Let the Good Times Roll(Rounder) B+ (**)
Big Chief Juan Pardo and Golden Comanche: Spirit Food(self-released) B+ (*)
Shamir: Rachet (XL) A-
J. B. Smith: No More Good Time in the World For Me(Dust-To-Digital) B+ (**)
Pop Staples: Don’t Lose This(Anti-) B+ (***)
Swamp Dogg: The White Man Made Me Do It(S.D.E.G.) B+ (**)
Various Artists: Beale Street Saturday Night(Omnivore) A-
Various Artists: Blues Images Presents 20 Classic Blues Songs from the 1920s, Volume 13 (BluesImages.com) A-
Leo Welch: I Don’t Prefer No Blues(Fat Possum) B+ (*)

Rap

Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman: Lice(Stones Throw) A-
Donnie Trumpet & Chance the Rapper: Surf(self-released) B+ (***)
Doomtree: All Hands(Doomtree) B+ (***)
Future: Monster(self-released) B+ (***)
Heems: Eat Pray Thug(Megaforce) A-
Kendrick Lamar: to pimp a butterfly(Aftermath) A
Lyrics Born: Real People(Mobile Home) B+ (*)
Paris: Pistol Politics (Guerilla Funk) B+ (***)
Public Enemy: Man Plans, God Laughs(Spitdigital) B+ (*)
Bobby Rush: Chicken Heads—50 Years (Omnivore) A-
Scarface: Deeply Rooted(Facemob) B+ (**)
Vince Staples: Summertime ’06(Def Jam) B+ (***)
Various Artists: Khat Thaleth–Third Line: Initiative for the Elevation of Public Awareness(Stronghold Sound) A-
Young Fathers: White Men are Black Men Too(Ninja Tune) B+ (**)
Young Thug: Slime Season 1(self-released) B+ (*)
Young Thug: Slime Season 2(self-released) B+ (***)

Country and Folk

Iris DeMent: The Trackless Woods(Flariella) A-
Kinky Friedman: The Loneliest Man I Ever Met(Avenue A) B+ (**)
Brian Harnetty: Rawhead and Bloodybones(Dust-To-Digital) B+ (**)
Jason Isbell: Something More Than Free(Southeastern) B+ (**)
Jerry McGill: AKA Jerry McGill(Fat Possum) A-
James McMurtry: Complicated Game(Complicated Game) B+ (***)
Kasey Musgraves: Pageant Material(Mercury) (A-)
Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard: Django & Jimmy(Legacy) B+ (***)
Willie Nelson and Sister Bobbie: December Day(Legacy) A
Mark Rubin: Southern Discomfort(CDBaby) A-
Various Artists: Have Moicy 2–The Hoodoo Bash(Red Newt) A-
Various Artists: The Year of Jubilo(Old Hat) A-
Wussy: Public Domain, Volume 1(Shake It) B+ (***)
Dwight Yoakam: Second Hand Heart(Warner Brothers) B+ (**)

International

Africa Express: Terry Riley’s “In C”—Mali(Transgressive) A
Ata Kak: Obaa Sima(Awesome Tapes from Africa) B+ (***)
Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni: Ba Power(Glitterbeat) A-
Bob Marley & The Wailers: Easy Skankin’ in Boston, 1978(Tuff Gong) A-
Mbongwana Star: From Kinshasa(World Circuit) A-
Mdou Moctar: Soundtrack to the film Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai(Sahel Sounds) A-
Mammane Sani et son Orgue:La Musique Electronique du Niger(Sahel Sounds) B+ (***)
Songhoy Blues: Music in Exile(Atlantic) A-
Omar Souleyman: Bahdeni Nami(Monkeytown) A-
Tal National: Kaani(Fat Cat) A-
Tal National: Zoy Zoy(Fat Cat) A-
Tamikrest: Taksera (Glitterbeat) B+ (**)

