2010 Round-Up

It's a widely-practiced ritual among the jazz cognoscenti to take stock of the past year's jazz output before toasting to the New Year. By now, dozens and dozens of bloggers have posted their own Top-10 lists, a few engaged in a digital round-table discussion, and one critic compiled 120 of his friends' opinions to form something close to a definitive list.

I didn't quite make the pre-New Year's deadline, but this post is my own humble reflection on jazz in 2010. First, I bring news of new AccuJazz channels that have a year-end round-up nature to them: the 2011 Jazz Grammy Nominations Channel and Staff Picks: 2010 Faves, both now featured on the AccuJazz homepage.

The Grammy Channel is playing music from most all of the albums nominated in the jazz categories for the 2011 Grammy Awards. See a complete list of nominees here. After the awards are presented on February 13, I'll change up the programming a little bit so you'll hear the winners slightly more often than the other nominees.

What's the fun in running a jazz radio site if I don't throw in some editorialized programming now and then? Hence, my own Best of 2010 channel. Instead of limiting myself to a set number of albums or songs, I just went through all the music we had from 2010, added everything that I really dug, and ended up with 36 CDs. I think that's a good number, right? Not too big or too small. I'll present a proper Top-10 list in an upcoming separate blog post. Here's the complete 36-album list, in alphabetical order:

Jason Adasiewicz - Sun Rooms
The Bad Plus - Never Stop
Jeb Bishop Trio - 2009
Regina Carter - Reverse Thread
The Claudia Quintet - Royal Toast
The Nels Cline Singers - Initiate
Avishai Cohen - Introducing Triveni
Colorlist - A Square White Lie
Stephan Crump with Rosetta Trio - Reclamation
Dave Douglas - Spark of Being Vol. 2: Expand
Amir ElSaffar and Hafez Modirzadeh - Radif Suite
Exploding Star Orchestra - Stars Have Shapes
Larry Goldings and Harry Allen - When Larry Met Harry
Tord Gustavsen - Restored, Returned
Mary Halvorson - Saturn Sings
Fred Hersch Trio - Whirl
Ideal Bread - Transmit Vol 2 of the Music of Steve Lacy
Vijay Iyer - Solo
Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden - Jasmine
Guillermo Klein - Domador de Huellas
Chris Lightcap's Bigmouth - Deluxe
Charles Lloyd - Mirror
Rudresh Mahanthappa and Bunky Green - Apex
Brad Mehldau - Highway Rider
Myra Melford's Be Bread - The Whole Tree Gone
Mostly Other People Do the Killing - Forty Fort
Jason Moran - Ten
Paul Motian - Lost in a Dream
Danilo Perez - Providencia
Polar Bear - Peepers
Julian Waterfall Pollack - Infinite Playground
Mike Reed's People, Places and Things - Stories and Negotiations
Christian Scott - Yesterday You Said Tomorrow
Jeremy Siskind - Simple Songs for When the World Seems Strange
Greg Ward's Fitted Shards - South Side Story
Dan Weiss Trio - Timshel

I hope you enjoy listening to my 36 favorite jazz albums from 2010. Please share your favorites in the comments section, won't you?

Also, look out for another best of 2010 channel in the next week or so. This one will be based solely on the definitive Village Voice Jazz Poll. Listen for whose taste you like better: 120 critics, or... me.

To finish up this 2010 Round-Up, I'll share two more lists I posted on Twitter last week, because you can never have enough lists.

Favorite live shows of 2010

I try to see music pretty frequently. I probably averaged around 2.3 shows a week throughout 2010, and I'm pretty sure I can say that every single one of them was worth the time and money, but when I thought back over the year, there were exactly 9 shows that stuck out as having been particularly mind-blowing for me. Here they are, in chronological order:

Ben Allison at the Green Mill, 2/13
Tuneful, focused, alternately playful and serious. Amazing violin solos by Jenny Scheinman.

Matt Wilson Quartet at the Green Mill, 4/2
The perfect combination of musicianship and showmanship. Using a beer glass as a percussion instrument, earnestly covering a Beyonce tune without fancy re-harmonizations or rhythmic trickery, the whole band chanting a Carl Sandburg poem, these are but a few of the pleasures in store when you attend an MWQ show.

Occidental Brothers Dance Band International at Schubas, 4/17
Tight, fun, loud, danceable African pop. Smiles and booty-shaking all around.

Tyshawn Sorey, Ingrid Laubrock and Kris Davis at the Chicago Cultural Center, 5/14
Patient, meditative, focused and eye-opening. One utterly engrossing 70ish-minute-long piece.

Greg Ward's Fitted Shards at the Velvet Lounge, 9/17
Mindful long-form fusion-flavored post-bop delivered with passion.

Jeff Parker Organ Quartet at the Green Mill, 9/21
Full-throttle soul-jazz from everyone's favorite jazz chameleon.

Wadada Leo Smith and Gunter "Baby" Sommer at the Hungry Brain, 11/7
Two masters freely improvise a joyous, engaging, constantly surprising set of music.

