The Best Historical Jazz Released in 2024

It seems that every year the jazz detectives-those aficionados that love this music and don't mind putting the effort and time it takes to unearth musical gems from the past -have taken releasing historical releases to a new level. Archival music has been of special interest to true fans who seemingly cannot get enough of a favorite artists work. Previously, music that was for whatever reason, ignored, poorly recorded, legally hampered, or inexplicably misplaced have become sources of renewed interest. Recordings of artists of import who are still living or perhaps deceased, still generate almost a cult-like following and re-releases and previously undiscovered recordings of their work has become lost gold. Often these treasures were stored in neglected record industry vaults, or  may have been forgotten audio mementos preserved by the artist's family or friends. Bootleg recordings, the unauthorized recording of artists work, and archived radio station tapes, or recorded concert performances that never saw the light of day to the listening public, could also be fertile sources for historical releases.

One of the pioneers who took a special interest in formerly unreleased material and bringing them to life, was the recently deceased (April 20, 2024) and rightfully revered Michael Cuscuna. Cuscuna was with Blue Note Records from 1975-1981 where he convinced management to let him dive deeply into the label's vast treasure trove of recorded jazz legend music. Blue Note was founded in 1939 by Alfred Lyon and Max Marguilis who started to record hot jazz and other forms that were considered at the time uncommercial. The professional photographer Francis Wolff joined with Lyon in late 1939. With Lyon's musical acumen and Wolff's keen photographic eye, the two rode, photographed and recorded the changes of jazz from hot jazz, stride, bebop, hard bop, fusion and beyond. Despite many corporate changes, the label had one of the richest catalogs of the music and an unmatched photographic record of the era's greats, and Cuscuna saw the historical importance of getting the unreleased material out to the public. In 1983, Cuscuna formed Mosaic Records. There, from his modest Stamford, CT base, he curated the release of over three hundred limited released, marvelously informative, smartly packaged boxed sets of musically important jazz that was previously neglected. His first Mosaic release was Thelonious Monk-The Complete Blue Note Recordings in 1983.The New York Times named Mosaic "the most distinctive reissue label in jazz."

Another producer who also made serious contributions to our trove of historical releases in the world of jazz has been Richard Seidel, who amongst other things worked for Verve records for twenty years and curated important reissue releases including artists work from Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald, Bill Evans and Miles Davis. 

Today, names that seems synonymous with superb historical releases include George Klabin- the one time jazz radio station DJ on WKCR in NYC, record producer, sound studio owner, and self taught audio-engineer who created his Los Angeles based Resonance Records in 2008- has been a major force in the release of historical jazz since the label's inception.

His protege Zev Feldman, co-president of Resonance Records, has tirelessly worked to discover, refurbish, curate, and produce some of today's most sort after, never before released, archival recordings. Feldman has become today's pre-eminent Jazz Detective, a label he now uses on some of his releases. Besides his association with Resonance, Feldman has teamed up with other partners, like the Barcelona based Elemental Music label, with their President and Founder Jordi Soley under the labels of Elemental and Deep Dives Music Group. Feldman also teamed up with the Canadian based saxophonist Cory Weeds who is the founder of the label Cedar Music and the archival label Reel to Real. 

What makes newer historical releases so appealing is that they follow Cuscuna's pattern of treating the music and the presentation with great respect for the listeners who will purchase and listen to it. Today, so much music is digitally streamed. The recording is less of a physical object where one can read about the music and the process, see the artists come to life in photographs, and listen to their art. Instead, streaming allows the music to become a transient piece of impersonal data. It has made the leisurely listening to of an extended album for enjoyment almost a lost art. Modern historical releases offer a difference. The packaging is of high quality, the notes informative, the photography is relevant and compliments the music, interviews add personality to the date and offer personal anecdotes from fellow musicians, and the recordings-often offered in CD, Vinyl or Digital packages- are enjoyable as well as important preservations of the music's history.

This year has been particularly rewarding year for historical releases . These are six of my best of historical releases for 2024, there are surely other equally as worthy releases that I have not had a chance to listen to, but these were the best that I had a chance to sample , so decide for yourself.

Art Tatum: Jewels in the Treasure Box: Resonance Records -3 CD Package-August 16-28, 1953

If there was a "God" of the piano, then most aficionados of the music would say Art Tatum was indeed the closest artist that could fill those big shoes. Tremendous facility and an enormous ability to create harmonic interest and surprise, these live recordings truly transport you back to the 1953  Blue Note Chicago Club performances. The under appreciated fluidity of guitarist Everett Barksdale and the arco high jinks of Slam Stewart make this all the more a treat.

Chet Baker And Jack Sheldon: In Perfect Harmony: The Lost Album-Elemental Music/Jazz Detective/ Deep Digs Music -1972

The rare chance to hear two master trumpeters like Chet Baker and Jack Sheldon is worth the price of the admission. This recording is titled In Perfect Harmony: The Lost Album and was recorded at United Audio in Tustin, CA.in 1972. Co-produced by Feldman with film producer Frank Marshall, it captures the different tonal qualities and musical approaches these two players use to make the horns and their voices lend to this music. Both can play. Chet's more restrained and sensitive , while Sheldon is more boisterous and humorous. The personalities are evident both on their horns and when they sing. They are ably accompanied by Dave Frisberg on piano, Joe Mondragon on bass, Jack Marshall (Frank's dad), on guitar and Nick Ceroli on drums. It's liking being part of a private party.

