50 reviews that appeared in marlbank this month are linked to below. Among these, four albums were ‘recommended’, including Switch, above
1982, A/B, Hubro ***1/2
Their fourth album, the Hardanger fiddle, harmonium/piano, and drums trio of Nils Økland, Sibjørn Apeland and Øyvind Skarbø with, ingeniously, tune lengths for titles, the trio joined on ‘18:16’ by conducted clarinet, flute, bassoon, trombone and tenor horn, A/B works primarily as a chamber piece. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1640-1982-a-b-hubro-1-2
Eric Alexander, Chicago Fire, HighNote ***1/2
Lots of artists have covered Buddy Johnson’s ‘Save Your Love For Me’ a song that opens this peach of an album, including tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander’s fellow HighNote artist Houston Person over a decade ago on his album Sentimental Journey. The fact the song is popular doesn’t impinge on its inclusion here at all. Rather it sets the tone and the mood music.
http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1606-eric-alexander-chicago-fire-highnote-1-2
Monty Alexander, Harlem-Kingston Express Vol 2: The River Rolls On, Motéma ***1/2
Three years on from Monty Alexander’s earlier jazz-reggae album in this invigorating Motéma staging post of the Jamaican-American’s long and distinguished career, the great jazz pianist, who sits within the Oscar Peterson tradition in the pole position globally, and who turns 70 in June switches from live to the studio mostly here although some tracks were recorded live in Jamaica, New York and in France.
http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1681-monty-alexander-harlem-kingston-express-vol-2-the-river-rolls-on-motema-1-2
Rodrigo Amarante, Cavalo, Mais Um Discos ****
The first solo record of LA-based Brazilian singer-songwriter Rodrigo Amarante, best known for his work with Los Hermanos, Devandra Banhart and Little Joy, here readying for its UK release of 5 May. An intoxicating blend of laidback jazz-infused material. You might not pick out or even pretend to comprehend the words (some sung in Portuguese and French as well as English) but there’s a compelling slacker lo-fi jazz-friendly styling that’s fresh built from the synthy horns and loose bass guitar upwards on one of the picks of the album ‘Hourglass’ that’s instantly convincing.
http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1649-rodrigo-amarante-cavalo-mais-um-discos
Bobby Avey, Authority Melts From Me, Whirlwind Recordings **** Recommended
Avey wrote a suite for quintet featured here grounded in rhythms found in the Haitian voodoo drumming he encountered in 2012. Recorded in New York later the same year Authority Melts From Me features the Monk composition prize-winning pianist who grew up in the Poconos in north eastern Pennsylvania plus alto saxophone heavyweight Miguel Zenón, guitarist Ben Monder, double bassist Thomson Kneeland, and drummer Jordan Perlson (the latter pair appeared on Avey’s 2010 album A New Face along with Avey mentor Dave Liebman).
http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1644-bobby-avey-authority-melts-from-me-whirlwind-recordings-recommended
Basin Street Brawlers, It’s Tight Like That!, JohnJohn Records ***1/2
Released on Benoit Viellefon’s JohnJohn label the Brawlers’ sound sits within the fold of the revived ‘hot’ trad jazz movement. Pete Horsfall on trumpet and lead vocals is here with Bryan Ferry Orchestra pianist Colin Good, the pair joined by clarinettist/saxophonist Ewan Bleach, trombonist/vocalist Malcolm Earle-Smith, guitarist/banjoist Martin Wheatley (thankfully the banjo is subtle, the guitar twangy-snap), bassist Dave O’Brien, and drummer Mez Clough
http://www.marlbank.net/gigs/1657-basin-street-brawlers-it-s-tight-like-that-johnjohn-records
Ketil Bjørnstad, Sunrise, ECM ****
Not so much a scream as an existential cry from the heart this cantata is derived from texts of Edvard Munch composed by the Norwegian pianist Ketil Bjørnstad joined here by his sextet and the Oslo chamber choir conducted by Egil Fossum. In the 1990s Bjørnstad wrote a novel about Munch returning to the subject with music in mind this time three years ago concentrating on Munch’s writings and releasing this album last year firstly in Norway to mark the 150th anniversary of Munch’s birth.