Daniel Lanois' Black Dub at Lincoln Hall, 11/23
Roots rock? Reggae? Jazz? Whatever it is, it's one incredible band. Brian Blade really, really knows how to play those drums.

The Bad Plus at the Jazz Showcase, 12/16
TBP's completely realized individual style fuses jazz, rock, contemporary classical and Fisher Price toys into something that I just can't get enough of. First set was a little tentative; second was everything one could hope for at a TBP show.

And now, for one more list:

Favorite Jazz cover art of 2010

Because I do care what a CD looks like. Listed in alphabetical order:

Nels Cline - Initiate

Avishai Cohen - Introducing Triveni

Colorlist - A Square White Lie

Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden - Jasmine

Dave King - Indelicate

Little Women - Throat

Polar Bear - Peepers

And thus concludes my 2010 Round-Up. Here's to an even better 2011!

Staff Picks: Mikrokolektyw - Revisit

All week, we'll be posting reviews of 10 new CDs just added to the AccuJazz Staff Picks channel. You can keep tabs on all the reviews as they come out here.

10) Mikrokolektyw - Revisit (Delmark)

Polish avant-jazz duo Mikrokolektyw are the first European jazz group to release an album on Chicago's 57-year-old Delmark Records. One wonders why it took Delmark so long to make the leap across the Atlantic, but it does seem an appropriate fit. I think of Mikrokolektyw as something of a Polish version of the Chicago Underground Duo, a similarly open-minded trumpet-and-drums team with little concern for the boundaries of genre. Members of the Chicago Underground (a collective of musicians who record in a number of contexts, from duo to trio to orchestra) have recorded a handful of CDs for Delmark. Also: Chicago Underground Duo's most recent disc was on the inaugural edition of my Staff Picks channel.

The Mikros are a little less "out" than their Windy City counterparts, rarely engaging in the raw, in-the-moment free improvisation that is the M.O. of the Chicago Underground groups. Instead, trumpeter Artur Majewski and drummer Kuba Suchar craft off-kilter loops using both acoustic and electronic elements and improvising on top of them. Drummer Suchar rarely ventures far from the repeating groove pattern, content to be the foundation upon which all manner of electronic sounds and trumpet solos are built.

The acoustic/electric tunes are studies in patience and effective use of repetition. Oftentimes, as in "Running Without Effort," one bass line (played on what sounds like a balafon) persists for the entirety of the track. Yet Majewski and Suchar manage to hold the listener's attention through subtle layers of percussion, synthesizers, and a long, winding trumpet melody. Not all the tunes on Revisit are as minimalist, but all feature the same sort of churning rhythm and soft, melodic trumpet sound, creating a sound world unique unto itself.

Listen to the Staff Picks channel here

Staff Picks: Julian Waterfall Pollack - Infinite Playground

All week, we'll be posting reviews of 10 new CDs just added to the AccuJazz Staff Picks channel. You can keep tabs on all the reviews as they come out here.

9) Julian Waterfall Pollack - Infinite Playground (Junebeat)

As a jazz radio program director, I'm on the receiving end of a pretty huge amount of new music. When I get an email from an artist representing him or herself, I'm not always in a big rush to get their CD on the air, as there's already a steady stream of new music coming through. But when I got an email from 22-year-old pianist Julian Pollack, it only took me a few seconds of listening to sell me on getting his music on the air as soon as possible.

Something of a wunderkind, Pollack's bio is bursting at the seams with impressive associations and accomplishments: he appeared on Piano Jazz when he was only 18, his trio opened for Chick Corea at the Blue Note earlier this year, and, well, he just put out an immensely satisfying album called Infinite Playground. Clearly influenced by predecessors Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea and Brad Mehldau, Pollack manages to avoid sounding like an impostor or an overly technical child prodigy. He's a fully-developed jazz pianist with a distinct voice.

Pollack and his trio open the album with a clever arrangement of Gershwin's "Summertime," taking one of the most overplayed tunes of all time and making it sound fresh, from plaintive start to abrupt finish. The 7 against 3 polyrhythm in the second half of the head is like rhythm porn for drum nerds like me. The disc is about half and half covers and originals, and Pollack turns out to be as promising a composer as he is a pianist and arranger. Among the originals, "Lily" is a spacious and gorgeous ballad, infused with just enough blues among the prevailing prettiness. "Blackberry," a funky odd-time groover, is the aesthetic opposite, with an impressionistic piano melody layered over a knotty bass line, and even a little hint of electronica at the very end.

Throughout Infinite Playground, Pollack and his trio mates, bassist Noah Garabedian and drummer Evan Hughes, keep things interesting, never engaging in the virtuosity-for-virtuosity's-sake grandstanding that plagues many young and ably-equipped jazz groups. Yes, they play Cherokee, that ultimate test of jam session virility, but they treat it tenderly, starting out in a spacious half-time groove, and never muddying up the time even when they're swinging at full speed. Making Cherokee sound effortless, now that's maturity.

