Of the many Rob Mazurek led groups, his Chicago Underground collective has been the most prolific and adventurous cooperative with seven duo outings and another four trio releases. The quartet version of Chicago Underground, like the 1998 "Orchestra" formation, had issued only one album, the self-titled debut on the Thrill Jockey label in 2001. A one-off quartet project (Chicago/London Underground) A Night Walking Through Mirrors (Cuneiform Records, 2017) featured Mazurek, drummer Chad Taylor, British pianist Alexander Hawkins, and bassist John Edwards.
Almost two decades later the "official" Chicago Underground quartet returns with Good Days. Regular Mazurek colleagues, guitarist Jeff Parker (Isotope 217 and Tortoise), and Taylor return from the original quartet. Bassist Noel Kupersmith is replaced here by multi-instrumentalist Josh Johnson who plays in Parker's New Breed group.
A ceaseless experimenter, Mazurek here leads the group in a very accessible and melodic outing as he did on his recent Desert Encrypts Vol. 1 (Astral Spirits, 2019). One of that album's compositions—"Encrypts 37"—is reimagined as "Unique Spiral," a pared-back, edgier take. "Good Days (For Lee Anne)" was written by Parker and first appeared on his trio album Bright Light in Winter (Delmark, 2012). Stunning in its original form, Mazurek's trumpet adds another, ethereal element. Idiosyncratic pieces are intermingled in the set: Taylor's log drum solo "Lomé" and "All the Bells" highlighting contemplative bells, the jangling of objects, and Mazurek's slurred, crackled piccolo trumpet.
Mazurek, Taylor, and Parker have collectively worked on dozens of projects and their telepathy is long-established. Johnson is an excellent, if somewhat understated addition, and his piano work shines here. Parker's contributions to Good Days can't be applauded enough; whether complex or simple, his playing is always meaningful. Chicago Underground releases are always welcome; this one is a superior example of what maturity and openness can net.
Track Listing
Orgasm; Strange Wing; Good Days (For Lee Anne); Batida; All The Bells; Unique Spiral; Lomé; Westview.
Personnel
Josh Johnson: synth bass, organ, piano; Rob Mazurek: piccolo trumpet, electronics, bells.
Album Information
Title: Good Days | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: Astral Spirits
With no fanfare whatsoever, this outstanding fench-canadian recording, ''Grooves à Mystères'', features alto saxophonist, flautist and composer Mehdi Nabti with his band ''Prototype'' (Nicolas Lafortune: electric bass, Joy Anandasivam: electric guitar, Bertil Schulrabe: drums, derbouka, triangle, sheker) making an album for the ages.
Nabti starts the proceedings off with ''Antee'' and ''Eon'', two beautiful melodies and improvisations on a medium-slow derbuka rythm, spitting out the melodies of "Ayyur''. There's his inimitable clear and organic tone, sounding both sweet and sharp. There's his miraculous intensity, his roiling swing, and the tidal wave of fresh ideas, the constant creativity. During these three tunes Nabti never coasts.
"Mithra" and ''Promethee'' are similarly impressive, magnificent with superb work by Nabti who never lets up. Even the more lyrical pieces, the afrobeat "Esperanto", the trance dancing ''Timgad'' and the traditionnal folk song "So Maki Sum Se Rodila" are played with an exciting sound.
The rhythm section should not be neglected. They function as a unit, meshing with admirable precision and grooving, really grooving. Anandasivam is a formidable soloist and a very capable sideman. Lafortune is rock-solid, and Schulrabe is a strong and powerful timekeeper who also solos impressively on "Promethee".
Mehdi Nabti nominates his work ''Afro-Berber continuum''. He is trying to develop a contemporary improvised music based on musical techniques that he identified in North Africa and others influences...and he succees! If you missed him the other times around, now's the time to correct that oversight.