Mal Waldron and Steve Lacy-The Mighty Warriors-Elemental Music

September 30, 1995

Mal Waldron and Steve Lacy had one of the more progressive groups of their period. This recording is captured on September 30, 1995 in Antwerp, Belgium. Waldron and Lacy are accompanied by the equally forward looking rhythm section of Reggie Workman on bass and Andrew Cyrille on drums. Capturing these four gentlemen live and in the moment of creativity in front of a mesmerized audience is a rare chance to feel what those attendants may have experienced. There is real artistry to bear witness to here.

Emily Remler: Cookin' At the Queens-Resonance Records- 1984 and 1988

Emily Remler is an enigmatic figure in the world of jazz guitar. She was once quoted by a magazine as saying "I may look like a nice Jewish girl from New Jersey, but inside I'm a 50 year old heavyset black man with a big thumb, like Wes Montgomery." No doubt Montgomery was a main inspiration. At twenty-four years of age she was celebrating her successful debut album Firefly and getting accolades from jazz critics and players as well. Being a successful female guitarist was still certainly an anomaly, especially in jazz. The woman had chops and style, was competitive, and had so much promise. She unfortunately struggled with addiction and succumbed to it in May of 1990 at the young age of thirty-two. This album gives many of us a chance to catch her from two live sets she played in Las Vegas in 1984, age 27 and 1988 age 31. A special player in her prime, these recordings capture Remler's improvisational  creativity on the fly.

Yusef Lateef: Atlantic Lullaby- The Concert From Avignon-Elemental Music/ INA-July 19, 1972

The master saxophonist/flutist Yusef Lateef was an religious artist, an educator and a dedicated musician who studied music from a global point of view. He became proficient as a jazz saxophonist playing with Dizzy Gillespie's orchestra and was part of Cannonball Adderley's Quintet for a period. He predominantly recorded as a leader of his own groups. He found the word "jazz" as an incorrect description of the music he  created, and instead called it Autophsiopsychic. This album, Atlantis Lullaby, is from a concert that he performed in Avignon, France in 1972. Lateef is joined here with pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Bob Cunningham and drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath. There is energy in this music and yet there is plenty of room for beauty, meditation and spiritualism too, Lateef trademarks. 

Al Jarreau: WOW! Live at the Childe Harold-Resonance Records- August 13, 1976

Listening to the great vocalist Al Jarreau is an experience to be savored. His gymnastically pliable voice was a wonder that could navigate the most challenging musical chicanery possible and yet still execute the music with grace and joy. On this release, recorded at the Childe Harold, his Washington DC debut in August of 1976, Jarreau is captured with Tom Channing on Fender Rhodes and ARP string ensemble, Ben Atkins on bass and Tom Drake on drums. Jarreau's Warner Brothers debut record We Got By was out a year and his second album Glow was just out for a month. This is prime Jarreau making his way into real success and fame. Add the addition of an excited crowd witnessing vocal history and you have

real magic!

Notes On Jazz Best of Jazz and Beyond for 2024

It's almost the end of the year, and I always try to recap what I consider the year's best in jazz or jazz-related music. My choices are purely subjective based on my taste and having had the opportunity to actually listen to these releases.

Music attracts a broad group of players who bring style, culture, virtuosity, and imagination to each year's offerings and this year is no different. It is up to us as listeners to take the time and effort and sit back and take it all in. From my point of view, it has been a rewardingly rich year for creative music in 2024.

Contemporary improvised music is a broad-stroked genre, often referred to under the name of "jazz."  Whether you like the name or prefer something else, jazz is like a petri dish, a fertilization ground that can germinate new ideas, styles, and approaches to modern creative music. Musicians who play this music today are culturally diverse, technically well-educated, and usually dedicated to the art of creative music. They come here to play with their peers and/or elders. They come here to learn, expand, and leave their mark on the music. They can come from as close as next door to halfway across the globe. Diversity continues to prove to be a real strength in the evolution of this music. 

As one of America's most important indigenously created art forms, the Afro-American roots of this music should always be acknowledged, preserved, and cherished. International influences, like ethnic-inspired folk music, European and non-European musical traditions, and other more subtle cultural musical inspirations feed the art, expanding it with vibrancy and passion. Music is a unifying art form for humanity. Through cooperation, creativity, hope, and beauty, music has the power to transcend geographical borders, erase ethnic differences, and be color-blind to the foibles of racism. Music is power!

I have decided to post my favorite albums from the year in five different categories. Records released from October of 2023 through November of 2024 were included in no particular order.  The categories are Best Contemporary Jazz,  Best of Jazz and Contemporary Vocals, Best Latin Jazz, and Best Big Band Jazz; I will have another post selecting the best historical jazz albums released in 2024, hopefully next week.

I hope this list gives readers a chance to explore some albums and types of music that they might otherwise have missed. Please don't take this list as being exclusionary if one of your favorites hasn't made this list. While I listen to hundreds of albums over the year. There are certainly many releases that I have not had the chance to preview and therefore, whether worthy or not, didn't make my list. So onward and upward and happy listening.  

Best Contemporary Jazz:

Taylor Eigsti-Plot Armor- Ground Up Records

Peter Bernstein-Better Angels-Smoke Session Records

Jim Snidero-For All We Know- Savant Records  

Jamie Baum-What Times Are These-Sunnyside Records

Ben Allison, Steve Cardenas and Ted Nash- Tell The Birds I Said Hello: The Music of Herbie Nichols-Sonic Camera Records

