Poachers Live With Percussion

Hello everybody! Just wanted to share this new track from last week's open mic at Petie's Place. 

https://youtu.be/D-rHftwnEW8 

This is Poachers live, a piece written for me by new music composer Frank Abbinanti. It's quite avant-garde, it has its moments of melody and makes use of what I'd call "noise chords", real noisy chords. 

We played this piece last week and at the time it was quite nerve-wracking because I'd never played the piece live in front of anyone other than just by dad when I was practicing it. However, the nervousness comes out in a good way. I hit a few bum notes in the beginning but nothing that sets the piece off balance. 

Jim's drumming was quite remarkable. His fills, while keeping time in between is quite good. He played it like a real jazz drummer. My favorite band I've seen him perform with is a jazz-rock fusion guitar trio. He's the best musician I get to play with at these open mics, and its great making music with the guy. 

I do think the piece would've been cooler if that guy didn't yell "Yeah!" at the end but even some of the best classical performances are cluttered with coughing. 

Anyways, enjoy the tune!

Personel
Orlando Figueroa Guitar
Jim X Drums
Frank Abbinanti Composer

Early December Muzak

I listened to some good music today and I'd like to share my thoughts. 

I ordered two albums from the library and both of them came in today, wonderful. The first listen was John Zorn's Naked City band album also entitled Naked City, released in 1990 on Nonesuch Records.

<sup>The music on Naked City is all over the place but it has its moments. The opening track for instance is quite alluring because it reminds me of some sort of Batman theme, that might've even been the song. Another stand out moment was the James Bond theme, that was memorable and signifies a certain point towards the end of the album. There's tons of free jazz moments, grindcore death metal thrashing, punk rock screaming and shouting, lounge jazz, rock and roll, and more. It does all of these styles in an eclectic way. I can see why this is one of John Zorn's best albums. Its all over the place but it still sounds nice in a "I can put this on for anybody sort of way." However, its not for everybody. Grindcore purists will scoff at this sort of thing and jazz fans won't exactly find the punk parts to speak for them. For someone like myself in the middle I can simply say, "This is ok." I see its relevance in today's musical climate and I think that would be saying a lot of the album and John Zorn's work in general. After all, I have been listening to a lot of his music-enough to make critical assessment of his career.

The other album is also associated with John Zorn. It's a Pat Metheny album called Tap: Book of Angels Volume 20. It's an album where Metheny plays compositions written by John Zorn from his Masada Book 2. It was released on Tzadik Records and Nonesuch Records in 2013. This album I would also say was just okay. However, it had its moments. There was a great moment where Pat plays a melody with the guitar synthesizer and he gets this really cool trumpet/flugel horn sound. *Edit: He actually played real flugelhorn!* That knocked me out. Most of the sonic atmosphere Metheny gets using guitar effects don't really go anywhere interesting but his acoustic guitar playing Zorn's melodies really give the music a Medieval feel. There's a lot of creativity coming out of Pat's arrangements of Zorn's music but at the end of the day there's a sense that John Zorn and Pat Metheny don't really mix. Most of the album combats this idea until you hear the acoustic bits and see the beauty in the melody lines. 

Pat plays so many instruments on this album! Here's a list of personnel.</sup> 

Personnel

• Pat Metheny – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bandoneon, sitar guitar, baritone guitar, orchestra bells, orchestrionic marimba, keyboards, piano, bass guitar, tiples, percussion, electronics, flugelhorn
• Antonio Sánchez – drums
• Willow Metheny – vocals

<sup>Finally we have the last piece of music and probably the most interesting of the bunch. I listened to Stockhausen's Kontakte (Contracts), an electronic piece of music mixing electronics with instrumental music. What can I say about this piece? I don't know enough about it to be too technical with my analysis but here we go.

The other day at dinner I mentioned to my dad's composer friend that I admired Stockhausen and his music. I asked him what he thought of Stockhausen's work and he said "it lacks soul". What I can tell you about this piece is that it has plenty of soul. There's life and beauty to this music. There's melody from the piano and the electronics, and silence is used in an almost rhythmic sensibility. So far this is my favorite Stockhausen I've heard, the first and only other one being Gesang der Jünglinge. 

The point of this post? Yes, sometimes its easy to get distracted by popular musings. But don't forget about the true masters of the avant-garde like Stockhausen (pictured above).</sup>
 

New Music, Jazz History, and Science Fiction

I've been doing more research into jazz and new music, avant-garde classical music. I've also been reading science fiction and such.