Track Listing: Antee, Ayyur, Eon, Esperanto, Mithra, Promethee, So Maki Sum Se Rodila, Timgad
Personnel: Mehdi Nabti : alto sax, moroccan flute (nira), clavé. Nicolas Lafortune: electric bass. Joy Anandasivam: electric guitar. Bertil Schulrabe: drums, derbouka, triangle, sheker
Title: Grooves à mystères | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: Self Produced
Lebanese vocalist and bassist Donna Khalifé is a consummate jazz artist. In addition to mastering singing in all its aspects, including scatting, she is a distinctive composer and an accomplished instrumentalist. On her second release Hope Is the Thing with Feathers she leads her quintet on intriguing interpretations of standards and her own originals.
This stimulating album opens with a unique take on Rodgers and Hammerstein's "My Favorite Things." After Khalifé's chant-like vocals, which the group's expectant refrains buoy, the song takes on an electric and funky groove. As Khalifé inventively scats, the undulating instrumental vamps contribute a relaxed intimacy. With urgency and swagger, Lebanese guitarist Raffi Mandalian launches into a blistering solo which brims with rock and roll sensibilities.
Mandalian and Khalifé engage in a delightful duet on the title track which progresses to feature French saxophonist Phillipe Lopes de Sa's acerbic muscular lines and passionate wail. Throughout the diverse tempo changes, Lebanese drummer Fouad Afra propels the music with his passionate and lithe polyrhythms. Afra is perfectly suited to the task as he is comfortable in a variety of settings and genres. At the core of the piece Armenian expat keyboardist Arthur Satyan's elegant and earthy chords simmer.
An award-winning pianist, and the head of the Lebanese National Conservatory's jazz program, Satyan improvises with inventiveness throughout the record. For instance, on the haunting "Koutalon Kharsa,'" as Khalifé's prayer-like articulation of the Arabic lyrics soars with breathtaking agility, Satyan peppers the spiritual ambience with sparse chiming notes which shimmer in the enveloping silence. Khalifé enhances the captivating and otherworldly atmosphere by overdubbing herself taking the tune from eerie and serene to mystical and bright.
Khalifé explores the range of her creativity from the soft lullaby-like opening of "Ta'iran" to her mesmerizing vocal acrobatics on "Sultan." She matches these with her understated poetry on the stand up bass. Perhaps the most intriguing demonstrations of her versatility are the two versions of the Swedish folk song "Uti var Hage"; the first is almost like a Baroque aria with the melancholic sounds of Swedish Vindla String Quartet providing lush support; the second is more soulful, and features the regular quintet; Khalifé's voice mirrors Lopes de Sa's serpentine phrases before the latter launches into an exciting spontaneous embellishment of the pastoral melody.
WIth her sophomore effort, leading a new ensemble, Khalifé has topped her already brilliant debut Heavy Dance (2017, Self Produced). Both her writing and performance demonstrate increased maturity and a singularly personal style. Despite the brevity of her recording career, Khalifé is already a sui generis musician destined for widespread success both at home and abroad.
Track Listing: My Favorite Things; Vocalism; Koutalon Kharsa'; Hope Is the Thing with Feathers; Uti Var Hage (feat. Vindla String Quartet); Romane; Ta'iran; Sultan; Uti Var Hage.
Personnel: Donna Khalifé : voice, double bass; Philippe Lopes de Sa: saxophones; Raffi Mandalian: guitar; Arthur Satyan: Rhodes piano; Fouad Afra: drums; Vindla String Quartet.
Title: Hope is the Thing with Feathers | Year Released: 2019 | Record Label: Self Produced
Several factors make bassist Harish Raghavan's debut album remarkable. The first and most striking is the sense of extreme urgency in the tone of the compositions as well as the disjointed manner with which the instruments search for common ground in and around each other. Another factor can be found in the understated melodic motifs whose arcs sometimes stretch over the entire duration of a tune. Melody in general is critical to the album's appeal. Most of the interplay and compositional foundation is based on melodic ideas rather than harmonic ones.
