Paul Lytton & Nate Wooley: The Nows

Paul Lytton (percussion)
Nate Wooley (trumpet)
The Nows (Clean Feed; 2012)
Ikue Mori (electronics)
Ken Vandermark (sax, clarinet)

An ambitious duo project from Nate Wooley and Paul Lytton that began only a few years ago but has evolved into an exciting collaborative effort. And with the two disc opus, The Nows, the listener gets to experience it in two separate live settings with guest musicians.

Lytton and Wooley have a chemistry that feels as though it goes farther back than just a few years. They begin their conversations slowly and roll into a volcano of improvised patterns that still maintain strong organic structure. "Free Will, Free Won't" features various crackles from Lytton's kit meshed against Wooley extended harmonics that feel like the tea kettle boiling over and no one cared.

"Abstractions and Replications" adds Ikue Mori's electronics to the proceeds. Mori's gadgetry turns the piece into an underwater scifi journey. There are smooth curling motions with tiny and intricate treatments. You have to stay still to hear the minor notes. This kind of skill requires the listeners undivided attention. And it's a brilliant discovery.

The second live set is with one of my favourite musicians, Ken Vandermark. "Automatic" sees Wooley share passages with Vandermark and it/s beautiful to hear the conversation escalate than drop out as one horn takes the lead. This all the while with Lytton ram shackling the hues in the background. It may read like chaos--but its a beautiful chaos. Vandermarks clarinet is deep and billowy.

"The Ripple Effect" is the shinning conclusion to this experimental journey. Wooley and Lytton are in fiery form and Vandermark quietly marches in toward the middle passages. Vandermark really compliments the duo, adding the exclamation points in each verse.

Lytton and Wooley are a powerful and emotion-bending duo that get even more creative with each guest musician. The Nows is another example of terrific collection of free thinking crafting new outlooks. An absolutely great live set.

Angelica Sanchez: Wires & Moss

Angelica Sanchez (piano)
Wires & Moss (Clean Feed; 2012)
Tony Malaby (sax)
Marc Ducret (guitar)
Drew Gress (bass)
Tom Rainey (drums)

Everyone knows I tend to rave about Fred Hersch and Jason Moran as my favourite modern pianists. But there are others that are emerging with the same talent and vision as these two future legends. Kris Davis is definitely one of those that I put in the list. Recently I have also been listening another bright and inventive composer, Angelica Sanchez.

Sanchez, now with her forth album (third for Clean Feed), hopefully will find a wider audience. With Wires & Moss, she explores an ever growing lyrical and conceptual structure that is both calm and free flowing. "Loomed" is an expansive piece with various layers of expression, tightly pulled together by Ducret, Malaby and Rainey. Sanchez and Gress play the static calm palate to the trio's frenetic brushes. But it's always the leader who carries the tune's soft undulating notes towards the close.

"Wires & Moss" is a stunning display of rolling melodies. Sanchez's performance is filled with multiple chord changes and jagged directional cues for the rest of the quintet. Early on, Ducret shines with crafty Arto Lindsay meets Thurston Moore type qualities. The piece moves up, down and outward. The rest of the group approach midway through and it becomes more poetic with each movement. Gress and Sanchez take the band quietly out with some beautiful passages.

Motionless might be the feeling you get from the closing number, "Bushido." This starts off gently but then moves roughly in staccato motion while consistently holding the listener in place. The entire quintet is scorching on this number and exemplifies Sanchez's creative vision that she has worked on since setting out as a leader over a decade ago.

Angelica Sanchez writes with a very cerebral approach that puts her in a category of the previous mentioned artist from my point of view. If you haven't experienced her music before--now is the time. Wires & Moss is absolutely brilliant and highly, highly recommended!

Black Motor w/Verneri Pohjola: Rubidium

Black Motor w/Verneri Pohjola
Ribidium (Tum Records; 2013)

Sami Sippola (sax)
Simo Laihonen (drums)
Ville Rauhala (bass)
Verneri Pohjola (trumpet)

A meeting of two growing sets of Finnish musicians, the Black Motor trio and Verneri Pohjola is a cause for celebration. The artfulness of Pohjola's trumpet and expansive sound of the Black Motor have produced the stellar, Rubidium. An album covers a small amount of ground but provides every bit of detail in the journey.

"Song Of India" (originally written by Rimsky-Korsakov, is wonderfully and creatively filled and stretched all over the place. While still keeping the underlining romantic nature of the original piece, the quartet do manage to bring in new bold structures that give the tune more improvisation and originality.