Listen to the Staff Picks channel here

Staff Picks: Tord Gustavsen Ensemble - Restored, Returned

All week, we'll be posting reviews of 10 new CDs just added to the AccuJazz Staff Picks channel. You can keep tabs on all the reviews as they come out here.

8) Tord Gustavsen Ensemble - Restored, Returned (ECM)

Restored, Returned is on ECM records, and that's right where it belongs. ECM is known for its spacious, minimalist, Euro-centric jazz-derived music, and pianist Tord Gustavsen's new disc is all of the above. The music on Restored, Returned is unusually spare, sometimes prompting my jam-session-drummer-self to wonder "are you allowed to do that?" And the music answers, "Yes, you are allowed to do that, and while I have your attention, why don't you listen a little closer. Hear those few notes on the sax, that one cymbal swell. Listen to how they resonate in the air, how you hear the overtones of Major 7 #11 chord more clearly than you ever have before. Isn't that beautiful?" "Yeah, sure is. Sure is," I answer, dumbfounded.

Gustavsen's previous three discs for ECM were with his longstanding trio of piano, bass and drums. Restored, Returned is the debut of the "Tord Gustavsen Ensemble," which adds saxophone and vocals to the mix (and switches out the bass player). Saxophonist Tore Brunborg is right in tune with Gustavsen's muted, subtle aesthetic, playing melodic, carefully considered solos that never get louder than mezzo forte.

Vocalist Kristin Asbjornsen is a striking presence, with a voice that is at times dreamy and soothing, at others earthy and gruff. Like the rest of the music on Restored, Returned, Asbjornsen's voice is rich with layers of subtlety. Listening to the symbiosis of Asbjornsen and Gustavsen, I can't help but think of The Bad Plus' addition of rock vocalist Wendy Lewis on their 2009 album For All I Care (one of my favorites from last year -- ah heck, anything by TBP is automatically in my all-time favorites). The music in question couldn't be more different, but it's the same scenario of a longstanding instrumental jazz group adding a female vocalist from outside of the jazz world. It's a risky and outside-the-box move on the jazzers' parts, and the rewards in both instances are many.

Listen to the Staff Picks channel here

Staff Picks: Sarah Manning - Dandelion Clock

All week, we'll be posting reviews of 10 new CDs just added to the AccuJazz Staff Picks channel. You can keep tabs on all the reviews as they come out here.

7) Sarah Manning - Dandelion Clock (Posi-Tone)

Sarah Manning is part of the ever-growing population of highly-educated young musicians making a go at the jazz life in New York, armed with years of practice, a few big-name mentors, and lots of ambition. Dandelion Clock, Manning's third release and first on the impressive Posi-Tone label, is evidence of the incredibly high level of musicianship coming out of that scene.

Manning the alto saxophonist and Manning the composer are both on display here. As a saxophonist her sound is striking, robust, and immediate. The melodies she writes for herself are memorable and perfectly suited to her distinct voice on the sax. She's also careful to compose thoughtful accompaniment parts for the rhythm section, effectively turning her quartet into a small post-bop orchestra. On "Crossing, Waiting," for instance, the rhythm section careens back and forth between a steady pedal tone and frantic free-bop, mirroring the contour of the saxophone melody.

Manning's band consists of pianist Art Hirahara, drummer Kyle Struve and bassist Linda Oh, whose excellent 2009 album, Entry, made a lot of jazz critics' best-of-'09 lists. It's quite clear from listening that Dandelion Clock wasn't a one-off recording session by musicians who haven't spent much time together. The lines of communication between band members are fluid and open, the rhythm section often subtly changing feels based on what Hirahara or Manning are playing in their solos.

Critics often decry the current generation's lack of passion or originality; with Dandelion Clock, Sarah Manning and her cohorts have proven that technical facility and book smarts can still lead to interesting, risky, and ultimately enjoyable music.

Further reading: A nice AllAboutJazz interview with Manning

Listen to the Staff Picks channel here

Staff Picks: Fred Hersch Trio - Whirl

All week, we'll be posting reviews of 10 new CDs just added to the AccuJazz Staff Picks channel. You can keep tabs on all the reviews as they come out here.

6) Fred Hersch Trio - Whirl (Palmetto)

Fred Hersch has been getting a lot of press lately, for two main reasons: 1) he's a really, really great pianist with a new album out, and 2) he suffers from AIDS, and came terrifyingly close to death in 2008, at points developing severe dementia and entering a two-month coma. He lost all motor function during that time, unable to eat, speak or play piano. And yet, somehow, Hersch has managed to produce more excellent music in the past year than most of his fellow jazz musicians who are in good health do in a decade. He released two CDs in 2009, Live at Jazz Standard with a group he calls the Fred Hersch Pocket Orchestra, and Fred Hersch Plays Jobim, a gorgeous solo piano album of songs composed by the timeless Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Now comes Whirl, Hersch's return to the piano trio format, something of a home-base for jazz pianists from every generation. There's no gimmick or over-arching theme to Whirl, just a highly-functioning modern jazz group playing a perfect program of originals and covers. As with the previously reviewed Jasmine by another titan of modern jazz piano, Keith Jarrett, Whirl at times embraces simplicity and stark beauty. Hersch's original habanera, "Mandevilla," opens with an almost-clichéd bass line and spins out a perfectly constructed melody that sounds like it could have been written in 19th-Century Cuba. But Whirl isn't all simple and pretty. Hersch originals like "Whirl," "Skipping" and "Snow Is Falling" are knotty and complex compositions, with gorgeous, organic melodies soaring over heady shifts in key and time-signature.