Jazz

J. D. Allen: Graffiti (Savant) A-
Jack DeJohnette: Made in Chicago (ECM) A
Vijay Iyer: Break Stuff (ECM) B+ (***)
Oliver Lake and William Parker:For Roy (Intakt) A-
Matt Lavelle and John Pietaro: Harmolodic Monk (CDBaby) A-
James Brandon Lewis: Days of FreeMan(Okeh) B+ (*)
Allen Lowe: Where’s Robert Johnson?—The Man with the Guitar (Constant Sorrow) B+ (***)
Allen Lowe with Hamiet Bluiett: We Will Gather When We Gather (Constant Sorrow) A-
Makaya McCraven: In the Moment (International Anthem) B+ (***)
Joe McPhee: Solos–The Lost Tapes 1981-1984 (Roaratorio) B+ (**)
Charles McPherson: The Journey (Capri) A-
Irene Schweizer, and Han Bennink: Welcome Back(Intakt) A
Sonny Simmons and Moksha Samnyasin: Nomadic (Svart) B+ (***)
Sun Ra: To Those of Earth…and Other Worlds–Gilles Peterson Presents Sun Ra And His Arkestra(Strut) A-
Henry Threadgill & Zooid: In for a Penny, In for a Pound (Pi) A-
Kamasi Washington: The Epic(Brainfeeder) B+ (**)

The Very Best Music and Music-Related Stuff I Enjoyed in 2014

I know D’Angelo’s new record is coming out Tuesday, but–I’ve waited for him long enough already.

(Above: The sleeper of the bunch….)

Top 10 Rekkids

Wussy: Attica! (Shake It!)
Allen Lowe: Mulatto Radio–Field Recordings 1-4 (allenlowe.com)
D’Angelo and The Vanguard: Black Messiah (RCA)
Chris Butler: Easy Life (Future Fossil)
Run The Jewels: 2 (Mass Appeal)
Ty Segall: Manipulator (Drag City)
Noura Mint Seymali: Tzenna (Glitterbeat)
Homeboy Sandman: Hallways (Stones Throw)
Ross Johnson and Monsieur Jeffrey Evans: Vanity Sessions (Spacecase)
Jemeel Moondoc: The Zookeeper’s House (Relative Pitch)

Top 10 Songs

Wussy: “Teenage Wasteland”
Wussy: “To the Lightning”
Natural Child: “Don’t the Time Pass Quickly (When You’re Making Love)”
Bo Dollis Jr. and the Wild Magnolias: “We Come to Rumble”
Angaleena Presley: “Pain Pills”
Young Thug and Bloody Jay: “No F—s”
Chris Butler: “Easy Life”
D’Angelo and The Vanguard: “The Door”
Ross Johnson and Monsieur Jeffrey Evans: “Three-Beer Queer”
Withered Hand: “Horseshoe”

Top 10 Reissues/New Issues of Older Music

Sun Ra: Marshall Allen Presents Sun Ra & His Arkestra (Strut)
Various Artists: Haiti Direct! (Strut)
John Coltrane: Offering—Live at Temple University (Resonance)
Jerry Lee Lewis: The Knox Phillips Sessions (Saguaro Road)
Bob Dylan & The Band: The Complete Basement Tapes (Columbia/Sony)
The Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground—45^th Anniversary Edition (Universal/Polydor)
Sid Selvidge: The Cold of the Morning (Omnivore)
Various Artists: Dylan’s Gospel—Brothers & Sisters (Light in the Attic)
Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys: Riding Your Way–The Lost Transcriptions for Tiffany Music 1946-7 (Real Gone Music)
TIE: Charlie Burton: Rock and Roll Behavior (Sound Asleep)/Horace Tapscott: The Giant Awakens (Flying Dutchman)

Top 10 Old Records I Bought for the First Time

Rats: Intermittent Signals (Whizz Eagle)
Jessie Mae Hemphill: Feelin’ Good (Shout Factory)
Lazy Lester: I’m a Lover Not a Fighter (Ace/Excello)
Khaira Arby: Timbuktu Tarab (Clermont)
Yoko Ono: Plastic Ono Band (Capitol)
New Jazz Poets (Folkways)
Allen Lowe: Blues & The Empirical Truth (Music & Arts Programs)
Wadada Leo Smith: Ten Freedom Summers (Cuneiform)
Quintron and Miss Pussycat/Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys: “Haterz”/”Chatterbox” (Rhinestone Records 45)
Melvin Peebles: X-Rated by an All-White Jury (A&M)