The science fiction novel is easy enough to explain. It's a science fiction novel set in the future where a scientist is trying to find out what happened to a town in Germany called Eifelheim. Then it goes back into Medieval German times where a priest named Dietrich is working as the communication between humans and these insect-like aliens called Kreken. The novel explores this idea: Can we convert aliens? There's other ideas and tons of rocket science abstraction (dense reading!) in it but this is the primary subject of the book. Its called Eifelheim and its written by Michael Flynn. The book was nominated for a Hugo award back in 2007. Although the book came out in 2006 this is already ancient by today's memelord society.

I also picked up two new books on jazz. Both seem superb after only reading a bit. They're two books written by Nat Hentoff. Jazz Life and Jazz Is. Both explore jazz in a variety of ways with interviews, history, and in depth analysis of the music, the musicians, the audience, and the time periods (some of which include when jazz wasn't popular). Hentoff is a Jewish writer (that wrote for pretty much every major publication) that was well known for his politics. He comes to know the music personally because he met and knew most of the "greats" as a kid in New York. I find his insight on the people to be enlightening. He explains that although the people who play jazz are flawed, the music itself isn't. I'm looking forward to reading both books and I hope to learn a lot more about the history (black history) and people that made such great music.

Then there's the readings on and about the new music scene. I've become a listener of the avant-garde, so called "new music", or as I like to say avant-garde classical music. It started during the Chicago trip when I saw Messiaen's Quartet For the End of Time performed and then it just expanded from there like a mothership dropping its young onto an unsuspecting planet.

I've become particularly fond of Xenakis, Ligeti, Guillermo Gregorio (Argentinian clarinetist and improviser), Stravinsky, Stockhausen, and others. Xenakis wrote a great book about mathematics and music but once I got past the initial introduction the book goes a little over my head. Interesting to check out and read about still.

The thing I like about this sort of music is that it sounds like it could've been completely improvised but it was all written down and thought about. They didn't just throw together random stuff and some people say it sounds random and not music at all (a general opinion on the avant-garde) but I've come to learn that music can be made out of anything and everything, a lesson this music has taught me more so than ever. These composers were revolutionary because they didn't follow the standard norms of composition and influenced music of the twentieth century in a profound way. 

Guillermo Gregorio's music is great. His playing is as my dad put it,"dated". He has a sound that was popular back in the mid to late 1960's jazz, free jazz to be specific. He has the sound of Eric Dolphy, if Dolphy was from Argentina and became an intellectual artist inspired by architecture and European art and philosophy. I don't want to generalize him but his playing reminds me of Dolphy a lot. And I dig that very much.

On the other end of the spectrum (the one where European/American art music and rap don't mix!) I read the entire LA Weekly edition that just came out and in the back they had a list of fifteen of LA's best rappers. I'm not a fan of rap but I figured I would check out some of these guys and see if they had done LA proud with their work. DJ Quik has a nice funky style and Tyler the Creator has become a rap darling. Apparently the guy who doesn't give a fuck about anything actually cares.

All of this stuff will enrich my musical and literary palette. I'm trying to improve the blog, do more editing and limiting my posts and sentences, something before I never would have done because I thought too much editing was a bad thing almost akin to censorship. My goal is to eventually be showcased somewhere on a website and for something to come out of all of this. After all, nobody should write for free. But a free thinker must express his ideas to others lest it all sit inside one's head. As Grace Slick (from Jefferson Airplane) sang in White Rabbit, "Feed your head."

Picture is the composer Ligeti

Avant-garde classical concert, Quartet for the End of Time

When I was in Chicago I got to attend another great concert (first one being a jazz performance). This was an avant-garde classical (what we call modern or new music like Phillip Glass, John Cage, Xenakis, etc) concert that took place at the Green Mill, a famous club where the gangster Al Capone was known to hang at. The show was important for several reasons. I learned how important classical music (and harmony, theory, counterpoint) was to my music education and it gave me new ideas on music.

The concert ended up being too long but the beginning was so terrific that I don't think I'll see anything that great for probably a long time. They played Oliver Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time. I've never quite heard anything like it. Sure I've heard Webern and some atonal classical stuff but this music was different. It has squeaks, what sounded like musical jokes, fast riffs, jazz riffs that reminded me of Eric Dolph's Out to Lunch, a memorable violin solo, and wonderful cello playing. I think I got a lot out of it because I saw how much four people could do on their instruments without even having a drummer. In a lot of ways the drummer was the pianist, bass was the cello, and the two horns were the clarinet and violin. I can think of it that way if I compare it to jazz group.

