Stars Like Grains of Sand

Jo David Meyer Lysne & Mats Eilertsen Kroksjø     ★★★½   Jo David Meyer Lysne and Mats Eilertsen are two Norwegian musicians who have come together once more, on the Hubro music label (also originating from Norway). This encounter seems to place focus on the textural environment and less so on the improvisation techniques of Lysne (on acoustic guitar) and Eilertsen (on bass). The title Kroksjø is the Norwegian word for an oxbow lake, in which a "U" shaped lake is formed after being cut off from a river. Lysne has stated that these geological formations helped inspire this endeavor and that he views them as a symbol of the artistic effort, being impermanent and forever changing. Hypnotic motifs are lost and found on this record, and with the help of a turntable, the comfort of physical home audio is brought forward. Sounds from the natural world and folk musings seep through to the heart of this record, providing points of focus that solidify t...

Félicia Atkinson The Flower And The Vessel ★ ★★★ Félicia Atkinson is a multifaceted French artist who I have just recently discovered last year with the release of her collaborative album with Jefre  Cantu-Ledesma, titled Limpid as the Solitudes. That album quickly warranted many listens and became one of my favorite musical experiences of 2018. This year Atkinson returns on Shelter Press with a solo release that spans seventy minutes. Without looking deeply into the context of this album, there are some influences that stand out. The cover displays the Japanese art of arranging flowers known as Ikebana, and I believe there is no other visual depiction to more accurately describe the music on this album. Using human constructs and designs to represent the natural world in a different, but just as delightful manner. This introspective record is a product of Atkinson's more recent experiences, and one of her outlets used to connect to the natural world around her. The i...

Oren Ambarchi Simian Angel ★ ★★★ A continuation of Oren Ambarchi's work on the Editions Mego record label, Simian Angel takes a pleasant detour from the more recent path the Australian musician has traveled. Even then it's no surprise that Ambarchi would collaborate with Cyro Baptista; the Brazilian percussionist who maintains a rich and vital role within the "Downtown" scene in New York. Both musicians have a definite knack for collaboration, with a long history of  Mycorrhizal network style interaction with musicians from all types of artistic and cultural backgrounds. In other words, the influence and collaborations have proven to be mutually beneficial for whoever is involved. For Ambarchi, the music in its physical form is an important aspect to consider. As a fellow lover of the record format I appreciate the reissuing of groundbreaking works on his Black Truffle label as well as the attention to detail he puts into design of each album. In a way, th...

Joe McPhee, Piotr Michalowski & Andrew Drury  Live at Edgefest ★★★½   Edgefest serves as one of the larger American Midwest's avant-garde jazz festivals. Since 1997, the Kerrytown Concert House has provided an up-close and personal listening experience through this now four-day long festival. Its popularity, support, and collaborations have continued to grow in recent years. In 2017, Joe McPhee, Andrew Drury, and Piotr Michalowski performed three improvisations that have finally met my ears nearly two years later. Joe McPhee is no stranger to me, and while I have not heard Drury's music, I know that the two have played with each other before. Michalowski resides in Ann Arbor and besides being a self-taught horn player, he teaches at the University of Michigan and writes for the Ann Arbor Observer. So this setting and player arrangement was all new to me, and I was determined to go in with little expectations and to really listen to the interactions...

Marion Brown / Dave Burrell Live at the Black Musicians' Conference, 1981 ★★ ★ ★ When thinking about Marion Brown and Dave Burrell, I rarely gravitate to anything of this period. In fact, there isn't much of it even recorded or issued; compared to the fire music of the 60s. So, my lack of listening experience with this musical period resulted in mixed emotions, mainly excitement and worry that it would not live up to my expectations for these artists. Dave Burrell has always served as a very capable sideman, and his leading role on the BYG actuel released album Echo was where I first became engulfed into his skillful musicianship. Echo is a large outing with some of most well-known and respected names in free jazz at the time, and it really is no surprise that the album is quite difficult to get into. The musical partnership between Burrell and Brown was revealed to me through some of Brown's first releases, including Juba-Lee and Three for Shepp. While thei...

Hard Rubber Orchestra Kenny Wheeler: Suite for Hard Rubber Orchestra featuring Norma Winstone ★★★½  Kenny Wheeler's output as an artist is one that should be greatly admired. He collaborated with nearly everyone; from members of the jazz avant-garde to artists like David Sylvian. He remained busy playing and composing until the last year of his life, and even then his legacy remains forever in works such as this. The Vancouver based Hard Rubber Orchestra is a jazz orchestra that mostly tours Canada, playing original compositions a few times per year. This recording from 2016 is material that Wheeler composed for the group along with singer, and longtime Wheeler collaborator, Norma Winstone. My experience with Wheeler's music has been mostly centered around his ECM recordings, a label in which his music has served to support and expand its aesthetic. The 1976 album  Gnu High  served as my entry point into the ECM and Wheeler catalogs; it's an important record ...

