What's So Great About 2010?

By now, all of the critics and bloggers have spoken, and something close to a consensus has been reached about what was the best jazz released in 2010. If you're like most jazz fans, you probably bought a few new CDs in 2010 but still feel in the dark about most of the music being praised. Also, if you're like most jazz fans, you're probably curious to hear all that stuff you didn't have the time or money to acquire. That's where AccuJazz comes in and saves the day.

We've created a channel called, simply, "Best Jazz of 2010," for all of you curious listeners. The channel's programming is based on the Village Voice Jazz Critics Poll, regarded by many as the most definitive poll of its kind. VV critic Francis Davis asked 120 of his critic friends to make Top-10 lists. Each critic's number one pick received 10 points, their number two got nine points, and so on. When all of the points were added up, a master list was formed. You can check out the Top 50 here: Village Voice Jazz Poll.

The big winners were Jason Moran (the channel's posterboy on our homepage), Rudresh Mahanthappa and Mary Halvorson. Since they placed highest in the poll, you're likely to hear their music more often than, say, Pat Metheny's Orchestrion album, which placed 50th. Go give the channel a listen and see if you agree with the critics or not. What CDs were your favorites of 2010? Which ones did you think should have made the list but didn't?

You can also listen to my personal Best of 2010 channel, Staff Picks: 2010 Faves, which, to be honest, isn't all that different from the Village Voice-programmed channel. Still, there are plenty of CDs I loved that didn't make the VV list, and, likewise, CDs on the VV list that I couldn't get into.

There's also the 2011 Jazz Grammy Nominations Channel, which is a startlingly different playlist from my channel or the Village Voice-inspired channel.

So, whose taste do you identify with most? The critics, me, or the NARAS? Head over to AccuJazz.com to find out.

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!

Happy Holidays! Have Some Christmas Jazz!

Judging from the ads in my newspaper, the big retailers thought the Holidays started sometime in September. If you're like me, you're just now starting to get into the Holiday spirit. Also, if you're like me, you're a little wary of the term "Christmas music." Perhaps it conjures up the sounds of overproduced fluff by the likes of Celine Dion and Michael Bolton, or maybe you're just getting tired of the the oldies-but-goodies that come back every year.

Well, I come with good news of great joy to all jazz fans: AccuJazz.com is now featuring not one but four channels of quality Christmas jazz! There's the flagship channel, Swingin' Christmas, plus Christmas Vocals, Christmas Instrumentals and New Christmas Jazz. Unless you're a major Christmas jazz collector, you will be surprised by the amount of high-quality Christmas jazz out there, from classic albums by legends like Ella Fitzgerald, Ramsey Lewis, Jimmy Smith and Kenny Burrell to newer releases by artists as diverse as Wynton Marsalis and Carla Bley. There's even a version of "White Christmas" by Charlie Parker himself!

Our New Christmas Jazz channel is featuring my pick for Holiday CD of 2010, Matt Wilson's Christmas Tree-O, a fun and, at times, irreverent collection of Christmas tunes from one of the most infectiously joyous musicians working today. There's also plenty of other fresh new music from Al Jarreau, Harry Allen, the Hot Club of Detroit and many more.

Whether you're already in the Holiday spirit, or struggling to get into it, our Christmas jazz channels are probably just what you need. Consider them our Christmas gift to you.

Listen now at AccuJazz.com

Help Jazz! With HelpJazz.com

Big challenges require big action. That's why the young fellows at Search and Restore, a New York jazz community website and concert promotion operation, are trying to raise $75,000.

The big challenge, in this case, is expanding the audience for current, vital, creative jazz. The big action they're proposing is an epic video documentation of the jazz scene in New York and the expansion of their website as a hub of the jazz community.

If anyone is able to pull off something like this, it's the folks at Search and Restore. A small team of idealistic 20-somethings, they've staged countless cutting edge jazz concerts in New York and their website is the source for info on the NYC jazz scene. Their grand plan involves filming 4 concerts a week for an entire year(!) Read all about it on their fundraising website, HelpJazz.com. Or you could watch the founder's appeal right here:

I, along with hundreds of others, donated some money to their cause, but they're still a long way from their $75,000 goal, with only a week left. These Kickstarter fundraising campaigns are all-or-nothing affairs: if they don't reach their goal by next Monday, the 6th, then all the donors get their money back and the project is unfunded.

In another characteristically big move, Search and Restore is putting on a benefit concert tonight unlike any other. It will be a series of duets featuring such A-list musicians as Don Byron, Christian McBride, Ben Allison, Matt Wilson, Avishai Cohen, Theo Bleckmann, Henry Grimes and others. I'm sure they'll get a big turnout at the event, and I hope it results in some strong donations. If you're not in New York (and not at this gig in Chicago), then you can watch the all-star jazz duet madness via live streaming webcast at http://www.watchitoo.com/searchandrestore.