Throughout the album, the sympathetic playing of bassist John Hebert and drummer Eric McPherson perfectly compliment Hersch's heartfelt playing. It seems that the crucible of illness has only made Hersch more focused than ever, and, if Whirl is any indication, jazz fans should expect much more great music from the pianist in the future.

Further reading: An in-depth New York Times story on Hersch's recovery from illness

Listen to the Staff Picks channel here

Staff Picks: Ideal Bread - Transmit: Vol. 2 of The Music of Steve Lacy

All week, we'll be posting reviews of 10 new CDs just added to the AccuJazz Staff Picks channel. You can keep tabs on all the reviews as they come out here.

5) Ideal Bread - Transmit: Vol. 2 of the Music of Steve Lacy (Cuneiform)

The first thing I noticed about Ideal Bread was their unconventional instrumentation: trumpet, baritone sax, bass and drums. For you, the line-up might bring to mind the famous Chet Baker/Gerry Mulligan "pianoless quartet" from the early '50s. For me, it also brings to mind my band. So, naturally, I was excited to hear what this group of expert improvisers was going to do with those instruments. Once I started listening, I was beyond pleased.

The verbosely titled Transmit: Vol. 2 of the Music of Steve Lacy is a set of witty and grooving interpretations of compositions just now receiving a proper airing. Steve Lacy is widely considered one of the great soprano saxophonists and a leading architect of the jazz avant-garde, but damned if I can remember anyone ever playing one of his tunes on a gig. Ideal Bread saxophonist Josh Sinton (also a member of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society) studied with Lacy at New England Conservatory and took up the dissemination of Lacy's music as something of a cause upon moving to New York.

Personally, I wasn't familiar with any of the Lacy tunes on Transmit before hearing the album, but the band does a superb job of illuminating Lacy's unique compositional style. The tunes are remarkably logical. During the heads of certain pieces, like "Flakes," you can almost see the math playing out in front of you on a chalkboard, the simple melodic motif traveling around the band, building in intensity as a descending harmonic line provides counterpoint and forward motion, culminating in a perfectly timed unison statement just before the improvisation begins. The appeal of Ideal Bread is how they take these intensely logical, almost geometric tunes and use them as springboards for soul-searching improvisations that explore the nether regions of bop.

Trumpeter Kirk Knuffke is a killer improviser with a gorgeous sound that has been reaching a lot more ears since his recently joining the Matt Wilson Quartet (who played my favorite live jazz show this year, so far, at the Green Mill in April). Bassist Reuben Radding has a big, classic sound that is used most effectively for laying down foundational bass lines, and drummer Tomas Fujiwara moves lithely between tasteful swing and fluid, out-of-time explorations.

It must also be mentioned that the band has a sense of humor, most apparent on the track "The Dumps," during certain sections of which all four band members yell out, "The Dumps!" in all manner of silly voices before jumping right back into the quirky theme. It takes a special group of jazz musicians to be willing to engage in that type of out-of-the-box music-making, and that spirit is apparent throughout the disc, whether they're yelling with their voices or through their instruments.

Listen to the Staff Picks channel here

Staff Picks: Regina Carter - Reverse Thread

All week, we'll be posting reviews of 10 new CDs just added to the AccuJazz Staff Picks channel. You can keep tabs on all the reviews as they come out here.

4) Regina Carter - Reverse Thread (E1 Music)

Expectations were high for Reverse Thread, the culmination of years of study for Regina Carter, who was awarded the MacArthur foundation's much-coveted $500,000 "Genius Grant" in 2006. The leading jazz violinist of her generation, Carter has explored a lot of musical territory in her 16-year solo career, from classical to hip-hop, and, naturally, plenty of jazz-related territory in between. Reverse Thread is an elegant exercise in cross-genre line-blurring. To create her pliable hybrid genre, Carter delved into the music of Africa, the cradle of civilization and ultimate source of all American popular music forms.

Inspired by field recordings found in New York's World Music Institute, Carter layers ancient-sounding melodies over harmonies more typical of modern jazz. At various points throughout the album, the music is evocative of Argentinian tango ("Un Aguinaldo Pa Regina"), traditional African music ("Hiwumbe Awumba"), Appalachian fiddle tunes (parts of most every track), and reggae ("Juru Nani / God be With You"). Helping her navigate the broad stylistic territory is an impressive band including guitarist Adam Rogers, bassists Mamadou Ba and Chris Lightcap, accordionists Will Holshouser and Gary Versace, drummer Alvester Garnett and most notably, Kora artist Yacouba Sissoko. The arrangements are tailored to feature each player's voice clearly and effectively. I've gone back to Reverse Thread for many repeat listens and I plan on doing so for a good while.

