Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Now Playing on AccuJazz - 7/21/10







It's that time again. Time to update you loyal listeners on the ever-expanding pile of new music playing on AccuJazz's many channels. Here, in all its sprawling glory, is all the new music added since our last update. As always, the CD title is a link to purchase the album. Below the album info you'll see which AccuJazz channels are playing the album. My personal favs are adorned with the much-coveted double star (**).

**Regina Carter - Reverse Thread (E1 Music)**
New School, Cutting Edge, Modern Mainstream, Women of Jazz

**Fred Hersch Trio - Whirl (Palmetto)**
Straight Ahead, Piano, New School, Modern Mainstream, New York, Mellow

**Dr. Lonnie Smith - Spiral (Palmetto)**
New School, Modern Mainstream, Organ, Groove Jazz

**Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden - Jasmine (ECM)**
Piano, Modern Mainstream, Bassists, Mellow, ECM

Geri Allen and Timeline - Live (Motema Music)
Piano, New School, Modern Mainstream, Live, Women of Jazz

Yotam - Resonance (Jazz Legacy Productions)
Straight Ahead, Guitar, New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, New York

**The Claudia Quintet - Royal Toast (Cuneiform)**
New School, Cutting Edge, New York, Drummers

Steve Davis - Images (Positone)
New School, Modern Mainstream, New York, Trombone

Art Pepper - Unreleased Art Volume V (Widow's Taste)
Straight Ahead, Saxophone, Everybody's Boppin', Live, '80s

**Ideal Bread - Transmit: Vol. 2 - The Music of Steve Lacy (Cuneiform)**
New School, New York, Avant-Garde, Trumpet

**Julian Waterfall Pollack - Infinite Playground (Junebeat)**
Piano, New School, Cutting Edge, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Modern West Coast, Mellow

One For All - Incorrigible (Jazz Legacy Productions)
Straight Ahead, Everybody's Boppin', New School, Modern Mainstream, New York

**Gregory Porter - Water (Motema)**
Vocals, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Mellow

Arturo Sandoval - A Time for Love (Concord)
Trumpet, Mellow, Third Stream

George Brooks Summit - Spirit and Spice (Earth Brother Music)
Saxophone, New School, Modern Mainstream, Fusion, Groove Jazz

Paul Carr - Straight Ahead Soul (PCJ Music)
Straight Ahead, Saxophone, Modern Mainstream

Hilario Duran Trio - Motion (ALMA)
Piano, Latin, New School, Modern Mainstream

Tord Gustavsen - Restored, Returned (ECM)
Piano, New School, Modern Mainstream, Europe, Mellow, ECM

Tomasz Stanko - Dark Eyes (ECM)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Europe, Trumpet ECM

Russ Kassoff - Bird Fly By (RHK Jazz)
Straight Ahead, Piano, Modern Mainstream, Mellow

Oleg Kireyev and Keith Javors - Rhyme and Reason (Inarhyme Records)
Saxophone, New School, Modern Mainstream

**Dave Chisholm - Radioactive (Self-Released)**
New School, Cutting Edge, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Big Band

Lee Ritenour - 6 String Theory (Concord)
Straight Ahead, Guitar, New School, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast, Fusion

Ralph Towner and Paolo Fresu - Chiaroscuro (ECM)
Guitar, New School, Modern Mainstream, Trumpet, ECM

**Mikrokolektyw - Revisit (Delmark)**
New School, Cutting Edge, Europe, Avant-Garde

Rich Corpolongo Trio - Get Happy (Delmark)
Straight Ahead, Saxophone, Everybody's Boppin', Chicago, Composers: Bird and Diz

Robin McKelle - Mess Around (E1)
Vocals, Women of Jazz

Tobias Preisig - Flowing Mood (Obliqsound)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Europe

**Dave Peck - Modern Romance (Let's Play Stella)**
Piano, Modern Mainstream, Live, Modern West Coast

The Waitiki 7 - New Sounds of Exotica (Pass Out)
New School, Modern Mainstream

Denny Zeitlin - Precipice (Sunnyside)
Piano, Live

**John Goldman's Quadrangle - Outside the Box (Self-Released)**
Saxophone, New School, Modern Mainstream, Chicago

Beegie Adair - Into Somethin' (Adair Music Group)
Straight Ahead, Piano, Women of Jazz

Ernesto Cervini - Little Black Bird (Anzic)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, New York, Drummers

Five Play Jazz Quintet - Five Play Jazz Quintet (Auraline)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast

Frank Glover - Abacus (Owl Studios)
Saxophone, New School, Modern Mainstream, Third Stream

Jose James and Jef Neve - For All We Know (Verve)
Vocals, Emerging Voices, Mellow

Tom Graf - Graffiti (Borrowed Time Music)
Latin, New School, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast, Groove Jazz