Donate! Now! at HelpJazz.com

Now Playing on AccuJazz - 11/19/10

These Now Playing posts always seem to start with the sentence, "it has been waaay too long since I did a Now Playing post." Well, it's as apt now as ever. The last one was in July and we've added a massive amount of music to the many channels of AccuJazz since then. Not only have we added a massive amount of music, but we've added a massive amount of really good music. New discs by Charles Lloyd, Vijay Iyer, The Bad Plus, Mary Halvorson, Danilo Perez, Rudresh Mahanthappa, I could go on, but, well, I will go on: it's all listed below.

As always, the title of each album is a link to purchase, and I've listed the channels on which you're most likely to hear the disc. Most all of the releases are playing on the Main channel and the New Releases channel in addition to the listed subchannels.

Please post any comments or questions you have about the new releases. Why don't you launch the New Releases channel as your soundtrack to reading the post? Or, pick from over 50 other channels at AccuJazz.com.

Charles Lloyd Quartet - Mirror (ECM)

Saxophone, New School, Modern Mainstream

Esperanza Spalding - Chamber Music Society (Heads Up)
Vocal, New School, Cutting Edge, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Bass, Third Stream, Women of Jazz

Conrad Herwig - The Latin Side of Herbie Hancock (Half Note)
Latin, New School, Modern Mainstream, Live Jazz, New York, Trombone, Groove Jazz

Mary Halvorson - Saturn Sings (Firehouse 12)
Guitar, New School, Cutting Edge, Emerging Voices, New York, Avant-Garde

The Bad Plus - Never Stop (E1)
Piano, New School, Cutting Edge, New York

Clayton Brothers - The New Song and Dance (ArtistShare)
Saxophone, Bass, New School, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast

Vijay Iyer - Solo (ACT)

Piano, New School, Cutting Edge, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, New York

Taylor Eigsti - Daylight at Midnight (Concord)
Piano, Vocal, New School, Emerging Voices, New York

The Marsalis Family - Music Redeems (Marsalis Music)
Straight Ahead, Modern Mainstream, Live, New Orleans, Trumpet, Trombone, Vibes

Rudresh Mahanthappa and Bunky Green - Apex (Pi Recordings)
Saxophone, New School, Cutting Edge, Modern Mainstream, New York

Danilo Perez - Providencia (Mack Avenue)
Piano, Latin, New School, Modern Mainstream

Freddy Cole - Sings Mr. B (HighNote)
Vocal, Mellow Jazz

Larry Goldings and Harry Allen - When Larry Met Harry (Palmetto)
Straight Ahead, Piano, Saxophone, Modern Mainstream

Guillermo Klein - Domador De Huellas (Sunnyside)
Latin, New School, Cutting Edge

Houston Person - Moment to Moment (HighNote)
Straight Ahead, Saxophone, Mellow

Dave Douglas - Spark of Being (Greenleaf)
New School, Cutting Edge, New York, Trumpet, Fusion

Jim Rotondi - 1000 Rainbows (Posi-Tone)
New School, Modern Mainstream, New York, Trumpet

Cyrus Chestnut Trio - Journeys (Jazz Legacy Productions)
Straight Ahead, Piano, Modern Mainstream, New York

Jane Monheit - Home (Emarcy)

Vocal

Denise Donatelli - When Lights are Low (Savant)
Vocal, Women of Jazz

Dmitry Baevsky - Down With It (Sharp 9)
Straight Ahead, Saxophone, Bebop, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Europe

Avishai Cohen - Introducing Triveni (Anzic)
New School, Modern Mainstream, New York, Trumpet

Ryan Cohan - Another Look (Motema)
Piano, New School, Modern Mainstream, Chicago

Spanish Harlem Orchestra - Viva La Tradicion (Concord)
Latin, New York

Greg Ward's Fitted Shards - South Side Story (19/8)

Saxophone, New School, Cutting Edge, Emerging Voices, Chicago, Fusion

Grant Stewart - Around the Corner (Sharp 9)
Straight Ahead, Saxophone, Bebop, Modern Mainstream, New York

Soulive - Rubber Soulive (Royal Family)
New School, Organ, Fusion, Beatles, Pop Composers, Groove Jazz

Isaac Delgado - L-O-V-E (Sony Classical)
Vocal, Latin

Tamir Hendelman - Destinations (Resonance)
Straight Ahead, Piano, New School, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast

Bobby Watson - Gates BBQ Suite (Self-Released)
Saxophone, Modern Mainstream, Big Band

Dave Holland and Pepe Habichuela - Hands (Dare2)
Guitar, New School, Europe, Bass