Four of the bassist's earliest compositions for this quintet shape the head of the record in a suite-like fashion. Prefaced by a spicy bass solo for an intro, "Newe" opens with heavy, chordal bass-strokes and excited rhythmic drum work. The saxophone howls out the first notes of the melodic head before the vibraphone joins in unison. Piano, saxophone and vibes trade lines to jumpy bass accents and drum workouts until another small section in melodic unison leads back to the main theme. All of this is presented within the frame of rapid 6/8 time. Follow-up "Los Angels" differs from its predecessor in almost every way. A slower pulse gives way for sound and atmosphere to develop and drums and bass to place syncopations more carefully and to more dramatic effect. Pianist Micah Thomas is given more space to harmonically unfold in the beginning sequence of "Sangeet" before the second half of the piece cuts back to quicker and more narrow interplay between vibraphone and saxophone.
It would be easy to group this collection of songs into faster and slower ones or darker and lighter ones. However, that wouldn't do these meticulously wrought compositions justice. Each track has its place on the album for different reasons and each instrumentalist shines on the various songs with different virtues. More extensive cuts, such as "Seaminer" or "Shift," combine a number of divers elements and approaches to form a coherent entity that melds improvisation and composition in a unique fashion. Their elaborate length leads to progressive structures featuring ferocious solo passages by all involved. Vibraphonist Joel Ross is highlighted in the mix and forms a fitting sonic counterpart to the piano. Both players go about interpreting their harmonic roles in very different manners and thereby create an intriguing friction.
Calls for Action is an accomplished debut outing. It's a more than promising statement to what Raghavan's future might hold for today's stream of jazz music and sets him apart from many of his peers. At the same time the album blends right in to the canon of contemporary jazz highlights from a younger generation (Scopes or Walter Smith III & Matthew Stevens' In Common, for instance) which has found a home over at Whirlwind Recordings.
Track Listing: Intro; Newe; Los Angeles; Sangeet; I'll Go and Come Back; Caged; Seaminer; The Meters; 4560 Round Trip; Shift; Lunatico; Junior; Calls For Action; Seven; AS.
Personnel: Harich Raghavan: bass; Joel Ross: vibraphone; Kweku Sumbry: drums; Micah Thomas; Immanuel Wilkins: saxophone.
Title: Calls For Action | Year Released: 2019 | Record Label: Whirlwind Recordings
Video game soundtracks immerse players by provoking a strong emotional response, either in the cozyness of a welcoming melody, the eerie dread of cold synths or the encouraging energy of an upbeat jazzy theme.
Given how versatile and emotional this music can be for those who grow up with it, it is no surprise that Josiah Everhart, a singer-songwriter who began his musical career by posting covers of songs from video games on YouTube, would make an album like Yearn in Years. Everhart's debut full-length album almost perfectly captures the appeal of the music he covers and establishes his unique voice as a songwriter, creating a final product just as catchy as it is heartbreaking.
After years of posting his folksy reinterpretations of songs from classic video games online, the Oregon-native released his first collection of original music, the seven-track album Songs Come and Gone, (Self Produced) in 2017. While the material on Songs Come and Gone delivered a similar sound to his covers, with minimal instrumentation and intimate vocals, Yearn in Years represents a complete evolution of his sound, using grand instrumental palettes and generous effects to create more theatrical and engrossing songs.
Opener "Dead Moons" establishes Everhart's more lavish sound with a dark synth jam soaked in atmospheric effects and airy vocals. The track's repetitive chords and stiff programmed drums could easily become stale if not for the track's eerie and somber soundscape, which complements Everhart's moody, vaguely sci-fi lyrics with ghostly vocal harmonies and synths.
The album's dynamic and detailed production reaches its peak on "Hey, Mister," where the core acoustic arpeggios, spacey drums and soft bass are elevated with glorious layers of backing harmonies and watery slide guitar licks. The track elevates its simple structure with a surprising compositional move in the midsection, introducing brighter chords and delicate atmospherics in a twist reminiscent of Radiohead's songwriting on tracks like "Let Down." "Hey, Mister" ends with one last added layer of distant electric guitar, bringing this intricate soundscape to an epic conclusion.
Unfortunately, the one track where the album's spacey production becomes muddy is on the closer, "Without." After opening with beautiful splashes of muffled guitars, the song builds with layers of soft synths and a simple beat into a chorus so washed out that all the cymbal crashes and bright synths melt together. The short three minutes of "Without" does not quite provide enough time to build up to such a climax, resulting in a track that feels messy.