Listen to the Staff Picks channel here

Staff Picks: Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden - Jasmine

All week, we'll be posting reviews of 10 new CDs just added to the AccuJazz Staff Picks channel. You can keep tabs on all the reviews as they come out here.

3) Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden - Jasmine (ECM)

The first chord of "For All We Know," the lead-off track from Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden's sublime new album, Jasmine, sets the tone for the rest of the disc. It's a major triad, the simplest of chords, held out for an entire measure. It's Jarrett's way of establishing that he and his partner have nothing to prove. Throughout Jasmine's 8 tracks, the name of the game is spare beauty.

It's almost shocking how simple the playing is at times. For a good portion of the album, Haden sticks solely to playing the roots of the chords, forgoing any inkling to fill up the empty spaces with passing tones or clever lines. Many of his bass solos consist of little more than rhythmically running up and down major scales, but his playing is so honest and in-the-moment that it somehow sounds revolutionary.

For Jarrett's part, he delves deep into his romantic side on Jasmine, going so far as to dub it music for lovers in the liner notes. Needless to say, this is no Barry White album -- the music is romantic and lush in the best sense of the words. Jarrett's playing is passionate, but lower-key than his playing with his longstanding "Standards Trio". He, like Haden, keeps it simple and lyrical for the most part, except for on the uber-standard, "Body and Soul." On this most-played of all songbook tunes, Jarrett must feel a little more like he has something to prove, deconstructing and obscuring the melody to a much greater level than on any other track on Jasmine. All 8 tracks, save Joe Sample's "One Day I'll Fly Away," are classic songbook ballads that have aged well through decades of interpretation.

Jasmine should satisfy jazz lovers of any bent. While I'm the first to admit that I can be biased towards the young and cutting-edge in jazz, there's no denying the power of two veterans earnestly playing some of their favorite old songs.

Listen to the Staff Picks channel here

Staff Picks: Dr. Lonnie Smith - Spiral

All week, we'll be posting reviews of 10 new CDs just added to the AccuJazz Staff Picks channel. You can keep tabs on all the reviews as they come out here.

2) Dr. Lonnie Smith - Spiral (Palmetto)

Dr. Lonnie Smith has taken a place as one of the world's top jazz organists, and he's settled into a steady groove of releasing albums of such high quality as to merit such distinction. At the age of 68, Smith shows no sign of slowing his output or dumbing down his music, and Spiral is an eminently convincing case for the continued preeminence of the Doctor.

Spiral takes a wide view of soul jazz, an idiom of which Smith has become a figure head. From the impossibly funky boogaloo of the lead-off track, Jimmy Smith's "Mellow Mood," to the smoky, snail's pace swing of "Frame For the Blues," Smith and his band make a case for the diversity of the genre. Spiral isn't as eclectic as, say, Claudia Quintet's Royal Toast, but in a way, it's all the more impressive how much ground Smith and his trio mates cover while still staying within the realm of radio-friendly mainstream jazz. "I've Never Been in Love Before" is rendered as a classic swing tune, but it's the lone track on the disc of which that can be said.

Drummer Jamire Williams and guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg lay down an unconventional foundation for the standard "I Didn't Know What Time it Was," playing dark harmonies over a jittery Drum and Bass groove. The familiar tune takes on a whole new character. Harold Mabern's "Beehive" becomes an all-out rock-fusion jam, and Smith's R&B title track is more D'Angelo than DeFrancesco. At this point in his career, Smith could be forgiven for playing it safe, but the music on Spiral, like the album's name, isn't interested in the straight-and-narrow.

Listen to the Staff Picks channel here

Staff Picks: The Claudia Quintet - Royal Toast

All week, we'll be posting reviews of 10 new CDs just added to the AccuJazz Staff Picks channel. You can keep tabs on all the reviews as they come out here.

1) Claudia Quintet - Royal Toast (Cuneiform)

There is so much compositional, textural, and improvisational depth in Claudia Quintet's new album, Royal Toast, that I don't really know how to do it justice with words. But as your fearless AccuJazz program director, I'm going to do my darndest to try.

The Claudia Quintet is a longstanding group of top-flight New York improvisers led by drummer John Hollenbeck, also the group's sole composer. His singular compositional style reaches levels of sophistication that are truly unique in the world of jazz. Rounding out the Quintet is accordionist Ted Reichman, saxophonist and clarinetist Chris Speed, bassist Drew Gress, and vibraphonist Matt Moran. On Royal Toast, pianist Gary Versace joins the group to make it a sextet.