The Green Mill was a great place to take it. There wasn't that many people there but I do think its important for this kind of music to be played in different places other than University or say a church. What else can I say about the Messiaen piece? It was performed by Depaul University of Chicago students who were probably around my age. They played with such virtuosity, humor, seriousness, and even fun (which is rare to see in a classical performance). The violinist introduced the piece and said,"I'm not gonna say anything about the music, but if you have questions you can buy me a drink and I'll be glad to answer any questions." I thought that was kind of funny coming from classically trained violinist. The performance really opened my ears to different sounds and harmonies. It made me realize that sometimes you don't even need a drummer.

The rest of the concert wasn't as great. The memorable moments was a piece where this percussionist recited poetry while hitting motorcycle helmets to produce different tones (high and low almost like timpani). I enjoyed that very much. Her snare drum playing was phenomenal, I've always like the sound of a crispy snare. Also, there was a performance of this guy playing a clarinet piece using toys that made noise. But he ended up taking so long that I lost interest.

The main reason why we went to this concert was because my dad's composer friend Frank Abbinanti was playing an electronic piece using accordion. However, the electronics were so low volume that you could barely hear anything (from the electronics) while Frank played his accordion. He did sound good and I sort of see where he going with the music and the accordion but the volume was so low that it didn't mesh the way he wanted it to. I wish the guy running the event could've realized that and just turned up the volume, its a very easy fix but didn't happen. 

The next day I went over to Frank's house and he taught me about music for a while. I learned a lot and it opened up my mind and made me realize that if I want to do music as a career (eventually, God willing) I have to study more and take it more seriously. I can't hope to find fortune in playing death metal or crap like that. After you've heard Quartet for the End of Time you don't go playing death metal, at least not me. So the concert really helped and changed my perspective on music. For the better I would say. I'm studying music notation and scores, reading jazz biographies and history books, and practicing a lot more with detailed focus. And it was all inspired by one trip to Chicago. As my younger brother would say,"interesting". 

Jack Dejohnette featuring Ravi Coltrane and Matthew Garrison-In Movement

The album starts out with some brush flourishes by the main man on drums Jack Dejohnette. Then Ravi's sax comes in with the haunting melody that is Alabama, an original composition by his father, John Coltrane. Garrison's playing here seems to drone and hit all the important chord tones while Ravi stretches the limitations of the melody while Jack holds it down rhythmically. This isn't the way John Coltrane did it. But it is still fantastic, albeit in a much different way. This is the current state of free jazz. Wild, free, and in Ravi's case melodically entertaining and focused. He isn't stretching out here as much as his dad would but he's still going "out there" like the album by Eric Dolphy with the same name. The song still retains the strength and meaning that Trane gave it. Fantastic cover.

Another thing to note is that Garrison isn't playing bass in a standard style whatsoever. He's playing electric bass and droning lots of notes rather than playing walking bass lines in the traditional jazz style. It gives the music a stronger bass sound and sometimes even a fusion edge.

The next tune is an original composition by all three guys entitled In Movement. It starts off with some abstract chords that sound like a question to me. Then these layers of sound come in, starting with some synthesizers (played by Jack). Once Ravi's somber sax comes through you remember you're listening to a free jazz record. The synths and the bass here give the music an ethereal feel. This is the ECM sound for sure. Once we hear more of Garrison's bass lines you can hear that he's playing the bass like a guitar, focusing on chord tones and two-three note clusters played simultaneously. It's refreshing hearing the bass played in this way rather than the usual walking bass line patterns found in traditional as well as free jazz. On this tune they really stretch out and show off their improvising credentials. Ravi can freak out for a bit but he always brings it back melodically. Its a way different approach from his dad. They created a nice piece here.

Next, we have another original composition called Two Jimmy's. This one has a dark minor sound with some extreme low end bass and spacing between the rhythmic dynamics of the bass and drums. Synthesizer appears again, creating droning notes to add to the sonic landscape. This song is way free jazz. Their isn't a clear or concise melody going on, just "sheets of sound". They take the song through various phases but Jack's drumming is the constant, the melody if you will. Its what's driving the music and holding it together from going all over the place. At some point there's a funky synth sound thrown in there. Its funky but it sounds industrial at the same time. Computer jazz music I reckon.

Then there's Blue in Green, the jazz standard by Miles Davis and Bill Evans. But the way they are playing it here is way different. A much more free and personal approach to the song. For me its almost unrecognizable as the song originally played by Miles and Bill Evans. Other than the piano. Jack plays a much different style of piano; a drummer's approach to the piano. More rhythmic and volume dynamics than a typical jazz pianist. This is the ballad of the album. Here we can see where these guys came from. There's that beautiful straight ahead jazz sound and feeling here. These guys are a product of the straight ahead period but they've adapted and changed the way they play based on all the changes in the jazz tradition. Cool stuff.

