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Sonny Rollins: “Way Out West: Deluxe Edition” Review

Sonny Rollins Way Out West Deluxe Edition

 

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.

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Anouar Brahem: Blue Maqams Review

Anouar Brahem Blue Maqams

Like a lot of jazz fans, I first heard oud player Anouar Brahem when he teamed with soprano saxophonist, bass clarinetist John Surman and double bassist Dave Holland for their 1997 album Thimar, a hauntingly beautiful and moody collection that seamlessly melded middle-eastern music with jazz. It’s territory Brahem would mine again with 1999’s Astrakan Cafe and 2008’s The Astounding Eyes Of Rita, just as he had prior to Thimar on his 1991 debut Barzakh and on Jan Garabek’s 1994 album Madar. Now he returns to it once more, and with a familiar face in tow, for Blue Maqams (CD, digital, vinyl), yet another album on which he and his compatriots create moody beauty from the marriage of jazz and the middle-east.

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Matthew Shipp, Mat Walerian, William Parker: “This Is Beautiful Because We Are Beautiful People” Review

Matthew Shipp Mat Walerian William Parker This Is Beautiful Because We Are Beautiful People

 

Having recorded one live album on their own (2015’s excellent Live At Okuden) and a second live album as a trio with drummer Hamid Drake (2016’s also excellent Live At Okuden), the jazz duo of pianist, organist Matthew Shipp and alto saxophonist, bass clarinetist, soprano clarinetist, and flutist Matt Walerian are mixing things up again for This Is Beautiful Because We Are Beautiful People (CD, digital), their first studio album and first recording with bassist, shakuhachi player William Parker. That it took such a long sentence to explain was not intentional, but it was fitting given the music they’ve made this time out.

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Ambrose Akinmusire: “A Rift In Decorum: Live At The Village Vanguard” Review

 

0When it comes to jazz, the oeuvres of John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, and Dexter Gordon guarantee that there’s more than enough albums by sax-led quartets to go around. And when it comes to sax- and trumpet-led quintets, well, once you know Miles Davis, you don’t need to know anything else. But what’s far less common, and for no good reason, are albums by

trumpet-led quartets.

Enter trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, who introduces his fantastic trumpet-led four piece with A Rift In Decorum: Live At The Village Vanguard (CD, digital).

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Miles Davis Quintet’s “Freedom Jazz Dance: The Bootleg Series Volume 5” Review

 

Since they kicked it off in 2011 with the excellent Live In Europe 1967: The Bootleg Series Volume 1, Columbia/Legacy’s Bootleg series has presented some amazing, previously unheard live music from the late, great jazz trumpeter Miles Davis.

And they haven’t just been for diehard jazz fans, either. Each collection has included tons of music for people who love jazz but don’t, for instance, need all four nights of Miles’ electric band playing The Fillmore in 1970, just one or two.

But Miles Davis Quintet Freedom Jazz Dance The Bootleg Series Volume 5 (CD, digital) bucks this trend by not only be all studio recordings, but also by presenting previously unheard music that, for the most part, only the most hardcore of diehard jazz fans would want to listen to more than once…unfortunately.

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Satoko Fujii, Joe Fonda: Duet Review

If there’s one truism about jazz duos, it’s that their sparse instrumentation often makes for some moody music. And while that is true for some of Duet, a live album by pianist Satoko Fujii and bassist Joe Fonda, there are also moments on this concert collection where this free-form jazz is anything but moody.

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Giovanni Guida, Gianluca Petrella, Louis Sclavis, And Gerald Cleaver: Ida Lupino Review

As someone who owns dozens of jazz albums, and has listened to hundreds more, I get especially excited when I hear someone doing something new with the form. It was that way when I heard the Jimmy Giuffre 3 get minimalist and moody on 1961, when I heard Anouar Brahem infuse jazz with Middle Eastern tones on his album Thimar, and now it’s happened again with Ida Lupino (CD, digital), the new album from pianist Giovanni Guida, trombonist Gianluca Petrella, clarinetist and bass clarinetist Louis Sclavis, and drummer Gerald Cleaver. And not just because my grandmother’s name was Ida.

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Tigran Hamasyan, Arve Henriksen, Eivind Aarset, Jan Bang: Atmospheres Review

There’s something to be said for truth in advertising. Take Atmospheres (CD, digital), the new double album from pianist Tigran Hamasyan, trumpeter Arve Henriksen, guitarist Eivind Aarset, and sampler Jan Bang. While that kind of configuration could’ve produced all kinds of noisy instrumentals, or even rock-infused jazz, this foursome have instead made a beautiful collection of jazzy, moody, and, yes, atmospheric tone poems.

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Glauco Venier Miniatures Review

While it would’ve been easy for jazz pianist Glauco Venier to record an album of solo piano instrumentals, his new album Miniatures (CD, digital) instead has him pairing his piano with percussive metal instruments for a collection of moody instrumentals that, while not perfect, is still rather intriguing.

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