After recording two great albums of dark, moody, clarinet-centric jazz — 2007’s Currents and 2011’s Post Scriptum — the Wolfert Brederode Quartet either called it quits or decided to take an extended vacation or did something because they haven’t made an album since. But fans of that foursome can rejoice, sort of, as a spiritual successor has emerged with Characters On A Wall (CD, LP, digital), the new album by atmospheric clarinetist Louis Sclavis and his similarly-configured quartet.
In my never ending quest to find jazz that is beautiful and moody but also unlike anything I already own, I present the Metamodal (CD, digital), the second album by the Sokratis Sinopoulos Quartet, on which the titular Greek lyra player once again teams with a trio of more typical jazz musicians, and comes up with something rather unique and beautiful.
After briefly reuniting with his previous threesome for the album Sonic Fiction — on which they were joined by sax and clarinet player Mat Walerian — jazz pianist Matthew Shipp has once again assembled his current trio for their third album, Signature (CD, digital).
But it seems the time apart may have done them some good. For while Signature is as solid as the trio’s previous albums, The Conduct Of Jazz and Piano Song, it is a much more varied, and thus more interesting, collection.
Most reunions tend to be nostalgia trips. Old friends reminisce, reformed rock bands play their big hits, while former classmates laugh about that time you did that thing.
But while iconic jazz saxophonist Dexter Gordon held a bit of a reunion during the 1977 concert that’s now available as Espace Cardin 1977 (CD, vinyl), this album is anything but a look backwards.
Though they were not his most prolific quartet, jazz pianist Thelonious Monk did some of his best work when he played with tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse, double bassist John Orr, and drummer Frankie Dunlop. Now, fans of this fabulous foursome have reason to celebrate thanks to Mønk (CD, vinyl, digital), a newly-unearthed live recording from 1963 that sounds as good as the band playing on it.
In my never-ending quest to find interesting and moody jazz that isn’t made by a piano / bass / drum trio, or some other equally common combination, I present Retrograde (CD, digital) a free jazz duo collection by trumpeter, flugelhorn player, and alto clarinetist Matt Lavelle and drummer Reggie Sylvester, best known as two-fourths of the Bern Nix Quartet.
Having recorded as a duo (2015’s Live At Okuden), a trio with drummer Hamid Drake (2016’s Live At Okuden), and a trio with bassist William Parker (2017’s This Is Beautiful Because We Are Beautiful People), you’d expect the jazz twosome of pianist Matthew Shipp and clarinetist, saxophonist Mat Walerian to next record a quartet collection, perhaps with Drake and Parker.
But while their new album Sonic Fiction (CD, digital), was recorded by four people, it’s not the four you might expect. Credited to the Matthew Shipp Quartet Featuring Mat Walerian, Sonic Fiction features Michael Bisio on double bass and drummer Whit Dickey.
In talking to Shipp and Walerian, they discuss why this album is so unexpected, and what else they’re planning, as well as Shipp’s new solo piano collection Zero (CD, digital) and his three-disc boxed set with tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman, Oneness (CD).
In 2014, the iconic jazz trio of pianist Keith Jarrett, double bassist Gary Peacock, and drummer Jack DeJohnette announced that their association was coming to an end nearly forty years after they first worked together on Peacock’s 1977 album Tales Of Another, and more than thirty years since their official debut as a threesome on 1983’s Standards, Vol. 1.
This was especially disheartening given that their last album, 2013’s Somewhere, was one of their finest collections in a career that spawned nearly two dozen great albums.
But it seems the mourning may have been a little premature, as the trio are back — virtually, that is — with a cool new live archival double album, After The Fall (CD, digital).
Between its cover shot of the iconic jazz saxophonist in a cowboy outfit, and songs titled “I’m An Old Cowhand,” “Wagon Wheels,” and “Way Out West,” Sonny Rollins’ album Way Out West probably seemed a bit odd when it came out in 1957. Or maybe a bit cheeky. But in the sixty years since it has emerged as one of the sax master’s best. Thankfully, the new Way Out West: Deluxe Edition (digital, vinyl) corrects many of the mistakes of previous editions, while adding some welcome new outtakes (and, er, some mistakes) as well.