Serpentine Fire starts off with a funky bassline and backbeat. Ravi's sax comes in like a whisper, laying down some lines in between moments of silence. He's playing a soprano sax here, reminiscent of his dad but he sounds way different. He uses the soprano more melodically than Trane did. He sounds a lot like Wayne Shorter to me here. This whole tune reminds me of some late period Shorter from some years ago. It's a nice funky little vamp.

Lydia is an original tune by Jack Dejohnette. Its most likely written for his wife Lydia. It starts off with a brief melody then follows things up with some beautiful chord changes, outlined by the bass (playing it almost like a guitar). If you listen carefully the song does have a head and proper melody and stuff. But it is hard to hear that for the average and/or non-musical listener. It's written very cleverly in a way that sounds like its all improvised. Perhaps it was.

Rashied is an original composition by Jack Dejohnette and Ravi Coltrane, presumably about Rashied Ali. Rashied Ali was a great drummer that John Coltrane worked with towards the end of career, the great free jazz period for Trane. The opening of this tune is as free form as this album gets. The licks from Ravi sound almost exactly like John Coltrane, note for note. The difference is in the tone of the saxophone. This is some true ECM free jazz style stuff. The hardcore free jazz for the purists. From Ravi Coltrane this style of playing is pretty rare so its exciting to hear him playing like his dad. Jack's drumming is phenomenal as well. The entire song sounds like a drum solo but its all in time flowing with the saxophone. Another thing to note is that this is a drums and sax only song, just like how Trane and Rashied Ali recorded just them two together for some stuff back in the day. They are honoring the jazz ancestors and they're doing it with love and extreme musicality.

Lastly, we have Soulful Ballad. This is another ballad. It's not a real jazz album unless there's a couple ballads to balance things out. Amiright folks? It opens with a light hearted melody and sax line. Piano chords and note clusters give the song rhythm rather than drums as there are no drums here. I can hear some interesting things going on in the music. It sounds like they are playing higher notes of the chords on piano, bass, and sax. When played together it sounds very soothing. A great way to end a great album.

All in all this was a great Christmas gift from my stepfather and one of the best free jazz albums I've heard in a long time. Check this album out, you can find the tunes in bits and pieces on YouTube.

Art Ensemble of Chicago Naked

     

    
     So lately I've been listening to a lot jazz and even reading a lot of reviews and essays by the jazz critic Stanley Crouch. While I don't agree completely with everything Crouch says I would say he's my favorite black intellectual and academic. What I admire the most about him is that he would lay down his life for jazz, he loves the art form that much. I've also been reading the Ywngie Malmsteen biography Relentless, which is a fun read but not as stimulating as Crouch's essays. Anyways, I wanted to write a bit about this new Art Ensemble of Chicago record I got today.
     I would say I know quite a bit about the Art Ensemble and that this album captures them at their peak; right before Lester Bowie and Joseph Jarman died, and before the original line-up disbanded. This album is called Naked and was recorded at Rawleston Recording Studio in Brooklyn, New York. The album features Lester Bowie on trumpet, Joseph Jarman on flute, bass flute, sapranino, saprano, alto, and tenor saxophones, clarinet, and bass saxophones, Roscoe Mitchell on flute, clarinet, saprano, alto, tenor and bass saxophones, Malachi Favors on bass and electric bass, and Famoudou Don Moye on percussion and drums. These guys play every instrument it's absolutely amazing!
     The first track is an introduction percussion instrumental that leads to the next track, which is a very ear friendly, almost poppy kind of number. Usually the Art Ensemble is more theatrical, comical, and witty but in this album they go for more standard and typical arrangements. There's a bebop tune called We Bop that is so standard straight-ahead jazz that it could've came straight out of the Blue Note recording sessions of the 50's and 60's. The true artistic nature of the Art Ensemble's music doesn't come out till nearly the end of the album, where things take an avant-garde turn. No melodies or grooves per say, just sheets of sound but not in the Coltrane sense. More like drones, call and response, and sparse melodic attacks. They end off the album with a latin-jazz number that any jazz fan can approve of.
     I must say that this is the most commercial friendly Art Ensemble that I've ever heard. Part of me is astounded that they made an album like this that is so unlike their live shows and more catered to the plebeian understanding of jazz. By that I mean its just not them at their finest and that I think they somewhat were catering to specific kind of audience. I've seen tons of Art Ensemble footage on YouTube where they play miles ahead of the stuff they play on this album. In addition, I have Art Ensemble records both live and in the studio that are musically more stimulating than anything on this album.
     But, putting those thoughts aside, when I take this album at face value I can see that it sounds very pleasing both musically and aesthetically. The songs seem to just swing and the playing is at a high enough level to keep the tunes from becoming a dull cacophony. The album cost me 20 bucks and it came with Japanese liner notes as well as English ones. It has some sort of Buddhist poem written by Joseph Jarman. I can say that this was a great buy and I'm glad I found it at the record shop I frequent often. Its only the second time that I've seen an Art Ensemble recording at a record shop and you can bet that I was happy to find it. This would be a great introduction to the Art Ensemble for anyone who wants to get into their body of work without going full-on avant-garde. Definitely worth listening to for free jazz fans and straight ahead listeners who want to learn more about the avant-garde.

