2017 jazz

Best jazz releases so far this year?

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Not usually a fan of softer stuff but liked this a lot.

This 2017 release on the Clean Feed label documents a live meeting between saxophonist Mats Gustafsson and pianist Craig Taborn, two of the major exponents in the current free jazz world, but who had never played together until this performance at the 2015 Ljubljana jazz festival. The recording consists of two extended improvisations.

The first cut is titled "The Eyes Moving. Slowly." and takes an atmospheric approach, starting off subdued but building very quickly to a plateau which sustains for most of the first eight minutes. Gustafsson lets loose with his trademark unearthly long-tones while Taborn sustains a monochromatic undercurrent around him. There's not much development beyond that and nothing really interesting happens until they settle back into a more spacious, "quiet section." At this point they manage a rather nice, slow buildup to the point where both are busily chasing each other and interacting in rather interesting ways. However this also reaches a plateau rather quickly and coasts along with little development until the final three minutes of the track which are slightly more interesting with both players leaving more space and playing off of each other's patterns.

Taborn takes the lead for the start of the second cut, entitled "The Ears Facing the Fantasies. Again." He jabs pointedly while Gustafsson adds to the texture, contributing his percussive slap-tonguing and punctuating the proceedings with blasts of overblown sound. Here the duo achieves what is probably their high point with plenty of overt interaction as they bounce abstract ideas off of each other and even achieve a decent amount of dynamic contour. Somewhere around the eight minute mark Taborn begins introducing a new idea which leads Gustafsson to wisely back off and let Taborn explore the idea largely on his own. This in turn leads organically into a brooding and tense segment in which Gustafsson holds low, quiet tones underneath Taborn's sharp stabs of color. As the piece winds down they enter a dialogue of quick flurries of notes to end the set.

Taken as a whole, this recording is really a mixed bag. The first piece is slow to develop and very lacking in interaction or any kind of contour for the majority of its twenty minutes. There are good moments, but they are the exception. The second piece is markedly better, with some genuinely good interaction between the two players and a much more interesting contour as the piece develops. Both players are individualists with well-defined styles and while those styles don't always combine for good results, they do often enough to make this release worth at least one listen (or at the very least- the second track).

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Alto saxophonist David Binney's eighth release for the Criss Cross label presents a suite of original music interpreted by his current working quartet (plus a few guests). This quartet consists of Binney, pianist Jacob Sacks, bassist Eivind Opsvik, and drummer Dan Weiss. The album's guest appearances come from vocalist Jen Shyu and alto saxophonist Shai Golan.

The album is programmatic in nature, with the entire suite representing the feelings and environments of an entire day. Binney's larger, more developed compositions make up the bulk of the album and have somewhat vague titles, but the course of the day is marked by short, mostly atmospheric pieces titled- "Dawn," "Morning Tide," "Noon Tide," "Evening Tide," and "Dusk." It proves to be a nice idea and works well to break up Binney's larger pieces with these small, varied representational works.

The larger compositions are characteristically multi-layered and complex but also, in typical Binney style, approachable and melody-centric. Binney's long-time collaborator Dan Weiss is probably the perfect drummer for Binney's music; he understands the value of simplicity and seems to have no problem sticking to a simple rock groove with slight variations, but also is flexible enough to keep up with Binney's and Sacks' often adventurous solos. A highlight of the album comes early on in "Strange Animal." The composition develops nicely, with an especially memorable interlude using repeated notes- made interesting through careful use of dynamics and silence. Sacks takes a great solo in which he develops ideas from the melody gradually to the point of abstraction, but returns to the final melodic theme, with a thick, dissonant harmonization at the very end. Other highlights include the modern "Where Worlds Collide, with fantastic solos from both Binney and Sacks, and "Fifty Five," in which the quartet explores a loose swing feel.

Binney further adds color and variety to the music with vocals, electronics, and studio effects. "Seen," for example, is a ballad that finds the rhythm section receding somewhat to the background, and the focus of the music is on Shyu's delicate performance and the melancholy lyrics of the song. "Time Takes Its Time" begins with a potent theme from the quartet, but the middle section of the track is a somewhat ponderous, unaccompanied synthesizer solo that doesn't feel especially connected with the quartet music that bookends it.

It's a strong album for the most part, made stronger by the interesting unifying theme that connects the pieces and keeps the music mostly cohesive. Occasionally though, guest artists and the use of electronic effects get somewhat in the way of the otherwise cohesive sound of the album. Binney's distinctive compositions and the abilities of the this quartet are all strong enough to stand on their own without adding extra frills to the music. It's deep music that stays true to Binney's unique concept, but the album could have been stronger with a tighter focus on just the quartet.

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