Top 5 New Books with Pop Music Connections

Marlon James: A Brief History of Seven Killings (Penguin)
Todd Snider: I Never Met a Story I Didn’t Like—Mostly True Tall Tales (Da Capo)
Carl Wilson: Let’s Talk About Love: Why Other People Have Such Bad Taste (Bloomsbury Academic)
Greil Marcus: The History of Rock and Roll in Ten Songs (Yale University Press)
John Waters: : John Waters Hitchhikes Across America (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux)

Top 5 New (or newly available) (or not available—so DO something!) Music Documentaries

Werner Herzog testifies to the genius of Les Blank

Always for Pleasure: The Films of Les Blank (Criterion)
AKA Doc Pomus (dir. William Hechter and Peter Miller) (Clear Lake Historical Productions)
Rahsaan Roland Kirk—The Case of the Three-Sided Dream (dir. Adam Kahan) (http://www.rahsaanfilm.com/)
Bayou Maharajah (dir. Lily Kleber) (http://www.bayoumaharajah.com/) CLEARANCE ISSUES!
This Ain’t No Mouse Music! The Story of Chris Strachwitz and Arhoolie Records (dir. Maureen Gosling and Chris Simon)

Top 5 Favorite Concerts of 2014

Billy Joe Shaver
Natural Child/Pujols/Planchette/Heavy Lids
Chucho Valdez/Conrad Herwig’s Latin Side (w/Joe Lovano)
Barrence Whitfield and the Savages
Pine Leaf Boys

Good to My Ear- and Eyehole Since Last I Posted: Part 3, The Heard.

Finally, the actual music. And, by the way, just to be clear: not surprisingly, I have many music nerd friends, but I have many more friends who are simply overwhelmed by the amount of music that is available to them, compared to the relative slim pickin’s of their teens. I suppose this is a statement of purpose for this blog (you can exhale now), but since my range of musical interest is pretty broad, since I am damned social and have a pretty decent Innertube reach, and since I am very obviously not an intellectual, bent on hardcore critical analysis, but rather…a musical proselytizer, I am a decent option for those overwhelmed masses. And if not, well, at least I am entertaining myself and keeping a record of what was keeping me sane when. Also, not all of the releases below are new–I don’t understand how anyone can devote themselves exclusively to new music, with as rich a history as we’ve got, but, again, the digital flood threatens to carry away some grand old slabs, and I will make it a point to alert you to some of them, too.

Since what’s ahead is a slew, I am gonna try to do these piquantly in no more than three sentences….

Serengeti: Kenny Dennis III (Joyful Noise)

I suspect with this particular persona of David Cohn (one he’s been exceptionally devoted to of late) that you’re either a fan or you’re not. I am, all the way, but after the opener, and just like last time, I’d like a little more rappin’ (and beats, too) and a little less talkin’. Then along comes Track 15: “Get Back to Rap.” Time: 0:26. After two plays, ‘Geti’s way with a story arc starts to get to you, and you start to realize you have to hear this as something other than rap.

Archie Shepp and the Attica Blues Orchestra: I Hear the Sound (Archie Ball)

Shepp’s exploring something here that hasn’t been mined enough–and he helped start it back in the volcanic ’60s. There’s very, very nice singing (including some rough vocalizing from Shepp), wise words, powerful large-ensemble playing, strings, and, of course, some free outbursts in just the right places, at just the right duration–and the kicker is the blend is very well-balanced and makes one hell of a statement, to me: keep hoeing this row. I wager it’ll age better than Shepp’s original Attica Blues, and there is plenty of room for more practitioners. By the way, it’s live, and that will stun you, because it’s studio sharp. It is also wonderfully rhapsodic, and, as your mind drifts back to the original Attica Blues release and its turbulent social context, you may find yourself in winding and interesting thoughts about what’s happened in between, and just what this records says about it. Note: some southern college marching band needs to learn “Mama Too Tight.”