Kenny Barron-Beyond This Place- Artworks/PIAS 

Isaiah Collier and the Chosen Few-The World Is On Fire- Division 81 Records

Chris Potter-Eagle's Point-Edition Records

Julian Lage-Speak To Me-Blue Note Records

Ryan Keberle & Catharsis-Music Is Connection-Alternate Side Records

Charles Llyod- The Sky Will Be There Tomorrow-Blue Note Records

Tomasz Stank Quartet-September Night-ECM 

Grégoire Maret and Romain Collin-Ennio-ACT Music  

Andy Milne and Unison- Time Will Tell-Sunnyside Records

John Surman-Words Unspoken-ECM Records 

Pat Bianchi- Three-21H Records 

Jenny Scheinman-All Species Parade-Royal Potato Family

Michael Shrieve-Drums of Compassion-7D Media

-

Ron Horton-A Prayer for Andrew-Newvelle Records 

 

Ben Wolfe-The Understated-Resident Arts Records  

 

 

Tyshawn Sorey Trio-The Susceptible Now-Pi Records  

 

Best Jazz and Contemporary Music Vocals: 

Fay Victor-Life Is Funny That Way, Herbie Nichols Sung-Tao Form Records

Catherine Russell and Sean Mason- My Ideal- Dot Time Records

Lizz Wright-Shadow-Blues and Greens

Best Latin Jazz:

Donald Vega-As I Travel-Imaginary Records

Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Hamilton DeHolanda- Collab-Sony Music Brazil 

Zaccai Curtis-CuBop Lives!-Truth Revolution 

   

Best Jazz Debut Albums:

Art Baden-How Much Of It Is real-Rainy Day Records 

Euan Edmonds-Beyond Hope and Fear-Desafio Candente Records

Best Jazz Big Band Releases:

Mike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra-This Rock We're On-Palmetto Records

Jihye Lee Orchestra-Daring Mind-Motema Records 

John Hollenbeck and the NDR Big Band-Colouring Hockets-Flexatonic Records

Ryan Keberle & Catharsis : Music Is Connection-An Aural Wonder of Textures and Colors

Ryan Keberle & Catharsis: Music Is Connection :Alternate Side Records

The talented trombone player/composer Ryan Keberle has been on my watch list for quite some time, so when he and his group Catharsis releases a new album I make it my business to check out what these musicians are up to. This is the twelfth year that Catharsis has been making music as a group and this latest release Music is Connection is their sixth album. Leader Ryan Keberle is joined by members Peruvian bassist Joege Roeder, drummer Eric Doob who originally hails from Boston, the Chilean guitarist/singer Camile Meza, and since 2018 the multi-reed and brass player Scott Robinson who makes a guest appearance on this album.

The Keberle family was originally from Bloomington, Indiana before his family relocated to Spokane, Washington where Ryan was raised. His father Dan was a professor of classical and jazz trumpet and a Director of the Jazz studies program  for thirty four years at Whitworth University. Ryan's mother taught piano and was a  choir director at their church. With such strong musical genes, Keberle took classical violin and piano lessons before he became inspired by the powerful horn-based sound of the rock/jazz groups of the late nineteen-sixties like Blood Sweat and Tears, Tower of Power, and Chicago. He retained his piano work and took up the trombone as his main instrument while still in his teens. 

Keberle enrolled at Whitworth before transferring to pursue his music at Manhattan School of Music in 1999. There he studied with trombone ace Steve Turre and graduated in 2001. That year he was selected as Artistic Director of the newly formed  youth orchestra for the Jazz Classic Program of the New York Symphony, along with receiving a prestigious excellence award from his alma mater at MSM. In 2001 he did post graduate work as a selected artist to attend Julliard's then new Jazz Program. There he studied with talented trombonist Wycliffe Gordon and composition with David Berger and was one of the first students who graduated from the Julliard Jazz Program. As a student he help support himself playing mostly piano as a professional. As a trombone player, he soon became a sought after session member of many a prestigious orchestra including David Berger's Orchestra, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and the Maria Schneider Orchestra.

Ryan Keberle (photo credit unknown)

As an artist, Keberle has continued to find diverse projects to stimulate his expressive psyche. Besides forming Catharsis in 2012, he also formed a chamber jazz ensemble Reverso with French pianist  Frank Woeste and French cellist Vincent Courtois and either Greg Hutchinson or Jeff Ballard on drums. Reverso has since released five gorgeous, often classically inspired albums that have received rightful  acclaim. Because of his love of Brazilian music, especially the Música Popular Brasileira, Keberle took a sabbatical in Brazil in 2017 to immerse himself in the style, culture and nuances of this vibrant music. That year he formed and recorded with his Colletiv da Brasil group and released two well received albums Sonhos da Esquina and Considerando.

Catharsis is perhaps the most exploratory of the trombonist's groups and Music is Connection is another theme based album that continues Kerberle and partner's  expansive vision. There is something special about the tapestries these talented and intuitive musicians create with the trombone, keyboard and voice sounds of Keberle, the guitar and voice inventiveness of Meza, the elastic and probing bass of Roeder, the expressive trumpet of now departed Michael Rodriguez, and the propulsive percussive drive that Doob skillfully supplies. These guys have a cellular connection that is nothing short of marvelous. The addition of guest multi-reedist Scott Robinson just adds another layer of colors and textures available to this very exciting group sound.

Whether they are exploring the connections between music and our feelings with their original piano-less, two-horn format on Music is Emotion, or are challenging our comfort level with their hopeful, politically oriented ideas and lush  orchestrations on Find the Light, Shine a Light  Catharsis is operating on a level of creativity that few groups reach.  

Camile Meza, Ryan Keberle and Scott Robinson (photo credit unknown)

Music is Emotion opens with Keberle's  "Throwback Moves" a reimagined song originally heard on the groups take from the 2013 debut album. Here we find a  penetrating electric guitar solo by Meza, synchronized bass and powerful drum work by Roeder and Doob and some entrancing synchronous playing of Meza's marvelous voice and Keberle's in step keyboards. There is a feeling of music as portal into dance in the way these guys play with such foot moving vibrancy and drive. 

