September never fails to amaze. When it comes to new jazz releases, every year, September is a monster. A treasure chest of riches. A bullseye on your music budget. But I think more than anything, what fascinates me about September is how—at a time when the year is winding down and best-of lists start to take shape—September steps up and shows that the year is gaining speed, and that it still has so much more left to give. Case in point: Today’s column.
On that cheerful note, let’s begin.
Patricia Brennan Septet
Breaking Stretch
Compact Disc (CD)
The imagery elicited by Breaking Stretch is one of melodies as crystalline structures—of an icy beauty suspended and shimmering brightly as it melts at the edges. The latest from Patricia Brennan isn’t a departure from previous recordings, but the vibraphonist manifests it here with an even bigger, bolder voice. This music has a presence. Brennan is joined on this session by saxophonists Jon Irabagon and Mark Shim; trumpeter Adam O’Farrill; drummer Marcus Gilmore; percussionist Mauricio Herrera; and bassist Kim Cass.
Bill Frisell, Andrew Cyrille, & Kit Downes
Breaking the Shell
Vinyl LP, Compact Disc (CD)
This trio session from drummer Andrew Cyrille, guitarist Bill Frisell, and pipe organist Kit Downes evinces a smoldering tension. Flashes of melodies quickly emerge, then blink out of sight. The music is spoken in low voices and under the breath, and every revelation is the start of a new mystery. Conceptually, a guitar-drums-pipe organ trio might, at first blush, come off as some novelty or radical experiment. But the reality of these three musicians, and their history of embracing the unconventional is, ultimately, the reason this music makes all the sense in the world.
Unknown to Known
Lightship
Vinyl LP
The music on Lightship is moody and deeply contemplative, but behaves as if it’s been ordered to skip along the surface of clouds. Tamar Osborn’s name on an album possessing those qualities is no surprise; the saxophonist’s Collocutor ensemble tends to express Afrobeat, post-bop, and spiritual jazz in the same breath. This collaboration with drummer Yusuf Ahmed, wind instrumentalist Idris Rahman, and bassist Jihad Darwish features a rhythmic approach as if it’s building a musical lexicon on the fly—one tantalizingly close to our own, yet resistant to deciphering. The effect is both mesmerizing and engaging.
Peggy Lee, Julien Wilson, Theo Carbo, Dylan van der Schyff
Open Thread
Compact Disc (CD), Vinyl LP
The melodicism of Peggy Lee is as captivating as it is compelling, as indescribable as it is personable. The cellist has a rich history of making strange and beautiful music, and this session with tenor saxophonist Julien Wilson, guitarist Theo Carbo, and drummer-percussionist Dylan van der Schyff is no exception. Modern jazz, chamber, folk, avant-garde—even as I list out the influences, it feels inconsequential. This is music with its own personality, carving out its own spot in the modern jazz landscape with no name, identifiable only as itself. You could not spend a day any better than exploring the music of Peggy Lee.
Aki
het tij
Vinyl LP
The latest from Aki is atmospheric, with a little bit of edge and some necessary messiness, like smudges of moonlight in a cloudy night sky. Anke Verslype’s ensemble brings together Belgian jazz, chamber, folk, and ambient music for a record that would be right at home on a playlist of recordings from Tzadik Record’s “Mystical” series. The drummer’s core quartet with guitarist Willem Heylen, bassist Ruben de Maesschalck, and harpist Marjolein Vernimmen is joined on their sophomore release—as on the debut full-length recording—by clarinetist Joachim Badenhorst, plus guest Niels van Heertum on euphonium.
Anat Cohen
Quartetinho: Bloom
Vinyl LP, Compact Disc (CD)
Wherever Anat Cohen’s music is heard, it’s instantly springtime. Sunny melodies and spritely rhythms mark the clarinetist’s music time and time again. Even during the contemplative moments, it’s the sonic equivalent of retreating to a shady spot beneath a tree for a rest. Cohen is undeniably one of the jazz giants of the modern scene, and over the past 20 years, has contributed to the shape of jazz today. You can’t possibly go wrong with scooping up one of these recordings. For this session, it’s Cohen on clarinet; Tal Mashiach on bass and guitar; Vitor Gonçalves on piano and accordion; and James Shipp on vibraphone and percussion.