The group's music is often dubbed "post-jazz," or in Hollenbeck's words, "party music for smart people." It's what happens when a deft composer melds jazz, avant-garde improvisation, contemporary classical, "world" rhythms, prog rock, and a little bit of everything else into one glorious new style that sounds like nothing but itself.

Naturally, with such a broad range of influences, the music contained on Royal Toast spans many moods and sonic landscapes. The record starts off unassumingly, with "Crane Merit," a slow-burning ensemble piece that incorporates Reichian minimalist techniques so seamlessly you don't even realize the depth of what you're hearing until the 8th or 9th listen. Unless you're smarter than I am. Maybe then you get it quicker.

After a brief drum solo, one of many solo interludes by different band members throughout the album, the Quintet offers up "Keramag" as possibly its most ambitious statement. It's 8 minutes of ingenious motivic development complimented by inspired solos and richly layered ensemble parts. 9 times out of 10, the tune's heart-stopping climax has me going back and listening to the entire song again.

From the abstract, overdubbed "duets" of "Ted Versus Ted," "Matt on Matt," "Drew with Drew," and "Chris and Chris," to the rhythmic puzzles of "Armitage Shanks," the remainder of the album covers a lot of ground and is engaging to the very end. It's safe to predict that Royal Toast will have a significant impact on a generation of jazz composers, with musicians and fans alike hipping each other to Hollenbeck's multifaceted compositions for some time to come.

Listen to the Staff Picks Channel here

Staff Picks, Volume 2

I sincerely hope you all have enjoyed listening to AccuJazz's Staff Picks channel over the past few months (for those of you unsure of what I'm talking about, read all about it here). I hope you enjoyed it so much, in fact, that you've been waiting in eager anticipation of the channel's next installment. With many thanks for your patience, I'm happy to present to you 10 new CDs now playing on the Staff Picks channel.

Instead of writing up all 10 CDs in one super-long blog post, as I did last time, I'm going to offer a series of shorter posts detailing my choices. This post right here will act as a "hub" for all the reviews as I post them. All the new additions come from our most recent music update, which you can read about here.

1) Claudia Quintet: Royal Toast

2) Dr. Lonnie Smith: Spiral

3) Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden: Jasmine

4) Regina Carter: Reverse Thread

5) Ideal Bread: Transmit: Vol. 2 of the Music of Steve Lacy

6) Fred Hersch Trio: Whirl

7) Sarah Manning: Dandelion Clock

8) Tord Gustavsen Ensemble: Restored, Returned

9) Julian Pollack: Infinite Playground

10) Mikrokolektyw: Revisit

Listen to the Channel!

Staff Picks

I've been running the show at AccuJazz for over 2 years now, so I figure it's high time to start exploiting my position and give special preference to my favorite music. I'll be doing this in the form of the exciting new "Staff Picks" channel. I stole the idea from the record stores, booksellers and libraries who allocate a section of their floorspace to their employees' favorite items. That's sort of what this channel will be like, but since I'm the only staff member, I'll be exercising unchecked authoritarian control over the selections.

The plan is to have 15 of my favorite new releases playing at a time. Each time I update the playlist, I'll write a blog post explaining the thought behind my selections. I'll most likely accompany each new "Now Playing" blog post with some additions to the channel.

Before you start reading about the music, you'll probably want to launch the channel, won't you?

1) Brad Mehldau - Highway Rider (Nonesuch)

As far as I'm concerned, Mehldau can do no wrong. And with Highway Rider, he really really did right. I wasn't blown away on the first listen, but I've grown to fall deeply in love with this music, all 103 minutes of it. 2 discs of gorgeous original compositions, played by various combinations of musicians including his longstanding trio, saxophonist Joshua Redman, and a great big orchestra (including a bad-ass contrabassoon used to great effect).

2) Paul Motian / Chris Potter / Jason Moran - Lost in a Dream (ECM)

Recorded live at the Village Vanguard, the same place where drummer Motian made some of the most influential recordings in jazz history in 1961, this disc is a beautiful statement by a cross-generational group of jazz masters. The music floats along at a curious pace, not quite grooving, but not exactly "free" either. The feel can only be described as "Motian time." The drummer's haunting original compositions comprise most of the selections, with Irving Berlin's "Be Careful It's My Heart" being the lone standard. Props to Potter and Moran for not flexing their considerable chops muscles on this mostly somber date.

3) Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra - Portrait in Seven Shades (Jazz at Lincoln Center)

While many view JALC as the jazz world's version of "The Man", an overbearing establishment force that hogs funding and attention from the rest of the struggling jazz community, one has to admit that their resident orchestra does make some fine music. I'm impressed with Portrait in Seven Shades, a 7-song suite composed by JALC saxophonist Ted Nash in homage to 7 great painters, ranging from Monet to Pollock. Nash makes a strong case for his programmatic music, summoning a world of colors and textures from the orchestra. Picasso's movement tastefully incorporates Spanish flamenco rhythms and Matisse is represented by playful swing. An artist friend of mine concurred that Nash did a splendid job of matching sounds to the glorious sights found in these painters' work.