"Sound Energy" is slow ballad that combines electric guitar accents with keyboard lines before Keberle's trombone enters the mix. Meza's voice as an instrument is a true gift and her communicative interaction with Keberle's voice or keyboard or trombone are telepathic. 

Meza brings her version of Chilean composer/singer/poet/teacher Victor Jara's "Lo Unico Que Tengo." She originally recorded this love song- in English "The Only Thing I Have"-on her 2013 album titled Prisma. On this version, besides her transcendent voice, we hear just how simpatico her voice and Keberle's trombone can be, beautifully complimenting each other's musical ideas in a aural conversation of intimacy and emotion.

Jorge Roeder brings an excitable, off to the races composition "Hammersparks" and the sparks are indeed flying. As Keberle wrote, Roeder provides an "insane bass line" that few can handle, but the Peruvian seems to shine. Doob has his hands full with this one, but he executes the maddening pace with propulsion and grace. Guitar and trombone trade bends and slurs and then meld lines with grace and style. 

"Key Adjustment" is another reprised Keberle composition from the debut album. The musician likes to revisit and reimagine his songs with different musical orchestrations and altered rhythms. Opening with a bass pedal point line, the guitar enters with a cascading of finger picked notes. The bass switches to a probing line that is accompanied by Doob's cadenced drum work. Keberle orchestrates the music with his large palette of sounds and textures. The guitar, the voices, trombone, bass, drums and keyboards all are all utilized with tremendous effect. 

Milton Nascimento's "Vera Cruz" is a bewitching composition that answers Keberle's endearment to Brazilian music. Meza's voice seems to have the flexibility, range and control that makes it a secret weapon, like Nascimento's falsetto, only with more warmth. Keberle offers a warm, melodic trombone solo.

"Sonic Living" is a musical commentary about how the new generation, through the impact of cell phones, musical videos and social media have lost the art of listening to music that is unattached to the images.  Careful uncluttered music listening today gets short shrift, scant attention, and Keberle is especially concerned as an educator how this trend can seriously effect negatively aspiring musicians. 

"Cycle" was a short song orchestrated by drummer Eric Doob. Through the use of overdubbing and post production electronic effects, the drummer creates a layered piece. Over a repeating piano riff, he adds multiple sounds and instrumentation- trombone, voices, drone electronics, bass and synthesizer swell, all melding into a choir-like chant.

Keberle's "Arbor Vitae" is the only piece on the album that adds the memorable sound of guest saxophonist Scott Robinson. His Getzian take on this samba-like composition is perfectly matched to the vibe of this song. His breezily fluid solo tenor work is  inventive, light and always a joy. Meza's voice inflections are light as a feather and Keberle and Robinson revel in their intuitive interplay. 

The last two pieces are "Shine Intro" a two minute guitar, trombone and cymbal  lead into the final composition "Shine" which is music inspired by the late French composer, the short-lived Lili Boulanger, who died at the age of twenty-four despite her rising star as a composing star that was being mentored by Ravel and Faure. The music features a ascending theme that brings in the ripping electric guitar work of Meza, the boisterous explosion of Keberle's trombone, the pulsing bass of Roeder and the percolating drums of Doob.

Music Is Emotion is an artful album that deftly uses sonic colors and textures, smart orchestrations, and excellent musicians to communicate that emotion can truly be found in beautiful music.

The Tomasz Stanko Quartet from a 2004 Concert in Munich, Germany: "September Night"

Tomasz Stanko Quartet: September Night: ECM Recorded Sept 2004

The Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko created his own approach to the sound of his instrument. Inspired by the Polish modern pianist and film scorer Krzysztof Komeda, the saxophonist Ornette Coleman and the American trumpeter Miles Davis' sparse approach to the trumpet. The more is less style allowed Stanko to add elements of drama, Slavic melancholy, sadness and a metaphysical, free-style sense of pain into his expressive music. He had a distinctive tone. There was never any doubt of who you were hearing when you listened to Tomasz Stanko. His music had an identity,  a tattoo-like imprimatur all his own. 

Tomasz Stanko was born on July 11, 1941 in the city of Rzeszów, Poland. He attended the State Higher Music School in Kraków, where he had a classical music education and studied violin, piano and trumpet. Despite his classical training, Stanko was attracted to the expression and freedom of jazz music. Following his muse, he founded a quartet with a fellow secondary school student and received some critical recognition. In 1963 at the age of twenty-one, Stanko was asked to join the quartet of the progressive and influential pianist Krzysztof Komeda. Komeda was renowned for his free approach to piano as well as his formidable film scoring talents. Komeda scored over forty films, including all of Roman Polanski's, from his first in 1958 to the last one being the score to Rosemary's Baby, before the pianist's untimely death due to an accident in 1968. Stanko's four year stint with Komeda was artistically expansive.

In 1973 Stanko became one of the early Polish musicians who embraced the use of electronics and experimented with synthetic sounds in music, but by the nineteen nineties the artist returned to his acoustical format. In 1980 Stanko released a solo album recorded at the Taj Mahal and the Buddhist Karla Caves in India. Besides his Polish musician based groups, in the eighties and beyond Stanko collaborated with a rainbow of jazz luminaries. These included bassists Dave Holland, Arild Andersen, Palle Danielsson, Thomas Morgan and Gary Peacock, multi-reedist John Surman and Tomasz Szukalski, pianists Cecil Taylor, David Virelles and Bobo Stensen, guitarists Terje Rypdal and Jakob Bro, drummers Jon Christensen, Gerald Cleaver and Tony Oxley, in various formations. In all these diverse combinations and as a solo artist it was always the frail humanity, the  and expressive emotion that came through so clearly from Stanko's plaintive horn.