Steve Coleman Arrhythmias

     Here we go, back to some serious Jazz stuff! It's been a while since I wrote about a jazz album and its good to be back in business. I actually got this album for my dad for his birthday back in September. Thankfully I have a digital copy too. This is a 2014 release by Steve Coleman and the Five Elements, his working band that goes way back. The album cover art gets an instant 10/10 for me because it reminds me of some Opeth album covers. Opeth is this old Swedish progressive metal band. Here's the sit-rep about the album-https://pirecordings.com/album/pi47. I'll talk a bit about each song.
      The first tune is called Sinews and it opens up with an almost funky-fusiony bass line. Then the drums come in with this really cool beat that is definitely not in 4/4 time. It almost feels like a progressive rock thing, with a funky bass line underneath the drums. The horns are playing lines over all this. It sort of reminds me of something Mary Halvorson would do, but infinitely better. At some point there's a break from the short staccato horn lines and Coleman's sax takes the lead. Then there's another break of silence for a few seconds. And then the trumpet takes a solo. The reason I said that it might sound a bit like Halvorson is that the trumpeter has played a lot of gigs with her. But this has more of a musicality to it, its not something that sounds completely random. It sounds improvised but still thought of before in advance. There's a lot of multi-horn lines going on but that funky bass line and sick progressive back beat controls the whole atmosphere. At the end there's one last final break of silence before the bass picks it up again. This first tune sounds like something that is played by college educated Jazz musicians but it has a sense of swing and feel to it.
     The next tune is called Medulla-Vagus. This has guitar in it, which is very nice! The guitarist, Miles Ozkazaki uses an old straight-ahead kind of tone but it still sounds refreshing to my young modern ears. This one is a ballad that's slow and doesn't have drums in it. There's a lot of horn lines going here, there, and everywhere but the guitar seems to hold it all together nicely. But that ballady part was just an introduction! There's a break of silence and the drums come in with this almost like quasi-calypso style drum beat. And the horns follow it with more mathematical sounding horn lines, just like in the first tune. I must say that whenever Coleman is playing he isn't playing over the band as a soloist, he's always playing together with them, almost like they are all leaders rather than Coleman being the master. The horn lines are so mathematically correct. By that I mean that all the horn lines seem to resolve themselves. There's no clear cut melody anywhere, it just constantly flows.
     This next tune is called Chemical Intuition. It opens with some pretty avant-garde horn lines. Almost sounds to me like a 9#11 kind of chord if I could spell it out in musical terms. One thing that stands out is how high pitched the bass sounds on this track. He's playing pretty high up the bass on certain notes here, really hitting those bass treble notes (all about that bass, but all treble). This tune stands out more than the first two because of the strangeness it reminds me of. It reminds me if like a question mark was a sound, this is what it sound like.
     The fourth tune is called Cerebrum Crossover. All these tunes have great names and relate to nature and the body. This tune also has a kind of calypso type of vibe on the drums. It sounds fucking hard to play! Here we have more of the signature horn lines that's been going on, the kind that sounds like constant playing. Which sounds really hard to do because they're playing woodwinds. They gotta breathe sometime! There are melodies in the music but there are so many that I kind of get lost in it all, but in a good way. I hear one melody and then go the next right away without dwelling on it, if that makes sense. The bass has an almost reggae vibe to it, playing only a few notes and vamping it. If I could describe this tune in a more colorful way I would say that it sounds like a brain functioning, even though I have no idea what that sounds like.
    Next up we have Limbic Cry. This one opens up with similar horn lines from the previous tune. But the saxophone does have a more independent line here. The bass on all of this stuff has been electric and it plays a lot of interesting bass lines. Like in this tune the bass plays this really interesting line where he's repeating notes but the rhythm is in some odd time signature. It sounds like a bitch to play and get it right. At this point in the record I've come to realize that a lot of this stuff all sounds similar. At some points when all the horns are playing at the same it reminds me of the Art Ensemble of Chicago. But then I realize the Art Ensemble would never play this cool, calm, and collected. This sounds like a scientist working in his lab patiently and methodically.
     The next one is called Cardiovascular  and it has this tribal drum beat on the toms with some staccato horn lines. Then Coleman's sax takes off, going into what is arguably the most interesting solo on the record so far. He goes so far with it, only to stop after a short while, letting the trumpet take a solo. Then the guitar takes a solo. This is only the second tune the guitar has been featured in and it sounds great with the rest of the band. More saxophonists should play with guitarists, it really changes things up.
     Next up is a tune called Respiratory Flow and it begins with a solo saxophone introduction. Its beautiful and sounds straight-ahead, the first tune on this album that sounds this way. This sounds like something off the new Joshua Redman Bad Plus record that I have. Like something modern and new but still has a sense of traditional Jazz and Swing. This is probably the best song on the album so far because it could appeal to a lot of people more easily than the other stuff previous to this. It has a very somber but refreshing attitude about it.
     Next we have a tune entitled Irregular Heartbeats. This one begins with bass and drums. The bass has a very rhythmic pattern doing a vamp while the drums are basically soloing. Then the horns come in. More interesting horn lines that sound cool and calculated. Then Coleman's sax takes a solo. I guess it would be easy to say it sounds like irregular heartbeats. The time signature is definitely not 4/4 but by now I've come to realize that almost none of this is in 4/4. It's all hard to play time signatures for the average musician. But for these guys improvising in like 17/8 wouldn't be too difficult.
     I could write more about the rest of the tunes but I think you get the gist of what this sounds like. Its truly spectacular. All the songs sound a little similar, like they recorded them all within a short time span but that's ok because it all sounds good. I really like the parts with the guitar in it. The guitarist has a very unique style, which is important in playing this kind of free jazz style. Its like playing progressive rock, everybody puts their own individual style and stamp on the music. What I can say about this album is that even though I said earlier it sounds mechanical and by definition that means robotic, while it does that it also sounds completely natural and unrestrained. Every melody, lick, and line all sounds like something real. By real I mean it sounds unique and like nobody else. It's a great record! I'm glad I got it for my dad's birthday and eventually got to listening to it now. This album was released in 2013 and the crazy thing is that Coleman has only gotten better since. I heard that his 2014 release Synovial Joints is more great stuff, even on best new jazz album lists online and in jazz magazines. He's become quite the famous saxophonist and even got some awards not too long ago. "2014 was a remarkable year for alto saxophonist and composer Steve Coleman. Already acclaimed in jazz circles, he won wider recognition as the recipient of three prestigious awards: a MacArthur Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship and Doris Duke Performing Artist Award." (https://pirecordings.com/album/pi57). This guy is on fire right now. Check out any of his new releases when you can.
    