Marvin Gaye: Here, My Dear (Hip-O Select)

I bought this as a cut-out in the Eighties, then rebought it as a specialty reissue with a bonus disc of remixes, and I don’t know why, because both times it underwhelmed me. It’s Marvin relatively near the tragic end, wrasslin’ with divorce and debt, and opting to turn that into a concept album. The cover art seemed to be the best thing about it–biggest problem, I thought, was…it was musically boring. As so often happens, though, I brought it out to the truck (small cab, good stereo, just enough drive time to really concentrate), turned it up to about 7, and the vocals, lyrics, and nakedness wrassle the music (which is extremely well-played, it’s just not too varied melodically) into submission. Recommended to Kanye in about a year.

Bob Dylan and The Band: The Basement Tapes–Complete (Columbia)

Many folks have been waiting a long time for this, and, by God, they did it right with the big box (in my humble opinion, they flubbed the budget version). Trouble is, to quote half a Marvin Gaye title from Here, My Dear, “it’s gonna cost you.” You’re gonna hear that it’s like a Van Gogh sketchbook (correct: and I must emphasize, with the pieces that got finished often bowling you over, in very noticeably improved sound). You’re gonna hear that Disc 6 is rough and a waste (incorrect: the whole disc is quite funny, moving, and listenable–250% better than Having Fun on Stage with Elvis Presley–and a few individual recordings are eternal). You’re gonna hear that the Americana genre was born here (correct, but don’t blame them, please, any more than you’d blame Gram Parsons or Ronnie Van Zant). I’m telling you now, and I hope you hear it, that if you can afford it and you’re a Dylanophile, do not think twice–it’s all right. Bonus: you don’t have to get rid of the ’75 Columbia release, as it has The Band tracks (not here–they weren’t “from the basement,” really), compressed sound that has its own virtues when compared to the opened-out quality here, and, in the long run, no necessity to be programmed in your CD player or ‘puter. I listened to the six discs consecutively, was ready to grimace, and never did. Notes and pics are cool, too.

Wadada Leo Smith: The Kabell Years 1971-1979 (Tzadik) and Red Hill (Rarenoise)

Trumpeter Smith’s AACM pedigree and Mississippi roots would seem to have guaranteed he’d have been in my ear 25 years ago, but I first laid ears on him two weeks back. The former two-CD box captures him at what many adepts I know consider his peak, but he was a Pulitzer finalist for the ambitious and stunning multi-disc 10 Freedom Summers in 2012, and jazzbos are touting the latter as one of the best jazz platters of the year. Free is not everyone’s bag, and some would argue he’s not even all that free, but I’ll say this: he sounds to me like what would have happened if Miles had gone off the commercial rails in ’68 (don’t get me wrong: I LOVE WHAT HE DID AFTER THAT), headed to Chicago, and decided to forego coke and groupies. Also, even when his groups are wiggin’ out (primarily on Red Hill, and his new pianist is very familiar with Cecil Taylor), Smith brings a very strong feeling of peace, serenity, and intellectual reflection to the attentive listener. On the strength of these two rekkids, he’s in my Top 10 Free/Experimental Jazz pantheon.

Jerry Lee Lewis: Rock and Roll Time (Vanguard)

Surely he has no gas left! After two straight pretty dang-good comeback records! Do you know who we are talking about here???? Opens with a conceptually perfect Kristofferson copyright, swings through some Killer meat ‘n’ potatoes, then–whaddya know?–sets Jerry Lee up with a Skynyrd song! It’s about fucking time. I’ve been dreaming for years of a producer ballsy enough to put together a set of songs from the likes of Ely, Gary Stewart, Ronnie Van Zant, Tony Joe White, Bobby Charles–writers tapped into the man’s main stream–and then sell it. This ain’t that, but it is very, very good, in fact, it has a Muscle Shoals vibe. The piano’s a little quieter–he is plagued by arthritis, though not in the fingers–but the voice is still there, and the mind definitely gets it. This makes me so happy I could gulp a handful of Black Mollys and buy a personal jet. Note: Rick Bragg’s new biography/assisted memoir is a perfect contemplative companion.