4) Stephan Crump with Rosetta Trio - Reclamation (Sunnyside)

Before this CD came along, I only knew Stephan Crump as the bassist in Vijay Iyer's excellent groups. Little did I know that he has released four albums under his own name. On his most recent, Reclamation, Crump makes a strong case for himself as a composer and bandleader worthy of greater recognition. Joining Crump in his Rosetta Trio is Liberty Ellman on acoustic guitar and Jamie Fox on electric guitar. The 9 original compositions on the CD show off an old school melodic sense, eminently singable, but never cliched. Songs like "Memphis" and "Shoes, Jump," almost have an early-jazz feel, with gorgeous melodies played by Ellman's acoustic guitar and group improvisation that sounds equal parts Dixieland and free jazz. Some other songs, notably "Silogism" and "Overreach," almost sound like they could be covers of alt-rock songs. The stylistic diversity feels anything but unfocused, though.

5) Dave Holland Octet - Pathways (Dare2)


On his newest disc, Dave Holland continues his stay in the land beyond the quintet. 2008's "Pass It On" was his first non-quintet, non-big band release in over a decade. On Pathways, Holland seems to have found a happy medium between the small group and the big band, using his stable quintet as the core and adding two more saxes and a trumpet to make a sort of "little big band." The music is classic Holland, with funky-but-not-danceable bass grooves, hard-hitting drumming, and super-tight horn parts. The repertoire is made up of Holland originals old and new, and also makes room for his sidemen's compositions, including saxophonist Chris Potter's "Sea of Marmara" and trumpeter Alex Sipiagin's "Wind Dance." Recorded live at Birdland in January '09, there's a fiery energy to the performance that is sometimes lacking in Holland's polished studio dates.

6) Chicago Underground Duo - Boca Negra (Thrill Jockey)

This record is what happens when you take two musicians with seriously wide-ranging musical interests, put all sorts of implements in their hands (trumpet and drums, yes, but also flutes, laptops, mbira, and an array of synthesizers) and let their imaginations run wild. Boca Negra is a testament to the true worth of freedom in music. Trumpet player Rob Mazurek and drummer Chad Taylor have been collaborating in the Chicago Underground collective for over a decade now, and they're a long way from running out of new ideas. Boca Negra showcases everything from the acoustic free jazz of "Green Ants" to world-jazz/ambient vibe on "Left Hand of Darkness" and the dark funk of "Spy on the Floor." Makes me sad that they don't live in their eponymous city anymore.

7) Orrin Evans - Faith in Action (Positone)

I immediately had high hopes for this one when I saw that Nasheet Waits was behind the drums. Waits is one of my favorite drummers, and I feel a special connection to him because he once played a gig with Peter Brotzmann on my drums (my rock drum set, too -- long story). Faith in Action's first track, a quirky, rhythmically knotty Evans original called "Don't Call Me Wally," is a perfect vehicle for Waits' liberated drumming style and made me an instant fan of the album. I still consider the lead-off track to be the strongest on the album, but there are plenty of highlights along the way, with half of the album's compositional credit going to Evans' one-time mentor, alto saxophonist/composer Bobby Watson. Everybody involved in the session is on fire, including two guest drummers, Rocky Bryant and Gene Jackson, who each play on a track apiece.

8) Polar Bear - Peepers (Leaf)

Polar Bear is a genre-defying group of young London-based musicians led by drummer Sebastian Rochford, known for his drumming chops, imaginative compositions, and incredibly large hair. Polar Bear's music could be considered "post-jazz" along the lines of the Claudia Quintet, Kneebody and fellow Londoners Led Bib, but to my ears there's much more of a punk aesthetic at play here. Peepers' opener, "Happy for You," is full of harmonic and rhythmic twists and turns a la Claudia, but there's also a heavy dose of rock, with Leafcutter John's jangly, semi-distorted guitar providing the harmonic foundation. Other tunes reference African rhythms, surf rock and free jazz, but throughout it all the band maintains a singular sound that is all their own.

9) Lionel Loueke - Mwaliko (Blue Note)

Lionel Loueke seems to have taken a cue from his sometime employer Herbie Hancock, who has adopted the all-star, cameo-heavy approach to his albums as of late. On Mwaliko, Loueke's second disc for Blue Note, the guitarist pairs up with a handful of big-name duet partners and also offers some tracks with his excellent longstanding trio. Two tracks with famed vocalist (and fellow native of Benin) Angelique Kidjo are joyous anthems, simple on the surface, but embellished through empathetic collective improvisation. The two tracks with vocalist/bassist Richard Bona are not to my liking, more new-age than jazz or "world." Loueke's two duets with vocalist/bassist/it-girl Esperanza Spalding are impressive exercises in orchestration, using the two musicians' voices and instruments like a small orchestra. Loueke and drummer Marcus Gilmore improvise over Wayne Shorter's "Nefertiti," taking plenty of chances rhythmically, but never quite catching fire.