St.Vincent's self titled album

     Here's a post that doesn't involve jazz but in a way it kind of does because Annie Clark (singer,guitar player,composer for St.Vincent) used to go to Berklee College of Music for three years. She dropped out before finishing her degree but she has stated that she did learn a lot of jazz chord voicings on the guitar, and was exposed to jazz greats like Miles Davis. When it comes to rock music I tend to prefer live performances because I like to see how the musicians interpret the music from the record on stage. I've seen tons of concert footage of St.Vincent on YouTube. I really dig what she does. Her guitar playing, singing, and stage show are really on point and she sounds unique and herself, one of the hardest things any musician can do. This is a great record released in 2014 and won a Grammy for best Alternative Music Album. Let's talk about the songs.
     The first song is 'Rattlesnake'. The lyrics begin with 'follow the power lines back from the road'. It has a midi/digital effects kind of vibe, with this electronic music going on over catchy lyrics and a simple robotic drumbeat. The song is so catchy it could be mistaken for a pop song if it wasn't for the avant-garde type sounding arrangement. There's all this electronic stuff going on and to top it off there's this distorted guitar solo that is very melodic. Annie is a great guitar player by the way, even if she does rely on effects (stomp-boxes, guitar pedals) too much.
     Next, is 'Birth in Reverse', which sounds more like a classic rock type song, almost a bluesy type thing with funky guitar chords. The guitar is more important here, and she plays a lot of funky stuff but it sounds avant-garde and would fit in a pop context too. The lyrics are 'like a birth in reverse, what I saw through the blinds'. Its a simple tune with verse chorus type pop arrangement but at the end again there's this instrumental break that is totally unique and only sound like St.Vincent. You can tell she listened to a lot of Talking Heads from these instrumental parts.
     The next tune is 'Prince Johnny'. This one has a more mellow vibe with keyboard chords sounding like a mellotron, which The Beatles and progressive rock bands like King Crimson used to use. It's a very progressive sounding track. The chorus lyrics are 'so you pray to all, to make you a real boy'. The drums sound programmed on this track. The lyrics seem simple but they have a complexity to them. I don't really understand what she's singing about because this is only the second time I've listened to this album but I really dig the music and the progressive and avant-garde nature of it.
     Then, is the song 'Huey Newton'. This one is one of her best songs in my opinion. I've seen her play it tons of times on YouTube concert footage. There's an electronic musical kind of thing going in the background over these organ type guitar chords. This is where you can see her Berklee education showing through. These guitar chord voicings aren't your standard barre chords, they're more complex voicings. In the middle of the tune there's this great synthesizer solo that sounds like something straight out of the English progressive rock scene. I love it! Then she comes in with this sick guitar line that is totally rock and roll over some great lyrics. At this part of the song she sounds like a total rock star, which she totally is. The guitar is heavily distorted and has tons of reverb and effects.
     Next up is another tune that I really like of hers that she plays a lot live. It's called 'Digital Witness'. It has some great lyrics that I like. 'Get back, to your seat, Get back, gnashing teeth, Ooh, I want all of your mind'. 'People turn the the TV on, it looks just like a window, Ooh, Ya.' This is probably the most pop sounding song on the album thus far. It even has some digital effects doing a horn section part over the verses. The chorus is just so catchy. The whole song is catchy. If someone never heard St.Vincent I would probably play them this song because its simple and shows off her typical sound and songwriting without filler.
     The next number is 'I Prefer Your Love'.  This one sounds like a ballad, a song about love. The lyrics are 'I, I prefer your love, to Jesus'. The drums are a simple robotic drum beat over and over again over these lush orchestral keyboard/synthesizer chords that sound beautiful. As much as she is a guitar player, she sure does love her keyboards and synthesizers.