Even when the production falters, Everhart's confessional and poetic songwriting keeps the album entertaining and potent. Although Everhart has always had a knack for writing lovely, melancholy songs, his work on Yearn in Years takes a much darker and more personal turn, using lavish sounds to highlight uncompromisingly honest lyrics.
On its surface, "I Just Want To" is a happy song, using a bossa nova groove, warm keyboards, cheerful vocal harmonies and bouncy synth tones to create an instant earworm. And the song's title seems to suggest some quaint topic Everhart had addressed before, like longing for love or the innocence of childhood.
Instead, Everhart sings about losing the will to live, painting a bleak picture of a struggle to find motivation and hope. He belts out lyrics about not being able to get out of bed and calls being abandoned and left in a gutter "more than I deserve." The contrast between the carefree instrumental and crushing lyrics make "I Just Want To" gut-wrenching at times and darkly funny in others, but always a beautiful and courageous artistic statement.
Everhart follows this track with the bittersweet "Moons of Jupiter," which pairs achingly gorgeous vocal melodies with sparkling acoustic arpeggios, soft synth tones and a spacey programmed drum beat. The song's serene escapism, realized through dreamy harmonies and a lovely saxophone solo from jazz multi-instrumentalist and fellow YouTube musician Carlos Eiene, makes Everhart's lyrics about lost love and death even more impactful.
Although its production can seem amatuer at times, Yearn in Years is an endlessly replayable folk and singer-songwriter triumph that brings Josiah Everhart's unique voice far beyond the shadow of the composers he covers.
Track Listing: Dead Moons; Rewind; The Pines; Hey, Mister; Still Spinning; Never Hear; I Just Want To; Moons of Jupiter; Anyhow; Without.
Personnel: Josiah Everhart: guitar, synths and vocals; Austin Perrilloux: drums; Richard Bichler: electric guitar; Carlos Eiene: tenor saxophone; Amie Waters: synths.
Title: Yearn in Years | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: Self Produced
Istanbul-born and New York-based pianist Burak Bedikyan is an inventive composer and intelligent improviser with a subtle touch. His fifth release, the intimate and cinematic Istanbul Junction, showcases his talents fully as he leads a new band through nine of his captivating originals.
The album's overall ambience is dramatic and darkly-hued, and the various tracks expand within it with vibrant poetry. The main theme of "Moods," for example, consists of expectant and simmering refrains. These progress into an intriguing and serpentine melody out of which emerge Bedikyan's dense chords, forming an elegant and crystalline improvisation. Hungarian saxophonist Gabor Bolla contributes a warm, sinewy solo which is yearning and emotive, and fades seamlessly into the closing head.
Middle Eastern influences delightfully color some of the music, like the tender and wistful "Toprak"; it starts with Bedikyan's resonant and sparse notes which the band's undulating refrains follow. Over Turkish drummer Can Kozlu's rustling lithe beats and American bassist Matthew Hall's reverberating thumps Bedikyan's extemporization expands with simmering lines. Bolla's eloquent and bittersweet tenor mirrors Bedkyan in spontaneity and lyricism.
Equally engrossing is the charmingly angular "Innerview (For Ayse)" which finds Bedikyan, unaccompanied, flirting with dissonance. The tune itself is deeply introspective and passionate with overlapping chords and breathtaking cascades which demonstrate Bedikyan's virtuosity on the keys.
Bedikyan pays homage to one of his idols, the ingenious 20th century composer Olivier Messiaen, on the moving and mellifluous "L'ombre Lumineuse." The piece eschews overtly Western Classical phraseology and is more akin to a jazz ballad. Kozlu's sparkling percussion and Hall's agile lines form a restless and supportive rhythmic framework. Bedikyan infuses his pianism with a bittersweet melancholy while Bolla builds an intricate extemporization with graceful facility and raw emotion. The ensemble concludes with a sublimely synergistic performance.
Istanbul Junction is a cohesive work, and a high point of Bedikyan's superb career. As Kozlu points out in the liner notes, Bedikyan has singularly fused various traditions into a personal artistic statement. The record is, perhaps, his most mature and unique to date.