Peter and Caspar Brotzmann: Last Home (Pathological)

Peter, a terrorist on the saxophone whose Machine Gun is probably the most balls-out recording of all-time, I knew about. He can indefatigably unleash torrents, but also shift into a surprisingly affective lyrical mode. Until this recording, I didn’t know much about Brother Caspar, who plays electric guitar. Suffice it to say that he holds his own with a later compatriot of his brother’s: none other than Sonny Sharrock. Maybe my favorite Brotzmann release, and thanks to the great Isaac Davila of Springfield, Missouri, for the loan.

Jimi Hendrix: Live at the Oakland Coliseum (Dagger)

After reading (many years after its release) and loving Charles Cross’ biography Roomful of Mirrors, I had to have me more Hendrix. And I already have a lot. In a long-ago article, an obscure critic named Robert Christgau mentioned this, from a series of official bootlegs released by the Hendrix estate, as something he liked, but warned about the sound. Dagger didn’t put these in stores; you had to get ’em straight from the site, which it looks like you still can. I took the plunge, and, I have to say, across two discs of a surprisingly professional audience recording, Hendrix and band are on. For a bootleg, it’s a B+/A-, and if you are a diehard, I seriously recommend it. 18 minutes of live “Voodoo Chile”? Say no, I dare ye.

Funkadelic: The Electric Spanking of War Babies (Warner Brothers)

This early ’80s offering from the mind of Dr. Funkenstein and his crazed collaborators has gotten lost in the shuffle, with ’70s albums like One Nation Under a Groove garnering most of the laurels. I myself, upon first purchasing it when it was released, thought it was a mess, slightly unworthy of its not-exactly-tidy predecessors. After reading George’s purty-good/not-bad memoir, I slapped it on for the first time in years, and came away thinking, “This is consistent“–that is, consistent in the mode of Uncle Jam. So, if you’ve read the memoir, and you’ve never got out of the Seventes with ’em, and you’re in need–here, my dear. Highlights: slogans, as always (“When you/learn to dance/you won’t forget it!”); post-Hendrix guit (not quite enough, but oh well); Sly Stone’s last coherent offering; Pedro Bell’s album art; reggae that works; prescient commentary on “The Greatest Generation.” We love you, George.

Paul Shapiro: Shofarot Verses (Tzadik)

I feel like describing this record the way you would a gourmet meal (OK, maybe the record isn’t that good, but it’s very good): hints of klezmer, overtones of Lee Allen and Earl Bostic, and a backbone (OK, that’s not a gourmet term) of Marc Ribot, 2014 instrumentalist of the year, name your category as long as it isn’t classical. Recommended strongly to practicing Jews who may wonder where their cultural influence has gone.

Natural Child: A bunch of 45 and digital EP tracks that ought to be collected (Infinity Cat, Burger, et al)

If you actually read me, you know (or suspect) I will go to my grave fighting for these Nashville boys, who, without a goddam doubt, have been shortchanged by the “indie” “rock” press. Pitchfuck, you are in the scope; you’ll review Beyonce, and not these guys? But. No matter. I myself confess that if you’ve only bought their albums, you don’t know the half. Their early singles, represented either by (usually digital) EPs or 45s (two split), contain the essence by which you can truly appreciate the later records. “Shame Walkin'” (about a dude that doesn’t want to fuck, but feels he has to), “Nobody Wants to Party with Me” (flipside of the paradigmical rock and roll night), “Mother Nature’s Daughter” (best Neil Young imitation ever–in fact, it ain’t no mere imitation!), ” Dogbite” (perfect song for wanting to get the hell out of wherever you’re stuck), “Gas Station” (a Liquor Store cover that they have to have completely identified with, given their touring ways), “Crack Mountain” (“I just want to smoke crack with my friends!”), “Easy Street” (to quote the New York Dolls: “If I want too many things/Well, I’m a human being!”), “Cougar” (seriously, these guys don’t just want to get laid), “Don’t Wake the Baby” (from the above-pictured 45, the bleariest, most tequila-soaked, but most charming one-night-stand song of all-time), “The Jungle” (a great spontaneous hootenanny): folks, their greatest album isn’t an album. This is a call to collect the singles, then dare Pitchfork, Pop Matters, Expert Witness (yeah, YOU, Christgau) to say no. I am not WRONG. Seen ’em four times in four different cities, listened to everything they’ve ever put out thrice over, I am fifty-fucking-two and have listened to music AVIDLY for forty-two of them. I am not WRONG. You know what you have to do, people.