     Next, is a more rock type tune called 'Regret'. Here Annie relies on the guitar to play this kind of almost punk riff. But during the chorus the keyboards shine in. Then there's this distorted guitar interlude, almost like a solo but not quite. The chord progressions she uses are quite unique in the middle of the song. It sounds like a jazz progression. There's so much going on in this song that its hard to describe it all with words.
     This next one is another one she plays all the time live. It's called 'Bring Me Your Loves'. The lyrics are 'Bring me your loves, All your loves, your loves, I wanna love them too, you know. I thought you were like a dog, I thought you were like a dog, But you made a pet of me.' The song is totally robotic sounding in an avant-garde way. Her voice really sounds great here. I don't really know anyone who sounds or sings like her. She has a unique way of doing vocals. The keyboards here play some great chord progressions over the simple lyrics with the verse chorus verse chorus arrangement going on.
     Then, we have a song called 'Pychopath'. This sounds like a more rock song but instead of a guitar riff it has keyboard jabs playing a simple riff that sounds totally rock. The music is very pop here until the guitar solo comes in. It's a nice distorted guitar solo that sounds like Jimmy Page from Led Zepplin. She's such a guitar hero! Her guitar solos are very short but are very catchy and melodic despite playing with heavily distorted guitar. By this point you begin to realize the kinds of arrangements Annie Clark does, and her personal style of music.
     This far at the end of the album we have a tune entitled 'Every Tear Dissapears'. This one has an experimental vibe to it. After a few verses of a robotic electronic sounds and vocals there's this electronic kind of interlude that sounds really spacey, like out of this world. She relies so much on the keyboards but she makes such good use of them with those long open orchestral sounding progressions. If that wasn't enough she also has these guitar breaks and riffs, adding more depth to the song and doing things that couldn't be done with the keyboards alone.
     Finally, the last song is 'Severed Cross Fingers', which sounds like a country song. It has what sounds like an acoustic guitar or an electric guitar through an acoustic setting on an amp. This song sounds like a total hipster indie thing. It reminds me of being at a barn but the backing vocals remind me of hipsters smoking cigarettes on the sidewalk. In the middle of the tune there's this total 70's soul inspired chord progression that sounds totally bizarre, in a good way. If that wasn't enough, there's a melodic synthesizer part ending the tune.
     Lastly, this is the second time I've heard the album and its a good one in my collection. Usually I'm more of a jazz guy but this is great music as well. Annie Clark isn't really pop or rock. She's more like avant-garde chamber jazz, if that were a thing. She really has some great inspired musical arrangements in her songs. I would say that the complexity she has, she learned from Berklee but she could've just got it from her influences, which are all kind of different stuff. Bands like Talking Heads and Miles Davis, shit like that. I bought this album not too long ago at my local record shop. I listened to it once but didn't think much of it because it's such a short album, plus at the time I was listening to it while doing other things, not really paying attention to the music or lyrics. The album has gotten great reviews from a lot of major publications like Allmusic, The Guardian, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, etc. This second time around listening to it, I realized how much of a great songwriter Annie Clark is. She's a bit of an improviser, rocker, composer, and singer. She does it all. I would say St. Vincent is one of my favorite rock bands, for good reason. She has the chops, the voice, and the songwriting ability of a great musician. She'll go far with her music although I don't think she will ever be super famous like say Taylor Swift or Beyonce. But for hipsters, alternative music fans, and people who like jazz and improvisational music like myself, her music is just perfect.