Saxophonist Jon Irabagon has explored an immense amount of territory so far in his career such as mainstream and progressive jazz, hip hop, free improvisation and many other areas. This new two disc effort brings two of his more off-the-beaten-path projects together. CD 1, Invisible Guests, contains classical works featuring a string quartet while CD 2, Dark Horizon: Live From The Mausoleum, is a set of live solo improvisations on the mezzo soprano saxophone.
The meat of the first CD is the suite "Invisible Guests" played by the Mivos Quartet and pianist Matt Mitchell. The suite is inspired by the game of mahjongg and has constant interaction between the quartet and piano. it begins with vigorous layered turbulence from the strings eventually augmented by Mitchell's banging chords. The pianist's calm solo playing on "Heaven's Blessing" is followed by a thicket of bowed and plucked strings which eventually works itself into a delirious whirlpool. 'Benevolence, Sincerity and Devoutness" is more subdued and eerie on both sides and conjures up an atmosphere of dark romance.
The mood of the suite constantly shifts. Dense string chugging and icy piano notes mix on "Red Four." The quartet swirls around Mitchell's descending cascades on "The Dreamer" and the intricate agitation of the final movement. "Catching the Fish" eventually dissipates into wispy string echoes that make way for a final collage of motifs that includes an Asian folk melody, a tango and an Irish jig. It's an intense work that brings out the power of the quartet's playing and shows how well Matt Mitchell can fit into this kind of formal atmosphere.
This disc also includes two pieces where Irabagon himself joins the Mivos Quartet on sopranino saxophone. On the first he plays with no mouthpiece, emitting sickly whistles and scraping noises against an imposing wall of groaning strings. With the mouthpiece, his sound is a lot more forceful coming out as siren wails, lush howls, scraps of blues, shredding noise and high-pitched, bubbly runs, all making a fierce contrast to the thick string edifice.
The solo recital on the second disc is a continuation of the exploration of lesser known saxophones. Irabagon began with his exploration of solo sopranino sax on his Inaction Is An Action, (Irabbagast, 2015). This time he turns to the Conn mezzo soprano saxophone, an instrument that has not been manufactured since the 1920s.'
This performance was recorded in an actual mausoleum in Norway that produces a nineteen-second reverb. That allows Irabagon to play around with deep textures using echo and delay. His sound comes out as delirious romantic chatter in "Dark Horizon (entrance)" and shrill, pealing twists on "Dragonwort." Long interludes of creaking and spitting noises on "Forest & Field" and "Eternal Rest" are enhanced by ghostly echoes due to the reverb. On "Half A World Away" unbroken streams of single notes broken up by honks and rapid-fire stutters sound cavernous. In the midst of all this, a recognizable tune shockingly appears, "Good Old Pals," the theme for the old Little Rascals comedy shorts. Irabagon plays the melody straight the first time around, then immediately starts pulling it apart like taffy with stretched notes, pauses and dying moans.
This release shows the boundless reach of Jon Irabagon's musical curiosity. He can write strong classical music and has become one of the most interesting saxophone experimenters around, in addition to all his other credits. This is one of his more unusual releases but it is definitely worth hearing.
Track Listing: CD1 Invisible Guests: Vignette For Mouthpieceless Sopranino Saxophone And String Quartet; Invisible Guests: West Wing; Heaven’s Blessing; Benevolence, Sincerity, And Devoutness; Red Four; The Dreamer; Catching The Fish At The Bottom Of The River; Vignette For Sopranino Saxophone And String Quartet; CD2 Dark Horizon: Live From The Mausoleum: Dark Horizon (entrance); Dragonwort; Forest & Field; Holy Smoke; Good Old Days (Theme From The Little Rascals); Eternal Rest; Half A World Away; Dark Horizon (exit bow).
Personnel: Jon Irabagon: sopranino saxophone, mezzo-soprano saxophone; Matt Mitchell: piano; Mivos Quartet: Olivia de Prato: violin; Lauren Cauley Kalal: violin; Victor Lowrie Tafoya: viola; Mariel Roberts: cello.
Title: Invisible Horizon | Year Released: 2019 | Record Label: Irabbagast Records
