Charles Lloyd & Jason Moran: Hagar's Song

Jason Moran (piano)
Charles Lloyd (sax)
Hagar's Song (ECM Records; 2013)

One legend and one future legend meet in the studio... When Charles Lloyd and Jason Moran first started playing together a few years ago, I thought it was a fantastic meeting of creative minds. Over the course of a couple of records they have demonstrated deep beauty and an understanding of how each moves lyrically.

Now on their first venture as a duo without a quartet or ensemble, they show just how grand their relationship has become. Hagar's Song is a brilliantly extensive and emotional session with multiple stories. The performances are full-boded and encapsulating. This session at times reminded me of two sessions made by the late, Frank Morgan (sax) with George Cables and John Hicks on piano. Contemporary yet technically well constructed.

"Mood Indigo" and "Rosetta" swing along gently with class and verve. Moran is playful yet always intricate at the keys on both tracks. While Lloyd's horn adds the mature element of a master. Beautifully executed and thoroughly rewarding especially during the swirling improvised sections in "Rosetta".

"Hagar's Lullaby" and "Journey Up River" feel like explorations in emotional distances. Both capture an ethereal vibe that resemble some of Lloyd's early 60s and 70s work. Moran's playing is solid and conventional in a calm manner that lends itself perfectly to introspection. The session closes with the soft ballad, "God Only Knows." A superb blend of love and longing that leaves a lasting impression on the ears and memory.

Hagar's Song has Moran and Lloyd in stellar form and sounding cool and contemporary. It's cuts against the more adventurous nature you may have heard Moran in on his own albums. But it's an excellent balance for both musicians. I loved this session. It's easily one of my albums of the year. And I can't stop listening to it. Highly Recommended.

Martin France: Spin Marvel

Spin Marvel (group; formed 2007)
The Reluctantly Politicised Mr. James (Edition Records)

Martin France (drums, electronics)
Tim Harries (bass)
Nils Petter Molvaer (trumpet)
John Parricelli (guitar)
Terje Evensen (percussion)

Edition Records out of England, is quickly becoming a label where you will most likely purchase any record they release. Like other highly creative and passionate labels, Clean Feed, Rune Grammofon and Fresh Sound/New Talent, Edition Records are signing and releasing some truly challenging albums of late. My most recent encounter is Spin Marvel, a collective overseen by the versatile drummer, Martin France. France has worked in multiple forums, experimental, big band and small groups. He can be heard on albums by Kenny Wheeler (trumpet), John Taylor (piano), Bugge Wesseltoft (piano), Sidsel Endresen (voice) and a list could go on.

The Reluctantly Politicised Mr. James is Spin Marvel's second album, first for Edition Records. There may be similarities to the Norwegian jazz scene which are unavoidable considering the lineup but Spin Marvel have produced an album layered in eclectic grooves and infused by really sense of exploration. The Reluctantly Politicised Mr. James is a real tour de force that isn't a wash in experimental noise that some of other European outfits use as their platform. That lineup includes the always hypnotic and hauntingly beautiful work of Nils Petter Molaver on trumpet and the outstanding ethereal guitar soundscapes of John Parricelli.

The albums opener, the title track, signals the free flowing adventure of ...Mr. James takes. On "Two Metalled Tendrils/Ten Stairs Stretching," Molvaer, Parricelli and France dominate but you can feel this a complete band thinking as one. At times this reminds me of Last Exit or Praxis in which the group moves from chaotic dissonance to ambient beauty. "Dust In Eyebeam" is another chilling piece of sound sculpture that highlights Spin Marvels journey of experimentation, simpatico and vision of space with limitless possibilities.

Spin Marvel may not be for everyone but The Reluctantly Politicised Mr. James is an experiment that delivers the right outcome with every listen.

Guitar Week: Jakob Bro

This week JazzWrap will take a look at guitarists and guitar driven groups that have or will be making a difference in jazz.
Jakob Bro (guitar; b. 1978)
Balladeering (Loveland)

In conclusion to our Guitar Week I hope we have given you insight into some of the historical figures of jazz guitar. Trust me there are another dozen we could have written about or have written about. We will probably do another one in the future. Today I wanted to discuss a musician whom I have been a big fan of for a couple of years now. I have to admit only until recently did I know he had solo material. I knew his work more from the session/touring collaborations with Paul Motain and recently Tomasz Stanko. That musician is Jakob Bro.

Jakob Bro is from Denmark but has spent considerable amount of time in the U.S. either touring, studying or recording. In his brief recording career he has already work with a large number of revered musicians, among them, Mark Turner, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Paul Motian, Chris Cheek, Bill Frisell, Ben Street and Lee Konitz. Bro has recorded 7 solo albums since his debut, Daydreamer (Loveland Records) in 2003. He has also works with three Danish bands, Bandapart, Got You On Tape, and one of my favourites Beautiful Day (all worth checking out).

Jakob Bro style is confident, ethereal and emotional. At times it reminds me of a young John Abercrombie. While I came to hear Jakob on Paul Motain's Garden Of Eden (ECM; 2006) album, his playing beautiful on that album, but it was the recently released Tomasz Stanko Dark Eyes (ECM) that really turned my head and made seek his own material.

Jakob Bro is a musician who allows his band members to express themselves freely. His seven albums are all very diverse but highly accessible for jazz new comers as well as your typical jazzhead.