Ornette Coleman, Composer and Saxophonist Who Rewrote the Language of Jazz dies at 85

 First of all, today was an interesting day. Earlier in the day I met the actor Anthony Anderson from the new comedy Black-ish. I shook his hand and said it I liked Black-ish, and that it was a pleasure to meet him. In addition, the actor Sir Christoper Lee died. It should be noted that Christoper Lee dabbled in being a vocalist in a metal band, even having made a metal Christmas album. But my main reason for writing this is the fact that the great jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman died today at the age of 85. Read this story by the New York Times, they talk about Coleman's life better than I can. New York Times Piece. I like how they mention the fact that Coleman initially didn't know his saxophone was in a different key than the piano's standard pitch of C. And that kind of made his distrust general Western harmony. "He often used the word “unison” — though not always in its more common musical-theory sense — to describe a group of people playing together harmoniously, even if in different keys." (article) I thought that the fact that he used unison in a different way rather than talking about the octave was pretty interesting. In addition, Coleman had used the word harmolodics to describe contraction of harmony, movement, and melody.
     Coleman's music had a big impact on me when I first heard it. I think the first record I heard was The Shape of Jazz to Come. Then, what I really liked and thought was great, I heard the album Free-Jazz, which can pretty much be labeled as the first free-jazz album ever and this was still early 60's! Coleman was a great innovator just like John Coltrane, although you can't say that Coleman influenced Trane or that Trane influenced Coleman. They were on two different wavelengths. Two greats changing the history and sound of jazz, at the same time. I enjoyed Coleman's work with Don Cherry, Billy Higgins, and Charlie Haden very much. My favorite Coleman record I would have to say is the double live album, the Hamburg Concert in 1987 with the line-up I just mentioned. If you want a Coleman record that will blow you away, go buy that off Amazon right now. Another great period was when Coleman played with saxophonist Dewey Redman, and they made a great album that I have called New York is Now! I believe this is a very important record because it contains Coltrane's Quartet rhythm section on it which is unbelievable! The album features Elvin Jones and Jimmy Garrison. This is another great record I highly recommend if you want to hear Coleman's best work. Lastly, I'd have to recommend his album Song X with Pat Metheny, which I wrote about not too long ago actually. That's what makes Coleman's passing so unfortunate. I was just listening to the guy! In addition, my older friend that I'm playing in a duo with told me he always respected and admired Ornette Coleman, although he felt he was just starting to understand his music. He also mentioned the fact that he liked the fact that Ornette Coleman was free of drugs, but we know that that wasn't the case. The article mentions he was a heroin junkie for a while, which I did not even know about, but I am not surprised. Lastly, even though Coleman is credited for creating free-jazz, his music and playing is still linked to the past, to Charlie Parker especially. His early recordings sound like the bebop of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. But he sure found his own voice and music quick. One could say that the music of Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane was the last important change in jazz. Their influence on the culture of jazz and the music will always live on. I'd like to end this piece with a quote by Coleman at his Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award acceptance speech.
      “One of the things I am experiencing is very important,” and that is: You don’t have to die to kill, and you don’t have to kill to die. And above all, nothing exists that is not in the form of life, because life is eternal with or without people, so we are grateful for life to be here at this very moment."
     How's that for jazz saxophone philosopher? He will be missed but his music will live on through other great jazz musicians.