"Rubidium" and "Old Papa's Blues" feel like soulmates. Both tight ballad frameworks are definitely free formed epics that highlight each musician at their best during this session. A bright and intense conversion happens between Pohjola and Laihonen during the title that is just soft but still killer. "Old Papa's Blues" is an emotional dedication and celebration with the trio being more the focal point.

"Kynnyspuulla" is almost indescribable in its depth and beauty. Soulful, epic and the emotional distance that Sippola's sax travels in staggering. The piece is slow moving and drips with intensity. Moving passages of stillness and heartache, the quartet take the listener on a journey that is immediate and passionate.

Rubidium is a great session of young musicians with immense talent that continue to be on the rise. They are showing how expansive the Finnish jazz scene continues to be. This is an excellent outing and well worth checking out. I hope you dig it as much as I did.

Moskus: Salmesykkel

Moskus (trio)
Salmesykkel (Hubro Music; 2012)
Hans Hulbaekmo (drums)
Fredrik Luhr Dietrichson (bass)
Anja Lauvdal (piano)

Truly an unbelievably beautiful debut. Moskus show a balance maturity and youthfulness that breathes new life into a scene that is filled with trios that now starting to branch outward. With Salmesykkel, Moskus manage to keep things contemporary yet with clear traditional lyricism.

Moskus set aside the cold, distant nature usually associated with trios from the Scandinavian region in favour of keeping things simple. The title track opens the album with vibrancy and adventure. Lavdal's notes delicate, airy and inviting. Dietrichson and Hulbaekmo add textured beats that provide a subtle groove later incorporates small closing gospel lines. A beautifully written opening that carries a clam spirit throughout the session.

"Farlig Norsk Hengebru" is jovial and well collected. Hulbaekmo's drums and percussion drive the rhythm. While Lauvdal weaves in and out with improvised lines all with the background of a tight bass line melody from Dietrichson. The piece quickly becomes engrossing with the trio improvising their way into the closing notes.

"Dagen Derpa Og Veien Tellbaksjatt" and "Creperie De Marie" are more introspective and free moving pieces that show Moskus' capability of moving from captivating rhythms to personal and thought provoking themes. Closing on the trio's on name with "Moskus" is bold. Something about the piece for me had me thinking "what if Nick Cave laid down lyrics for this?" What an amazing collaboration. It's a dark ballad but executed with such beauty and grace you could cry.

Salmesykkel is a stunning achievement of maturity from a young trio that is still finding its voice. But that may come sooner than you think. This a superb debut from Moskus and highly recommended.

The Thing w/Neneh Cherry: The Cherry Thing

The Thing w/Neneh Cherry
The Cherry Thing (Smalltown Supersound; 2012)
The Cherry Thing Remixes (Smalltown Supersound; 2012)
Neneh Cherry (vocals)
Ingebright Haker-Flaten (bass)
Paal Nilssen-Love (drums)
Mats Gustafsson (sax)

For a group that has already covered Groove Armada, PJ Harvey as well as reconstructing free jazz over the last 15 years in various forms, The Thing teaming up with avant punk, soul wordsmith, Neneh Cherry is really nothing out of the ordinary. Together they have created the poetic, Cherry Thing. And it really demands your attention.

A rustic fusion of love and social consciousness through Cherry's lyrics and The Thing's ability to timely move from gentle to aggressive with superb balance. "Cashback" illustrates this agility with funk and free thinking and harsh lyrical content that knocks you back and keeps you fully engaged. Nilssen-Love, Gustafsson and Haker Flaten cut a crisp and incisive groove that on "Too Tough To Die" (written by Martina Topley Bird). With Cherry at the helm, she and the trio really make the piece their own. Slightly unrecognizable but completely excellent.

The ballad "What Reason Could I Give" beautifully closes the session with shimmering echo treatments on Cherry's vocals with an emotional backdrop of notes by the trio. Lovely stuff.

What better way to follow this superb session than with an equally unexpected but blistering re-interpretation, The Cherry Thing Remixes. Opening the album with the lovely closing number of the original "What Reason Could I Give" is even more haunting with muted and echo chamber piano notes clashing against 80's electro drums. Really turns the piece into a ghostly journey through love and despair.