Stanko's perceptive use of romanticism, melancholy, developed melodic patterns and his evocative trumpet tone provide the listener with a uniquely penetrating music that reaches the soul. 

            Tomasz Stanko photo credit John Broughton

Perhaps the most symbiotic group of the bunch was the quartet Stanko formed  in 1993 with then sixteen-year-old drummer Michal Miśkiewicz and his two friends pianist Marcin Wasilewski and bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz. This quartet was first  recorded work on the Stanko album Balladyne from 1994 on GOWI Records. The group became a working band for Stanko over the years and they released three other albums on ECM, Soul of Things (2002), Suspended Night (2004), and Lontano (2006) all studio albums.

The Tomasz Stanko Quartet ( photo credit unknown)

In June of this year, ECM decided to release September Night, a live recording from a Stanko and this quartet concert recorded in September 9, 2004 in Munich.  To any fan of Stanko and his music, it is certainly of interest to get a chance to look back and capture this soulful group in its most fluid situation, in front of a live an appreciative crowd. The album shows just how much this group had matured under the leadership of Stanko. Particularly noted is how much the quartet telepathically functioned with a heightened acuity to each other's ideas and responded accordingly.

The album has seven compositions six of which are by Stanko with only "Kaetano" credited to the group in total. The songs run from five and half minutes in length to almost eleven minutes. The opener "Hermento" starts with a pedal point bass line by Kurkiewicz as Stanko's searching horn enters the fray. Wasilewski's piano creates the barest of melodies upon which Miśkiewicz adds rolling percussive accents. Stanko creates the mood and you just find it enchanting.

"Song for Sarah" opens with Wasilewski's gentle piano lines that almost whisper out the melody. Stanko's horn has a film noir quality to it and the piano and trumpet dance with an elegant dialogue. Stanko goes silent as the trio show their own musical sympatico as a fully whole entity that can create their own beauty.  Stanko's plaintive horn always seems to bring a human voice-like quality to the music.

Kurkiewicz's plucky bass opens "Euforila" with tonally rich exploratory lines before he settles into a quick paced ostinato line that sets the music up for its throbbing pulse. Wasilewski and Miśkiewicz enter the swelling rhythm before Stanko's fluttering trumpet takes flight with repeating lines that raise the tension. Stanko and Wasilewski state a sparse melody before the pianist takes center stage with his own elastic solo that is beautiful and has elements of free jazz to it. Stanko's trumpet returns with his own sense of urgency to his horn as his backing trio create their own cauldron of excitement. Miśkiewicz finishes the composition with a roiling drum solo that leads to the group restating the brief melody at the coda.

Stanko's stark trumpet opens up "Elegant Piece" accompanied minimally by probing piano lines and roiling tom work. The music blooms into a beautifully  meandering trumpet stated melody. Stanko adds brief flutters, staggered stabs and piercing high register darts to low toned slurs create a tonal potpourri of aural delight that never losses it's elegance. Wasilewski's piano solo is particularly notable, filled with emotion, facility and harmonic creativity that is accented by uncanny angular sense of time and space. He plays his instrument with confidence and yet  chooses to never use speed or flair over expressiveness and taste. The music runs for over ten minutes and gives the team a real chance to stretch out within the concept of elegance and to demonstrate their individual strengths.

The group composed "Kaetano" and features a Latin-inspired rhythm that features a vibrant bass line by Kurkiewicz, some shimmering cymbal work by Miśkiewicz and a Wasilewski piano solo that bustles with inventiveness and melodicism. It's one of Stanko's most energetic and boisterous trumpet solos of the set. The group seems to be reveling in the vibe that they create.

"Celina" has Stanko stating the theme work with sensitive piano accompaniment and rolling tom work in the background. The trumpeter modulates back and forth establishing mood and tension. At the two minute thirty-four-second mark Kurkiewicz starts another ostinato bass line that builds under its own repetitive groove. Stanko's trumpet is like a clarion, an at times shrill warning  that can revert to an emotional gasp or a melancholic cry. Wasilewski's piano solo flows with a modernist approach that has a propulsion all its own, as the rhythm section maintains the heartbeat on the music. 

The final piece on the album is "Theatrical." The music develops like a theatrical story slowly, carefully building interest and being led into revelation. Stanko effectively utilizes changing rhythmic speeds to orchestrate his musical story. From a sauntering opening, the music is introduced as a simple melody with Stanko's trumpet leading the way. Suddenly, he blares a line that changes the pace abruptly. His trumpet erupts once again introducing another shift with shrieks and slurs slowly building the motion, increasing the pace, until he and his group again change direction. He returns to a slow descending pattern on his horn, a reduction of volume, intensity and pace that deflates, fading away to the disappearing coda.

Sadly, Tomasz Stanko transitioned from this world into the next on July 29, 2018, so we will no longer have this moving artist around to add to his musical canon, but it comforting to know that with retro releases like September Night we can continue to rediscover some previously unreleased music from this master. The trio of Wasilewski, Kurkiewicz, and Miśkiewicz continue on without him as a unit. They continue to grow on their own creative path but they will always be inspired by their association with their impressive mentor.

Is the World on Fire? Saxophonist Isaiah Collier and The Chosen Few Think So

Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few: The World Is On Fire Division 81 Records

The Chicago based saxophonist Isaiah Collier has made a powerful new album that highlights some of the tumultuous racial, social and political issues that this country has faced in the past decade. The album is titled The World is On Fire and was released in October of 2024. Events like the vigilante-like killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, the shooting of sixteen-year-old Ralph Yal in Missouri, the traumatizing killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and the upsetting events at the Capitol on January 6th were not just fodder for Collier and his Chosen Few group to create music. These guys memorialized these events by melding news clips, alarming street sounds and vivid commentaries with their own piercing, emotionally charged and plaintively expressed musical expressions. The music is both potent, brashly provocative and yet offers a feeling of hopefulness that cannot be denied. 