Jeb Bishop - 2009 (Better Animal)

New School, Chicago, Avant-Garde, Trombone

Doug Beavers 9 - Two Shades of Nude (Origin)
New School, Modern Mainstream, New York, Big Band, Trombone

Jason Adasiewicz - Sun Rooms (Delmark)
New School, Emerging Voices, Chicago, Vibes

The Cookers - Warriors (Jazz Legacy Productions)
Saxophone, New School, Modern Mainstream, New York, Trumpet

Owen Howard - Drum Lore (BJU)
New School, Modern Mainstream, New York, Drummers

Ches Smith and These Arches - Finally Out of My Hands (Skirl)
New School, Emerging Voices, New York, Avant-Garde, Drummers

Mason Brothers - Two Sides One Story (Archival)

New School, Modern Mainstream, New York, Trumpet, Trombone

Ted Rosenthal Trio - Impromptu (Playscape)
Straight Ahead, Piano, Modern Mainstream, Third Stream

David S. Ware - Onecept (AUM Fidelity)
New School, New York, Avant-Garde

Gabriel Alegria - Pucusana (Saponegro)
Latin, New School, Modern Mainstream, Trumpet

Rufus Reid - Out Front (Motema)
Modern Mainstream, Bass

Roland Vazquez Band - The Visitor (RVCD)
Latin, New School, Modern Mainstream, Big Band

William Parker - I Plan to Stay a Believer: the Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield (AUM Fidelity)

Live Jazz, Pop Composers

Christian Howes and Robben Ford - Out of the Blue (Resonance)
Straight Ahead, New School, Modern Mainstream

Jeremy Siskind - Simple Songs: For When the World Seems Strange (BJU)
Piano, New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, New York

Tia Fuller - Decisive Steps (Mack Avenue)
Saxophone, New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Women of Jazz

Dave Bass - Gone (Self-Released)
Piano, Latin, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast

Mike LeDonne - The Groover (Savant)
Straight Ahead, Organ

Exploding Star Orchestra - Stars Have Shapes (Delmark)

New School, Chicago, Avant-Garde

Chris Colangelo - Elaine's Song (C-Note Records)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast, Bass

Myron Walden - Countryfied (Demi Sound)
Saxophone, New School, Modern Mainstream, New York

Kneebody - Kneebody (Greenleaf Music)
New School, Cutting Edge, Emerging Voices, Modern West Coast, Fusion

Brad Goode - Tight Like This (Delmark)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Chicago, Trumpet

Dan Marschak - Likewise (Press Rewind Productions)
Piano, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Modern West Coast

Ayako Shirasaki - Falling Leaves: Live in Hamburg (Jan Matthies)

Piano, New School, Modern Mainstream, Live Jazz, Women of Jazz

Peter Schwebs - Stories From Sugar Hill (Laika Records)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, New York, Europe, Bass

Chris Donnelly - Solo (ALMA)
Piano, New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices

Marc Cary Focus Trio - Live 2009 (Motema)
Piano, New School, Modern Mainstream, Live Jazz

Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble - Blueprints (Chicago Sessions)
Latin, New School, Chicago, Big Band

Michael Dease - Grace (Jazz Legacy Productions)
Straight Ahead, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, New York, Trombone

Sarah Wilson - Trapeze Project (Brass Tonic)

New School, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast, Trumpet, Women of Jazz

Tomas Fujiwara and the Hook-Up - Actionspeak (482 Music)
New School, Cutting Edge, Emerging Voices, New York, Avant-Garde, Drummers

University of North Texas One O'Clock Lab Band - Lab 2010 (North Texas Jazz)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Big Band

Vox Arcana - Aerial Age (Allos Documents)
New School, Emerging Voices, Chicago, Avant-Garde

Tomas Janzon - Experiences (Changes Music)
Straight Ahead, Guitar, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast

Jacam Manricks - Trigonometry (Posi-Tone)
Saxophone, New School, Cutting Edge, New York

Garrison Fewell - Sound Particle 47 (Creative Nation Music)

Avant-Garde

Kenny Werner - No Beginning No End (Half Note)
New School, Third Stream

Hot Club of Hulaville - Django Would Go! (Hulaville)
Guitar

Sheryl Bailey - A New Promise (MCG)
Guitar, Modern Mainstream, Big Band, Women of Jazz

Dave Liebman - Live at MCG (MCG)
Live Jazz, Fusion

Ken Fowser and Behn Gillece - Little Echo (Posi-Tone)
Straight Ahead, Saxophone, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Vibes

Amina Figarova - Sketches (Munich)