The two records I would highly recommend are his 2007 quintet release, Pearl River (Loveland) and the recently released Balladeering (Loveland). At the point of Pearl River, Bro has already achieved the acclaimed within the jazz community to enlist some of the best musicians of the day (Mark Turner, Paul Motian, Chris Cheek and Ben Street). The album itself is a delight in hearing the exchanges between each of the musicians especially with Bro, Cheek and Turner. Tracks like "Pearl River," "Black Is All Colours At Once," "Mosquito Dance" and "Welcome" showcase a beauty and complexity that most artist this days can't come anywhere near achieving.

On his recent release Balladeering (Loveland; 2009) Jakob Bro expands his lush, beauty and melodic themes with the help of Paul Motian, Ben Street, Bill Frisell and the legendary Lee Konitz. Tracks like the opener "Weightless," "Vraa" and "Terrace Place" display the best of Bro's theory of allowing his fellow musicians to fill in the picture he has framed for them. The experience of Konitz and the counterpoint of Frisell and Bro shines throughout the session. Konitz sounds fresh as ever especially on "Starting Point (Acoustic Version)." Ben Street and Paul Motian add wonderful, lush and quite brushes across Bro's compostions, giving them strength and depth.

The album closes with "Starting Point (Electric Version)" which takes a more electronic/reverb vibe which Bro and Frisell tackle with ethereal effect. This is slightly similiar to Bro's previous work (most notably Sidetrack (Loveland; 2005) and is a great deconstruction of the entire album through one long solo (or two solo) loop. At times throughout this recording it is hard to believe that this was done in just two days.

Jakob Bro's mastery of composition and ability to set an stunningly emotional tone to the session makes this one the years best albums for me. So if you do anything this weekend, go out and buy Balladeering. It may not be at your local record store but you will be able to find it online at Amazon and iTunes. I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed.

JazzWrap were caught up with Jakob while on tour with Tomasz Stanko to discuss his music, his label and what inspires him.

How have the experiences of playing in different size groups helped you develop as a performing musician and as a composer?

I find if very interesting to envision the music I play as a whole and then try to fill in whatever I think is missing - whatever I would like to hear that's not already there. So, playing in many different constellations and listening to a lot of different music has helped me become better at this…

How has your work with Paul Motian and Tomasz Stanko influenced your new album?

I learned a lot playing with Motian - trying to blend in with two horns, bass and another guitar - and sometimes trying to stick out. His compositions and the way that he arranges them and plays them have been a great influence to me over the last ten years. It's like he has created his own world of music combining the way he plays the drums with his compositions. It's very unique. To me, it's all the way up there alongside the great masters.

WIth Stanko I play a lot of unison and harmony parts with his trumpet - so again I'm learning to blend in and at the same time add colors…also in Stanko's band I have a lot of open solos which gives me the possibility to shape parts of the songs the way I hear them from night to night . This kind of freedom is something I can bring into my own music also.

In general, playing in different bands and with different composers has helped me and inspired me in my efforts to get closer to my own way of writing, arranging and improvising. And I've been very lucky to play with a lot of beautiful musicians from both Denmark and abroad.

Balladeering strikes me as a return to the more melodic and atmospheric soundscapes of your previous quintet release, Pearl River. Were you looking to expand of some of the themes created on that album?

After releasing Pearl River I wanted to record a lot of "songs" and arrange them pretty tightly. So, during a full week in 2007 I recorded 25 songs in New York with Frisell, Rosenwinkel, Mark Turner, Chris Cheek, Andrew D'Angelo, Paul Motian, Ben Street and the Danish alto saxophonist Jesper Zeuthen. The music from those sessions will be released as: The Stars are All New Songs (vol.1, 2, and possibly 3) - only vol.1 is already out.

The year after, in 2008, I went into the studio in New York again and made Balladeering. The focus for me on this recording was clearly to come back to the vibe of Pearl River - giving the musicians involved a lot of room to color the music and just open up the songs and see where the music would take us. The material is very simple, almost folk-like...

You've sometimes employed two guitarists or two tenor saxophonists -- what are the challenges and rewards when having two players for a particular instrument?

I like the thick sound of having two of the same instruments playing together. And especially with the case of guitars I like how strings can "melt" together. That way orchestral things, interesting voicings and melodies occur in a very spontaneous and sometimes even coincidental way. I find that beautiful. Sometimes though, a solo is much stronger if there is only one person playing - so the challenge for me with having double up's on instruments in a band is to know when to use that thick sound and when not to...

What is your vision for the direction of your label Loveland?

Loveland Records is kind of a playground for me, a place where I can store the music and the ideas I come up with and where people can buy it if they want…my distributor who is also the co-owner of the label is trying to make it as easy as possible for people to buy my music - it's difficult getting distribution and promotion but things are slowly moving in the right direction.

Who or what are you listening to lately that surprises or inspires you?

I listen a lot to Louis Armstrong at the moment. I also love Lester Young, Miles and countless more…in my teens I fell in love with Coltrane's music - that sound and that expression was the main reason why I decided to explore music.

What will you work on next?

I have some "Live" quartet-recordings with my trio + Tom Harrell, Joe Lovano and Lee Konitz - we did nine concerts in total at the Copenhagen Jazzhouse in 2009.

I need to spend a good amount of time on figuring out which takes sound the best. Also I still have a lot of unreleased material from New York in 2007. The Stars are All New Songs (vol 2 and possible vol 3). Besides, we just recorded "Live at Birdland" with Stanko so I hope that it will turn out to be an ECM album in the near future.