Collier’s tenor, alto and soprano work is attention grabbing. As the free jazz bassist William Parker said of saxophonist’s playing with own group, Collier’s playing is inspiring. There is certainly some lineage that can be clearly traced to some of the spiritual work of both John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, but this comparison is only a starting point for this expressive musician. His core group is comprised of the pianist Julian Davis Reid, the drummer Michael Skekwoaga Ode and the bassist Jeremiah Hunter. The group is supplemented by guest artist Corey Wilkes on trumpet, Ed Wilkerson Jr on alto clarinet, Kenthany Redmond on flute, Mayshell Morris on flute, Cassie Watson Francilla on harp, Oluga Negre on cello and Keila Adira, Manasseh Croft, Jessica Walton and Meghan McNeal on vocals.

Isaiah Collier and The Chosen Few (photo credit unknown)

The opener is a moving modal driven smoker titled “The Time Is Now”, a declaratory musical statement for change that Collier, who wrote the ten compositions on the album, believes needs to not only be stated but realized. “Trials and Tribulations” uses Mississippi Representative Bennie Thompson’s statements of chastising Donald Trump for his implicit support of the unlawful storming of the Capitol on January 6^th and the subsequent chaos that it caused as the fuel for this musical statement. Collier’s saxophone wails with urgency and Reid’s piano flows with consistency as Ode’s drums lends powerful propulsion.

Kenthany Redmond’s pastoral flute work opens “Amerikka The Ugly” which is accentuated by Reid’s sensitive piano and Hunter’s playful arco bass work are all highlights. Collier adds his own sinewy soprano work at the halfway point along with some tasty bass pizzicato by Hunter. Despite the title of this song, the music has a spritely, uplifting feel to it that is hard to deny. Despite the darkness of the idea of ugliness Collier seems to always find the bright light that is still present.

The composition "Ahmaud Arbery" finds the core group expertly amalgamate their own musical strengths in a cohesive powerful statement that embodies emotions as varied as callousness, outrage, sadness, anger, sorrow and eventually hopefulness.

The album has six other equally compelling musical and social messages that bring energy and light to the social awareness stage. The closing  song "We Don't Even Know Where We're Heading" ends this awake call album with a joyous eruption of hopefulness. 

Jazz music has always had its town criers, those who actively rang the bell when portents of danger to society and justice needed to be warned against. Complacency is never enough. Before it was Charles Mingus, Gil-Scott Heron, Max Roach, Gary Bartz and others who at times used their music to make a statement against injustice, unfairness and prejudice. Today Isiah Collier and his Chosen Few are a new, young and important voice that seem to be taking over this mantle and thankfully their music is being embraced.

Jenny Scheinman's: All Species Parade: Appreciating Our Relationship to Nature

Jenny Scheinman: All Species Parade: Royal Potato Family

The master violinist/composer/arranger Jenny Scheinman has released her latest musical gem, All Species Parade, on October 11, 2024 out on Royal Potato Family. For Scheinman fans, its been a long five years since the violinist and her then co-leader  drummer Allison Miller,  released their successful Parlour Game in 2019. But by all accounts the wait has been worth it. The album is a twelve composition, polymorphous, two-cd effort that gets its inspiration from Scheinman's return to her Pacific Northwest's roots in her Humboldt County, California home in 2012 after leaving a prolific career in the New York City area. Scheinman is the product of a folk-inspired, nature-immersive upbringing that has made an indelible tattoo into her musical psyche. Her sound has found its way into collaborations with such diverse artists as Lucinda Williams, Norah Jones, Ani Di Franco, Joni Mitchell ,Lou Reed and the metal band Metallica. 

As a youth in what is still called the "Lost Coast," hundreds of miles north of San Francisco, and in the western most location in the United States, Scheinman studied violin and piano. She attended Oberlin Conservatory and graduated from U.C. in Berklee and Santa Clara. As a young artist who moved to NYC, she found herself joining guitar wizard Bill Frisell on a fourteen show run at the Village Vanguard in 2002. Frisell has since become a frequent collaborator. 

On this release, All Species Parade, Scheinman is joined by a stellar cast of like- minded musicians who together help make her vision into a reality. The group includes guitarist Frisell, the pianist Carmen Staaf, the intuitive roots inspired rhythm section of bassist Tony Scherr and drummer Kenny Wollesen and guest artists guitarist's Julian Lage on three songs and Nels Cline on two others. 

Scheinman's vision for this album was inspired by "...a charged relationship to nature, a feeling of being part of something bigger than ourselves, powerful, fragile and constantly changing..." 

Jenny Scheiman and Bill Frisell (photo credit unknown)

The music is eclectic, fluid and spans across genres. The opener, "Ornette Goes Home" is a bouncy, playful, mixture of down home fiddling and free jazz. Scheinman's violin is vibrant, somewhat off-center and swings as Staaf's piano melds brilliantly with her in emphatic communication. Frisell's intuitive guitar work is on point as Scherr and Wollesen create a liquid rhythmic background that swells with organic feel and vibe. Pure joy.

If your a fan of cinematic music then look no further than the "Every Bear That Ever There Was" a song that reminds me of Henry Mancini's "Baby Elephant Walk" from the movie Hatari of 1962. Scheinman's violin spells out the melody in a Stuff Smith inspired take, as the piano, bass and drums spell out the cadenced, processional direction. You can't help but feel that as your listening to this one, you might look down and see some bear prints staining your hardwood floor.