Arun Ramamurthy Trio
New Moon
Compact Disc (CD)
This music pulls the listener in right from the first notes, like an invitation, constantly beckoning to follow close behind. The music is always in motion, and just within reach. The trio of violinist Arun Ramamurthy, drummer Sameer Gupta, and electric bassist Damon Banks bring together influences of raga music and jazz, and achieve a state of expression where the flow of improvisation is undifferentiated from the stream of ideas envisioned beforehand.
Ben Monder
Planetarium
Compact Disc (CD)
A project nearly 10 years in the making, this 3-CD equivalent set of music from Ben Monder is a grand statement. The guitarist is known for having an expansive sound. Even at its most subdued, Monder’s guitar gives the impression of vast horizons just waiting to be explored. On Planetarium, some of the pieces are solo improvisations, while other feature interplay with different formations of musicians, including drummers Ted Poor, Joseph Branciforte, and Satoshi Takeishi; bassist Chris Tordini; and vocalists Theo Bleckmann, Charlotte Mundy, Emily Hurst, and Theo Sable. Sublime and breathtaking are the watchwords for this wonderful recording.
Sharada Shashidhar
Soft Echoes
Vinyl LP, Cassette
There’s a quality to the vocal delivery of Sharada Shashidhar that borders on ethereal. These pieces of modern straight-ahead have structure and a defined trajectory, but the music wavers and drifts, briefly diverting from the music’s creative arc. That little bit of misdirection adds so much by way of tension and delight. Shashidhar is joined by Anna Butterss on bass, Julius Rodriguez on keys, Devin Daniels on saxophone, and Timothy Angulo on drums.
Bark Culture
Warm Wisdom
Vinyl LP
Philly-based, and with roots in the São Paulo experimental music scene, vibraphonist Victor Vieira-Branco—along with bassist John Moran and drummer Joey Sullivan—serve up melodically rich music that feels like it’s in a perpetual state of agitation. Pretty sounds are incubated in an active environment, where motion is the evolutionary force shaping events—but always with a sense of the trio aiming for a spot on the horizon.
Sylvain Rifflet
We Want Stars
Compact Disc (CD), Vinyl LP
This sax-synths-drums trio session from Sylvain Rifflet, Bettina Kee, and Vincent Taeger finds plenty of space to express itself exuberantly within a framework that’s melodically concise. The trio gets right to the point with each piece, and sees things through to their natural conclusion. Along the way, they beguile with melodies and mesmerize rhythmically. It’s music that compels the listener to move—perhaps to dance, perhaps to scoot along down a path, whatever the feet decide. It’s 100% fun.
Joachim Kühn
The Way
Compact Disc (CD), Vinyl LP
The Way is a soundtrack of the raging seas, where unrelenting fury and natural beauty coexist in harmony. Returning to a trio format, pianist Joachim Kühn—along with double bassist Thibault Cellier and drummer Sylvain Darrifourcq—displays his immaculate touch with complex melodic artistry. This music whips back and forth, interludes into a lovely eye of the storm, then comes out the other side for the storm’s second act. If you’re interested in other facets of Kühn’s sound, I enthusiastically recommend his collaboration with composer Michael Gibbs, backed by orchestra, the 2006 release Europeana—an album that, after all this time, still takes my breath away.
Other Albums of Note:
Brass instrumentalist Daniel Herskedal is back with another exquisite recording of modern chamber jazz, released on the UK label Edition Records. This session from saxophonist Ben van Gelder and guitarist Reinier Baas is melodically inclined, but never takes a straight path, and occasionally flashes some appealing edge. For those of you craving a straight-ahead piano trio recording, I highly recommend scooping up the new release from the Laurent Coq Trio (on the Paris-based label Jazz & People). This release from Sylvaine Hélary & Orchestre Incandescent is indescribable, amazing, and perhaps my favorite recording this month (released by the Nantes, France label Yolk Records). The Destination Out store and the label FMP Records is releasing some newly remastered free improv classics—you should check it all out.