Moutin Reunion Quartet - Soul Dancers (Plus Loin Music)
Saxophone, New School, Modern Mainstream, Europe, Bassists

**Sarah Manning - Dandelion Clock (Positone)**
Saxophone, New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Women of Jazz

Hugh O'Connor - For the First Time (True North)
Saxophone, Modern Mainstream, Mellow

**Roberto Occhipinti - A Bend in the River (Alma)**
New School, Modern Mainstream, Third Stream

**John Goldsby - The Innkeeper's Gun (Bass Lion)**
New School, Modern Mainstream, Europe, Bassists

Soft Machine - NDR Jazz Workshop (Cuneiform)
New School, Europe, Fusion, '70s

Bob Szajner - Live at the Montreux/Detroit International Jazz Fest (Cadence Jazz)
Straight Ahead, Piano, Live, '80s

Hardcoretet - Experiments in Vibe (Self-Released)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast, Fusion, Groove Jazz

Laurie Antonioli - American Dreams (Intrinsic Music)
Vocals, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast, Women of Jazz

David Pritchard - Metal Roads (Morphic Resonance Music)
Fusion

Sean Jelinek - Common Tones (Self-Released)
Chicago, New School, Modern Mainstream, Drummers

Jeff Antoniuk and the Jazz Update - Brotherhood (Atonal Licks Music)
Saxophone, New School, Modern Mainstream

Rita Edmond - A Glance at Destiny (T.O.T.I. Music)
Vocals, Women of Jazz

Friday, July 16, 2010

Honoring Bill and Fred


The jazz world lost two of its most distinctive artists this June. Bill Dixon and Fred Anderson were both uncompromising horn players who played important roles in the development of the jazz avant-garde in the '60s and enjoyed major career resurgences late in life. To celebrate Dixon and Anderson, we are featuring an extra-large dose of their music on the Avant-Garde channel, which listeners will find right at the top of AccuJazz.com.

Bill Dixon was a trumpet player who busied himself more with exploring sound through his horn than playing melodies or hitting changes. While his music is undeniably intellectual, his trumpet playing always betrayed deep emotion behind every note.

An active member of the New York avant-garde jazz scene in the '60s alongside bigger-name artists like Cecil Taylor and Archie Shepp, Dixon spent decades in relative obscurity teaching at Bennington college in Vermont and recording only sporadically. In the first decade of the 20th Century, however, Dixon's name started popping up on the jazz world's radar much more frequently. He released 3 albums in the last 3 years, all of which saw Dixon collaborating with much younger musicians.

My first exposure to Dixon was his appearance on Exploding Star Orchestra's 2008 CD. It was actually one of the first CDs I added to AccuJazz playlists after getting this job -- I started working here about a week after its release. I remember being floored by the otherworldly sounds Dixon coaxed from his horn. At that point in my musical education, I had literally never heard anything like it. I hope you're also floored by all of Dixon's music that we're playing on the Avant-Garde channel.

Fred Anderson, like Bill Dixon, came up during the avant-garde revolution of the '60s, and, also like Dixon, experienced that late-in-the-game spike in popularity. His story is quite different, though. While Dixon enjoyed the stability of an east-coast liberal arts university gig, Anderson led a blue-collar life in Chicago his whole life, supporting his family and his music by installing carpet and tending bar. From the '80s on, Anderson ran his own club, the still-standing Velvet Lounge. In his role as club proprietor, Anderson mentored scores of young musicians and provided a place to play for artists and groups that wouldn't fit in anywhere else.

As a saxophonist, Anderson played with a wholly individual tone that was somehow smooth and gruff at the same time. Citing Charlie Parker as his greatest influence, Anderson didn't play in the bebop style, instead choosing to express himself in a freely-improvised style that alluded to everything from bop to funk to African rhythms. Anderson was on the more melodic side of free jazz improvisers, exploring seemingly infinite avenues of melody rather than pushing at the sonic limits of his instrument, as many working in the world of free improvisation are wont to do. His music is truly visceral and undeniably beautiful.

I personally am extremely grateful for Anderson's dedication to running the Velvet: I have frequented the club's longstanding Sunday night jam sessions for years, and my band played our debut gig there in April. Fred presided all night, and even agreed to show up 2 hours early so we could sneak in a last-minute rehearsal before the gig. At the end of the night, after everyone had cleared out, it was just me and Fred left as I was packing up my drums. He told me a story about how Lester Young used to be a drummer, but decided to switch to sax when he got tired of missing opportunities to go home with girls because he was busy tearing down his drums. Clearly, he felt for me. He was always so kind and gracious, and never seemed outwardly phased by the daunting economic realities of running an avant-garde jazz club in a run-down neighborhood.