"Juroujiji" is a part of a three song suite along with "The Sea Also Rises" and the title composition " All Species Parade." "Jurounjiji", a song dedicated to the  Northern California based native American Wiyot tribe, opens with a plaintive piano line by Staaf and features some gorgeously intuitive acoustic guitar work by Julian Lage over some shimmering cymbal work by Wollesen and pulsing bass by Scherr. Scheinman's sorrowful violin accentuates the somberness of the music as Lage's guitar explorations float in the ether.

"The Sea Also Rises" is at less than two minutes, the shortest of the compositions. It features Staaf's piano meanderings as Wollesen's percussive accents. 

"All the Species Parade" creates a slow, soulful groove that has you bopping your head to the beat with Frisell's twangy guitar sending out electrical waves of accent into the atmosphere. Scheinman's violin strings are plucked and bowed creating a tension and release that encourages your body to respond in like. The sounds weave together in a fusion of colors, feelings and emotions.

"Shutdown Stomp" is a cross between a hoedown and a gypsy jazz jam with Lage's acoustic guitar again entering as a foil to Scheiman's violin and Staaf's honky-tonk piano work. 

"House of Flowers" is a pastoral piece that features Scheinman's evocative violin, Staaf's ostinato piano work, and Nel Cline's delicate electrical guitar explorations. There is an Americana feel to this one. Music that wraps you in a blanket of welcoming sound. Scheinman's violin is most fluid here with a sinewy attack that is most engaging as it interacts with Cline's ethereal electric offerings.

Where there are waves there will always be surf and on the Lost Coast's Cape Medocino so there is surf rock. On "Cape" the group create a surf music groove that rocks out. Wollesen's drums open this one up with a relentless drive as Scheinman's violin, Frisell and Cline's electric guitars, Staaf's piano and organ,  and Scherr's bottom keep this one from letting up.

The north coast is known for its sun bathing sea lions on the rock formations that pock along the Pacific North West shoreline. "With the Sea Lions" Scheinman is paying homage to these majestic creatures in their home habitat. She creates a cosmic composition without adding herself to the mix. Frisell provides his magical, otherworldly guitar wizardry that offers an  peaceful, cloudlike atmosphere that represents how much beauty and tranquility these creatures bring to us who can just stop, observe, respect and enjoy. Wollesen's sympathetic cymbal work is a treat and Staaf's piano accompaniment is majestic and yet subtle. 

The album ends with gorgeous "Nocturne for 2020" which is an elegiac reflection on the turmoil and stress that we as a nation and a planet had to live through during Covid. Scheinman's violin brilliantly expresses sorrow and lamentation with select lines that eek with empathy. Lage's sensitive finger picking and guitar solo is at its best. The music has a distinctive Flamenco inspired feel to it. There is a exquisite support from the entire crew of Staaf, Frisell, Scherr and Wollesen. 

Grégoire Maret and Romain Collin's Homage to Composer/Arranger Ennio Morricone on "Ennio"

Ennio: Grégoire Maret Romain Collin Act 9959-2

Two, European-born musicians, the Swiss born chromatic harmonica master Grégoire Maret and the impressionistic French born pianist Romain Collin, both currently based in New York City,  grew up with listening to and developing a passion for the music of the Italian composer/arranger Ennio Morricone. The product of their exploration into the man's music is a fitting homage, their latest collaboration Ennio on ACT Records and released in April of 2024. I share the appreciation and enthusiasm of these musicians for the music of Mr. Morricone who passed away after a long and productive life in 2020 at the age of ninety-one. The album is a dedication, a respectful and moving remembrance, of Morricone's mastery as a film scorer. The maestro has written the music for over four hundred films, and it is a testimony to how much his music affected these talented and expansive musicians as well as film lovers around the world.

In case you don't recognize the name, it's unlikely that you too haven't been indelibly touched by the man's work. Ennio Morricone's music graced the films of so many great and iconic movies that it's almost hard to comprehend. He worked closely composing and orchestrating for Italian director Sergio Leone, on such films like The Good The Bad and the Ugly( 1966), Fistful of Dollars (1964) and Once Upon a Time in America (1984). He scored Giuseppe Tornatore's "Cinema Paradiso (1988) and Terrence Mallick's Days of Heaven (1968). His only Academy Award for his work, despite receiving seven nominations, came for his score of Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight (2015). Along the way this prolific, in- demand artist worked for notable directors like Bernado Bertolucci, John Huston,  William Friedkin, Roman Polanski, John Carpenter and Brian DePalma amongst others.

Romain Collin and Grégoire Maret (photo credit unknown)

There was something always engaging about Morricone's work in film, he possessed a sixth sense of what it took musically to enhance what was being portrayed on the silver screen. Sergio Leone was so comfortable with Morricone's innate ability to compose what was complimentary to his films, that he reportedly requested Morricone to score Once Upon in Time in America before filming. He did this so that the actors could use the music as an inspiration, acting  their scenes out with the music playing in the background during the actual filming.

Maret, is one of the most sought after musicians on his instrument. The influence of the late Belgian harmonica master Jean "Toots" Thielemans is obvious on Maret's fluid and expressive playing. It is likely that Maret has become Thieleman's heir apparent, arguably the premiere player of this instrument in the world! 

Maret came to New York in 1993 at the age of eighteen to study at The New School after having graduated from Conservatoire de Musique de Geneva in Switzerland. His marvelous facility and inventiveness led him to be sort after as a sideman for such luminaries as Pat Metheny, Cassandra Wilson, David Sanborn and Herbie Hancock. 