10) Little Women - Throat (AUM Fidelity)

To quote NPR's Patrick Jarenwattananon, "There are no women in Little Women, and their sound is not little." Tru dat. This is state-of-the-art avant-garde noise, often ruthlessly violent, occasionally beautiful. Comprised of saxophonists Travis Laplante and Darius Jones, guitarist Andrew Smiley and drummer Jason Nazary, Little Women have crafted a seven-part suite they call Throat. While the music sometimes sounds chaotic on the surface, there is high-minded concept behind every note, with improvisation often seamlessly leading to ensemble passages, saxophone duets that build to emotional climaxes, and all sorts of sounds that you never knew saxophones or guitars were capable of creating. Check out this post on the Destination Out blog, where you can listen to the first movement of the suite and read an articulate and informative self-penned explanation of the band's M.O.

11) Michael Musillami - Old Tea (Playscape)

Old Tea is Michael Musillami's dedication to the memory of his son Evan, who took his own life in March of 2009. The title comes from a highly treasured variety of tea that the guitarist hoped to share with his son but was never able to (Musillami and his son had a special bond over their love of fine tea). It's tough to not let the heartbreaking back story affect your perception of the music, and I'm OK with that. Music is many things to many people, but one of those things is heartfelt personal expression, and this music is indeed beautiful and expressive. Performed by his longstanding trio of Joe Fonda on bass and George Schuller on drums, the 11 compositions are intricately composed modern jazz that make room for adventurous and, of course, expressive improvisation.

12) Trombone Shorty - Backatown (Verve)

Generation Y jazz superstars like Aaron Parks and Christian Scott have crafted an appealing and distinct sound informed in part by a fusion of post-Wayne Shorter modern jazz and moody rock/pop by the likes of Radiohead and Portishead (pretty much, British groups ending in "head"). Trombone Shorty is another force in of-the-times jazz fusion, but the sources he's pulling from are entirely different: New Orleans brass band music and mainstream pop/rock. When Backatown steers more heavily towards the power-chord heavy rock end of the spectrum, I lose interest, but when he stays a little closer to his NOLA roots, I'm all ears. Tracks like "Hurricane Season" and "In the 6th" feature balls-out brass blowing over meticulously crafted beats that groove like mad. Can't argue with that.

13) Dan Weiss - Timshel (Sunnyside)

My first exposure to drummer Dan Weiss was in person, at a clinic he gave while I was a jazz student at Northern Illinois University. He came off as a very serious, dedicated, and possibly self-righteous person, so completely wrapped up in his art that it would make sense for him to be the last person on earth to find out who Justin Bieber is. Weiss' disciplined, academic approach to music runs the risk of registering as detachment, but that doesn't happen on Timshel. A huge step forward from his trio's first album, Now Yes When, the disc is full of epic chamber jazz that uses every tool at the composer's disposal to great emotional effect. Rhythmically, harmonically, formally and conceptually, Timshel is ambitious and successful. Every song goes for an aesthetic of heartbreaking beauty, layering melancholy melodies over dense, mysterious harmonies and a dissertation's worth of complex rhythms no doubt informed by Weiss' extensive study of Indian tabla. The discipline and hard work has clearly paid off.

14) Thomson Kneeland - Mazurka for a Modern Man (Weltscmerz Records)

I found out about New York-based bassist/composer Thomson Kneeland from the artist himself, who contacted me directly through email. Being a working musician myself, I tend to give sole proprietors like Kneeland the benefit of the doubt, almost always giving them the green light to send a CD but never expecting much. I was pleasantly surprised by Kneeland's Mazurka, an engaging album of modern jazz claiming to have influences including 20 Century Chamber composition, Indian Karnatic music, Balkan folk music and heavy metal among others. The music doesn't sound nearly as unfocused as that laundry list of influences would lead you to assume, though. Some of the tunes have a vibe reminiscent of the great music created by Kurt Rosenwinkel and Mark Turner, but Kneeland has definitely found his own voice as a composer, and his band does a fine job of amplifying that voice. It should be noted that Mazurka is also dedicated to a suicide victim, Take Toriyama, the drummer on the date and one of Kneeland's closest friends.

15) Dave King - Indelicate (Sunnyside)

Most of you probably know Dave King as the live wire behind the drum set in post-jazz superstars the Bad Plus. Less of you may know of my passionate love for the Bad Plus and anything any of their members are involved with. Naturally, I was extremely interested to hear King's debut solo album. It's a duo project between Dave the drummer and Dave the pianist (brought together through the magic of overdubbing). While some of the songs on Indelicate exhibit the same bright-eyed poppiness of King's contributions to TBP's oeuvre, a good portion of them are challenging studies of abstruse rhythms and near atonal melodies. It takes a lot of listens to start hearing the beauty in labyrinthine compositions like "Bees," but it's a worthwhile journey. My vote for best song on the album is "Arts High Boogie," which successfully fuses King's accessible melodicism with his love for the oddball and complex. Also: best cover art of the year, so far.

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