Piano, New School, Modern Mainstream, Europe, Women of Jazz

Janis Mann - Blow Away (Pancake)
Vocal, Mellow Jazz, Women of Jazz

Kurt Schweitz Drexel Project - Multivalent (Self-Released)
New School, Cutting Edge, Emerging Voices, Chicago, Bassists

Phronesis - Alive (Edition)
Piano, New School, Cutting Edge, Live, Emerging Voices, Europe, Bassists

Milton Suggs - Things to Come (Skiptone)
Vocal, Emerging Voices, Chicago

21st Century Swing Band - Pittsburgh Jazz Legacy (MCG Jazz)
Straight Ahead, Bebop, Big Band

The ExPosed Blues Duo - Bare (Greene Avenue Music)

Vocal

Pedro Assad e Meretrio - Na Cozinha (Produzido no Pólo Industrial de Manaus)
Brazilian, New School, Fusion

Oster Welker Jazz Alliance - Detour Ahead (Jazzed Media)
Vocal, Modern West Coast, Big Band

Jacob Melchior - It's About Time (Self-Released)
Straight Ahead, Drummers

Ratko Zjaca and Simone Zanchini - The Way We Talk (In and Out)
Guitar, New School, Modern Mainstream, Europe

Joey DeFrancesco - Never Can Say Goodbye: The Music of Michael Jackson (HighNote)
Organ, Pop Composers, Groove Jazz

Rodney Richardson Trio - This is the Rodney Richardson Trio (Self-Released)

Straight Ahead, Guitar, Modern Mainstream, Organ

6th Street Quaternion - Summer Nights (Self-Released)
Vocal

The Battle of the Upper-Midwest Labor Day Weekend Jazz Festivals!

Foreshadowing the Bears vs. Lions season opener on September 12, Chicago and Detroit are staging a Labor Day Weekend battle of the jazz festivals, and we're all over it at AccuJazz. We've created channels devoted to the two fests, and you can listen right now!

Listen now: Chicago Jazz Festival 2010

Listen now: Detroit Jazz Festival 2010

While it's pretty clear who the favorite in the game will be, I'll leave it up to you to decide which jazz fest wins.

Detroit has a slightly larger lineup and possibly more big-name mainstream acts, but Chicago has a lot going for it, too. Chicago's lineup will appeal to the more adventurous listener. The contrast is made clear in the two fests' choices of Artists in Residence. Detroit selected straight-ahead jazz pianist Mulgrew Miller, a veteran of Tony Williams and Art Blakey's groups. Chicago has Nicole Mitchell, a lesser-known (though that's rapidly changing) local flutist and composer known for her rough, edgy sound and long-form conceptual compositions.

Joining Miller in Detroit will be heavy-hitters like Branford Marsalis, Terence Blanchard, Maria Schneider, Tia Fuller, Benny Green and Roy Haynes. Less jazz-intensive listeners hoping for something a little more mainstream can catch Tower of Power or the Fabulous Thunderbirds, too. As usual, a nice amount of local talent will also fill the stages throughout the festival's 4 days.

While Nicole Mitchell is playing five performances at the Chicago Jazz Fest, she still left room for a few other artists to perform. The Jazz Institute of Chicago, who programs the festival, leans slightly left-of-center and very much towards Chicago. The final lineup, however, includes a little something for everyone. Headliners include broad-appeal vocalists Kurt Elling and Rene Marie, as well as big-name legends like Ahmad Jamal and Ramsey Lewis. Modern jazz stars Brian Blade and Brad Mehldau are also showing up on Sunday, and avant-garde master (and former Chicagoan) Henry Threadgill is playing the main stage Sunday night.

Detroit has a rich history of incubating some of the greatest talents jazz has ever known, turning out the famous Jones Brothers, Paul Chambers, Milt Jackson and Tommy Flanagan. But from what I can tell, Chicago has the more vital scene circa 2010 (though I might be biased, considering myself a small part of that scene). If they show up early enough in the day, Chicago Jazz Festival attendees will get a taste of the world-class jazz being created by local players. Highlights of Chicago artists performing at the fest include first-call drummer Dana Hall with special guest Nicholas Payton, avant-garde pianist/composer Paul Giallorenzo, Gen-Y post-afrobeat group NOMO, trumpeter Corey Wilkes and vocalist Saalik Ziyad.

Elling and pianist Mike LeDonne have the distinction of being the only artists playing both the Detroit and Chicago fests in the same weekend (and Elling's also playing the Tanglewood jazz festival in Massachusetts on Saturday! Somebody's got an ambitious agent). I'd imagine some sidemen might also be trucking between the two fests, but that info's not on the publicly posted schedules.

Whether or not you're going to be attending one of the fests, head over to AccuJazz.com and give the channels a listen. They're full of great music and offer up a lot of variety. And if you are going to the Chicago Fest, hopefully I'll see you there!

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.

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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

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