Various Artists: The Ann Arbor Blues Festival 1972 (Atlantic)

Hound Dog Taylor, Sun Ra, Otis Rush, Sippie Wallace (abetted by Bonnie Raitt), Junior Walker, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Koko Taylor, Dr. John? In great fidelity? In great form? Wait–Sun Ra’s in there? Yeah. And the pretty-free CJQ. Oh, did I mention…Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters? With John Sinclair as a kind of liner-note MC? I know: where has this record been all your life? Personally, the only other festival I’d rather have been at would be Monterey.

Billy Bang: Prayer for Peace (TUM)

I miss Billy Bang dearly. One of the greatest jazz violinists of all-time (saying something, because there’s Fiddler Williams, Stephane Grappelli, Ray Nance, Leroy Jenkins, and Bang’s great model, Stuff Smith) not only never made a bad album, but a) could swing a lot of jazz directions, and b) as befitting his being a veteran of the Vietnam War, always had something to say about peace. This fantastic record is not as wide-open as some of his others–the perfect invitation for the hesitant–but it’s deep, and, while Bang’s playing is as moving and richly-toned as usual, miraculously encompassing his scarring and his commitment to transcend it, trumpeter James Zollar almost steals the record from him. Bonus: they cover, and cut, the Buena Vista Social Club.

Negativland: It’s All in Your Head (Seeland)

Navigate to that label’s website, and you can order this cheap two-CD set, which comes encased in a King James Bible. Disc one’s Christian; disc two’s Muslim, with a slash of Judaism. Both sides are undercut by a voice screaming “There is no God!” and a seeming four-year-old explaining why God doesn’t make sense. Woven throughout are some experts struggling to reconcile religion with science, and other patiently dismissing it. These warriors have been quiet for awhile, and it may come as a surprise to some listeners that it’s a live performance. The title is the concept, and, while it’s not as musical as past releases, in many ways it’s just as liberating. Recommended to Neil DeGrasse Tyson and his army.

Buck Clayton and Buddy Tate: Buck & Buddy/Blow the Blues (Swingville/Original Jazz Classics)

Basie buddies, veterans of the big band territory wars and numerous harrowing car and bus tours that would have brought today’s players in any genre to their knees, Clayton and Tate, on this terrific two-fer-one, swing in a blue mood. The musical equivalent of your grandfather schooling you on the front porch, just before bedtime. Buck wields trumpet, Buddy a very Texas tenor. You know? If you just don’t get jazz, how about starting here? Nothing to get, everything to feel.

Trio 3 (with Vijay Iyer): Wiring (Itakt)

The big attraction is three crafty African American veterans–one, Oliver Lake, with a St. Louis Black Artists Group pedigree; one, Reggie Workman, a former Trane sideman; one, Andrew Cyrille, a compatriot of Cecil Taylor and David Murray–and a (relatively) young South Indian, Vijay Iyer, laying into a Trayvon Martin suite. But the record as a whole is my favorite small-combo jazz record of the year. To my mind, this particular gathering is an event, and, in no small way, an elevation of Iyer to the masters’ mantle.

Living To Listen

Compact music commentary about artifacts new and old: I enthuse, I don't accuse, but I do refuse–to review anything lukewarm or colder!

Tag: Sun ra

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100+ Strong–2015 Fave Raves

The Very Best Music and Music-Related Stuff I Enjoyed in 2014

Good to My Ear- and Eyehole Since Last I Posted: Part 3, The Heard.

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