"Accordion" is fierce with a mixture of pulverizing keyboards and treble effects that later creates a dreamlike atmosphere for a piece that originally hung on Cherry's rhymes. Now, engulfed in anthematic electronics yet still holding its effectiveness. "Golden Heart" is layered with tribal beats and wah wah guitars creating a hypnotic mixture that slowly builds but never overspills. Just as intense as the original but with more of a swirling romanticism.

One of my favourite groups, The Thing continue to do the creative and the challenging with every project. In both The Cherry Thing and The Remixes they have managed to capture the vibe of the avant garde and the dance floor with unbelievable results. These are two richly rewarding projects that should not be missed.

Mostly Other People Do The Killing: Slippery Rock!

Mostly Other People Do The Killing (quartet)
Slippery Rock! (Hot Cup Records; 2013)
Jon Iragbagon (sax)
Kevin Shea (drums)
Peter Evans (trumpet)
Moppa Elliott (bass)

I don't know how they do it, but with each record, MOPDTK get wilder with clever humour and intricate creative compositions. Non-secquitor song titles and ironic covers hide a quartet of immense power and quality. On their newest release, Slippery Rock! they again bring an electricity and excitement that intertwines a jam session with a revival.

Opening with the soaring and multi-layered "Hearts Content," the quartet set in for more of a rock oriented groove through Shea's crisp timing and Elliott's funky bassline before the tune quickly gets turned on its head. Rhythms and patterns that are circular, jump cutting and then linear - all still with precision and avant garde accuracy. Stunning!

"Can't Tell Shipp From Shohola," a bluesy ballad with minor improvised periods highlights the ability of MOPDTK to shift styles but still maintain a sense of adventure and airiness that pulls in both casual and well-seasoned listeners.

The rhythm and blues side of jazz is always present throughout the group's existence. And it is on display here with "Sayre" and "Yo, Yeo, Yough." Both pieces have soulful elements filling the forefront but with intense concentration on reshaping everything else. This can be heard on the improvised section of "Yo, Yeo, Yough." Elliott and Irabagon have very hard-pounding arrangements riding along side a fierce set of patterns laid out by Shea.

"Is Granny Spry?" is a nice way to close another interesting journey in the world of MOPDTK. The album is somehow dedicated to smooth jazz of the '70s and '80s but you would never really know it. Parts of "Is Granny Spry?" give a hint at what was going on in the mind of this group as they were writing and performing. It is soulful and melodic with heartwarming passages. And just when you think this is where the funk comes in--they change direction and leave you with question marks all over your face.

Scattered lines and chords show Mostly Other People Do The Killing as a group that really don't want to be confined to the definition of jazz and whatever its subsets may be. This is a group that is having fun with every note and every structure. Slippery Rock! is yet another bright spot that once you're under the MOPDTK spell - you can't get out. Highly Recommended.

Best Albums Of 2012

JazzWrap revisits another stellar year in music for 2012.

Another jazz year with a host of new discoveries. Here's some of the exciting records we heard over during 2012. I hope you discover some new ones here too.

I decided to stop doing a list in any numerical order (expect my personal favourite album). It just doesn't make any sense to me. These are just the records we've spun the most over the year. Next year looks to be just as good.

Album of The Year: Mary Halvorson: Bending Bridges

Amy Cervini: Digging Me, Digging You
Scent Of Soil
Max Ritcher: Vivaldi Recomposed
Bernocchi Budd Guthrie: Winter Garden
Esperanza Spalding: Radio Music Society
Jeff Parker: Bright Light In Winter
Neil Cowley Trio: The Face Of Mount Molehill
The Right Now: Gets Over You
Niels Lyhne Lokkegaard: Vesper
Cakewlk: Wired
Ebo Taylor: Appia Kwa Bridge
Wadada Leo Smith: Ten Freedom Summers
Josh Berman: There Now
Bruce Barth: Three Things Of Beauty
Branford Marsalis: Four MFs Playing Tunes
Traben: Push
Jakob Bro: Bro/Knak
Lund Quartet
Martin Kuchen: Hellstorm
Aram Shelton: Everything For Somebody
Portico Quartet
Scott McLemore: Remote Location
Platform 1: Takes Off
Hugo Carvalhais: Particula
1982 + B.J. Cole
Eric Revis: Parallax
Anat Cohen: Claroscuro
Ivar Grydeland
Arts & Sciences: New You
Jesper Zeuthen: Plus
Marek Jakubowicz: Feelings
Baloni: Fremdenzimmer
E.S.T.: 301
Ballrogg: Cabin Music
October Trio: New Dream
Andres Thor: Monokrom