Best Albums of 2018 List Soon A lot's been going on recently. Been busy but hoping to cover some albums from 2018 I really enjoyed, excluding those I reviewed already. Also find me at http://www.freejazzblog.org/ . I'm writing there now too

"A" Trio & AMM  AAMM ★★★★ I always see an album cover as an extension of the album itself; the artists intentionally chose a visual component that they wanted to represent their music. When I look at this cover I think of the moon, cave paintings, and plants cells all packed together. All of these images are ancient, organic and an important part of our humanity. The Lebanese "A" Trio and now AMM duo team up in a release that channels that long-lasting energy. The "A" Trio is a group that is composed of Mazen Kerbaj on trumpet, Sharif Sehnaoui on acoustic guitar, and Raed Yassin on double bass. The AMM, now being sustained by veterans Eddie Prévost and John Tilbury, serve as partial mentors to the young improvisers. But thankfully this live recording is not just an example of a master-apprentice relationship, rather it's the joining of two different worlds through the power of improvised music. Tilbury and  Prévost  serve as a sort o...

Carl Stone Electronic Music from the Eighties and Nineties ★ ★ ★★ A release from this year; I really underestimate the quality of releases that come out every year that goes by and in return I seem to be missing out on a lot of exciting listens. To be fair this isn't really new music, although most of it is hitting the audience's ears for the first time. And not to really get ahead of myself, but all of the music here could've easily been created in this day and age without seeming out of place. Comparing this to the previous archival release, I think the music presented here goes beyond most of which Electronic Music from the Seventies and Eighties  could provide. While some elements are homologous and constants in both releases, I think the experience and work that went into these two periods of Stone's creative output led to great improvements in the latter. The invariable themes throughout these two releases are regarding the use of Baroque orchestral...

Joe Talia Tint ★★★★ I guess this became a once a month sort of deal. Wish I spent my time more wisely, or just had more of it. It's been a while since I've really delved into recently released music and I figured why not just go with one of the more obscure and less talked about albums. I've never heard of Joe Talia but he's worked with Oren Ambarchi, Jim O'Rourke, and many others from the electroacoustic scene. This is a pretty simple record, with minimal design and a very low-key release that didn't try to whip itself into the ears of potential listeners. It is a big release for Talia though as he hasn't released anything in over a decade, and this album has only been recorded over the past two years. He's been busy helping others but this album gives you reason to pay a little more attention to what Talia has to offer. It's just two tracks, originally released on vinyl, on the blossoming Black Truffle record label. He's usually w...

Maurice McIntyre Humility in the Light of Creator ★★ ★ ★ Starting anew, and most likely less frequently. But all the same I hope to keep listening to as much new music as possible. And I'm happy to have stumbled upon Maurice McIntyre's Humility in the Light of Creator . The cover can tell you a few things: the era this music was created in, with the boteh or paisley shirt pattern and background. The Eastern, Middle Eastern, and African influences were continuing to develop in American music and very much so in jazz. The Delmark label was also a great platform for independent or more "out" musicians to record and release their music. McIntyre himself was a leader and important member in the conception of the AACM or the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. This Chicago scene helped secure a home for creative and avant jazz that came after the Coltrane era. Its musicians continue to put out music and they have served as leaders and contr...

Loscil Endless Falls ★★★½ Loscil hasn't been a name in ambient music that has stuck out to me really. I like a couple of his albums and I remember Submers being especially important in my journey throughout ambient soundscapes. That album was like being slowly lowered down into the Marianas Trench, feeling all the pressure build up as darkness and bubbles surround you. It has beats in it, an ambient techno form that appears to be a constant decrease in your elevation as you sink down to the deepest part of the Earth. Submers was an album that made me sit down, put my headphones on, and close my eyes. It was a world within itself and it felt right creating your own surroundings, and that's part of what made me so excited about the ambient genre. Loscil has transformed his style and message as time has gone by; about a decade after Submers was released,  Endless Falls dropped down from the stormy gray clouds. There is a different theme here for sure, and I don'...

J ohn Cage / Robert Black, Eberhard Blum, Iven Hausmann, Gudrun Reschke, John Patrick Thomas, Jan Williams Ryoanji ★★ ★ ★ It's been a long time since I wrote something long. Almost two months; and during that period of time a lot has happened and it's involved a great range of emotions. And surprisingly, music really hasn't been something that I've turned to. It's been a mix of books and movies, and that's fine but I needed to return at some point. And while this is a daunting hour of music and something I was unfamiliar with, I'd heard good things and was interested in discovering what Cage had to say this time around. I really haven't delved into the later works of Cage, and this being composed between 1983 to 1985 makes it one of the more significant works of his later life. So the story goes that Cage visited Japan and while spending time there, stopped by Ryōan-ji, a Zen temple. The abstractness and fluidity of the rock garden, with i...