Romain Collin is a pianist from Antibes in southern France and studied music in  Europe before coming to study Berklee in Boston in 2004 where he received a degree in Music Synthesis. He studied for his masters at The Herbie Institute of Jazz in 2007 and was  chosen by the school to tour promotionally with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. He has also studied with artists like Larry Goldings, Russell Ferrante, Charlie Haden, Ron Carter and Mulgrew Miller.

Maret and Collin have collaborated previously. Their 2022 album Americana, had the two Francophiles join forces with guitar ace Bill Frisell to create an airy, melodic travelogue through America. It has elements of jazz, blues, folk and gospel woven into a gorgeous tapestry and the album was rightly nominated for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album of 2022. I named it as one of Notes on Jazz's Best Releases of 2022

On Ennio, Maret and Collin have chosen twelve of Morricone's compositions to express their musical appreciation of the master. The opener "Once Upon a Time In America," also known as Deborah's Theme, comes from the 1984 Sergio Leone film of the same name. The music is beautifully played with Collin's delicate piano lines accentuated by Maret's somber and almost mournful wails. 

"For a Few Dollars More: Watch Chimes" from another of Leone's spaghetti westerns, is a one minute fourteen second peek into how brilliantly composed music can evoke a tense filled mood on film. Collin's metronomic keyboard, maybe a Celesta, mimics the chime sounding tune that emanates from a gunslinger's musical pocket watch. The tension is palpable and the anticipation is masterfully sustained with Maret's harmonica adding a soulful element.

"The Good the Bad and the Ugly: Ecstasy of Gold" is a main theme also from Sergio Leone's Dollar Trilogy. The music brings you back visually to Clint Eastwood's, serape clad, gunslinger character. Collin and Maret are joined by bassist Burniss Earl Travis II's and the drummer Marcus Gilmore. Collin's ostinato piano opening is embellished by some booming lines by Travis and percussive accents by Gilmore as Maret's lines soar over the rhythm. Gilmore's cadenced drum work set the stage for Maret's expressive harmonica improvisation. Collin's piano work builds up tension and he and the rhythm section interact with precision likely accentuating the action on the film that the music was written for.

The album is predominantly cinema generated music. "Suoni oer Dino" or Sounds for Dino offers a train inspired drum line by Gilmore and throbbing bass line by Travis, as Maret wails simulating the approaching train engine whistle. The sentimental intro to "Once Upon a Time in the West" is a mere 54 seconds and leads into the rousing theme to the movie which finds Collin playing a melodically  inspired barroom honky-tonk. The moving theme to "Cinema Paradiso" has Collin and Maret trading melodic lines, transporting the listener back into a simpler time that is presented in Guiseppi Tornatore's film.

Morricone, outside of his film work, also wrote prodigiously for pop music (Paul Anka, Céline Dion and Astrud Gilberto have sung his songs), countless television scores, fifteen piano concertos, over thirty symphonic pieces, an opera (Andrea Bocelli sang one of his songs) and even the music for a mass.

On Morricone's "Se Telefonando", ("If She Calls") is a 1966 pop song about unrequited love and was sung by the Italian pop vocalist Mina.  Here, Maret and Collin are again joined by the empathetic rhythm section of Travis and Gilmore and with a tasty slide guitar intro by Marvin Sewell. The sensuous, smoky contralto of Cassandra Wilson opens the song and she is joined by the distinctive voice of Gregory Porter. Maret's harmonica adds his own accents as Collin's piano leads the group through the memorable melody. Just beautiful.

"Chi Mai" was a song written in 1971 and used in the film Le Professionnel by director Georges Lautner in 1981 starring Jean-Paul Belmondo. Collins piano work is soulful on the opening. Maret's harmonica provides an eerie sensitivity that just hangs in the air like a desperate sigh. 

"The Sicilian Clan" is an French-Italian gangster movie directed by Henri Verneuil and released in 1969 with music by Morricone. Here the music evokes a hip, late sixties period sound with Collin on electric piano, Gilmore on drums and Travis on bass. The melody has an electronic lounge-like feel to it and Maret's eloquent harmonica adds his own sense to the musical palette.

"Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man" was a movie by Bernardo Bertolucci and released in 1981. Morricone's music is beautifully rendered by Collin's emotive piano work  Maret's harmonica often evokes a pleading human voice. The two respond to each other's musical expressions like two threads finely woven into the same tapestry, separate but somehow strengthened by each others presence. 

It is so appropriate that these two serious Morricone fans would end their homage album with one of the maestro's most iconic songs from his film work. "The Man with a Harmonica"  was a eerie song that that was played throughout the film adding tension, anticipation and suspense. In the Leone movie "Once Upon a Time in the West" (1969), a reticent but deadly gunslinger played by Charles Bronson is often heard playing his diatonic harmonica rather than speaking. The harmonica part was hauntingly played on a chromatic harmonica by Francesco "Cheeco" Rizzoli on the original movie soundtrack. It was Morricone's simple use of the droning instrument's voice-like qualities in an experimentally daring way that changed the way movie music would be used going forward. Maret is a master and evokes the same agitation and pressure building tension as Collin's piano and electronics add to the other worldly feel and the escalating danger that is featured in the movie. As with first encountering the original film and sound, this music it is hard to forget.

In a 2020 retrospective on film Mark Lager said in a Cine Action article that Morricone's music has "...melodic splendor" and "revolutionary textures."  Others have praised Morricone's experimental daring and he is often considered one of the most influential and copied composers in film scoring of all time. Clearly Grégoire Maret and Romain Collin are two musicians who agree with the iconic importance of Morricone's body of work. With their own love of melodic beauty, textural manipulation and musical daring they have taken the maestro's music and made it their own vehicle of expression and a fitting homage to their hero's legacy.