http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1679-ketil-bjornstad-sunrise-ecm
Tyler Blanton, Gotham, Ottimo Music ***1/2
Crouching on the cover looming large over a moody city streetscape with his mallets resting underneath clasped hands California-reared New York-based vibist Tyler Blanton clearly means business here. Recording with cultured tenorist Donny McCaslin, bassist Matt Clohesy, and Kneebody drummer Nate Wood, Blanton debuted under the radar, at least on this side of the Atlantic, with Botanic featuring a completely different, bigger band in 2010. But high up on the scale, despite the pervasive urban malaise, the first notes of Gotham’s ‘Never Sleeps’ clearly indicates you’re in safe hands.http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1630-tyler-blanton-gotham-ottimo-music-1-2
Chris Connor, Witchcraft, Atlantic ****
It seems astounding in many ways that all these decades on when the CD format is within a matter of years of extinction that many albums still haven’t made it to the little shiny disc for official release in certain territories. Last year one of the last standing majors, Warners, began to rectify this significantly for jazz by putting out the first big batch of 1000 yen Japanese albums on CD in the UK several of which were reviewed in these pages back in the autumn. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1651-chris-connor-witchcraft-atlantic
Nicola Conte, Free Souls, Schema ***1/2
Late to this particular party it was only Rituals that first registered on my radar, Italian guitarist/DJ/producer Nicola Conte’s sassy 2008 album that featured a then on-the-rise José James the same year The Dreamer came out. James is here among a bunch of singers performing in his case ‘Goddess of the Sea’ Conte’s own song but he can’t rest on his laurels when Marvin Parks is around particularly on ‘If I Should Lose You’ done as a fast samba with a fine solo from Italian alto-sax great Rosario Giuliani. But it’s former BritSchool student Bridgette Amofah, currently making waves in the States with drum’n’bass-dubstep hitmakers Rudimental, who steals the show with her laidback sound on the sun-drenched title track and a cover of Bobbie Gentry’s ‘Ode to Billie Joe’ the picks. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1655-nicola-conte-free-souls-schema-1-2
Yolanda Duke, Te Llevo Bajo La Piel, Amigos Music ***
Dominican Republic-born New York singer Yolanda Duke, who sang with Tito Puente’s orchestra in the latter part of the 1990s is a little reminiscent vocally of Chucho Valdés’ sister Mayra Caridad Valdés, and while Valdés signature song ‘Besamo Mucho’ isn’t here (probably a good thing), latinated Gershwin and Cole Porter (the title track ‘I've Got You Under My Skin’) songs are on excellently arranged big band versions backing Duke from a variety of hands but most of all Jose Madera. Latin-jazz great Arturo Sandoval on trumpet and piano arranged and solos beautifully on ‘Contigo en la distancia.’ http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1635-yolanda-duke-te-llevo-bajo-la-piel-amigos-music
Duke Ellington, Ellington 65, Reprise ***
Subtitled “hits of the 60s this time by Ellington” actually recorded in 1964, this is another in the 1000 Yen series now reissued on its own although the album has appeared as an element of Warners’ Original Album Series box set, an issue that also included sister album Ellington 66. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1658-duke-ellington-ellington-65-reprise
Oran Etkin, Gathering Light, Motéma ****
New star of the bass clarinet Oran Etkin here with a stellar empathetic band (trombonist Curtis Fowlkes, guitarist Lionel Loueke, bassist Ben Allison, and drummer Nasheet Waits) on a studio recording made in Brooklyn. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1684-oran-etkin-gathering-light-motema
Jumoké Fashola, The Condition of Being a Woman, Sass & Rhythm Records ***1/2
BBC radio presenter and Jazz Verse Jukebox host Jumoké Fashola makes a confident debut here, with an eclectic Afrojazz-inspired collection featuring a range of material including Nina Simone’s ‘Four Women’, Mongo Santamaria’s ‘Afro Blue’, which begins with a Yoruba praise song introduction, and a Fran Landesman/Simon Wallace song ‘The Girl You Can’t Forget’, plus a couple of the singer’s own songs among the selectionshttp://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1620-jumoke-fashola-the-condition-of-being-a-woman-sass-rhythm-1-2
Michael Feinberg’s Humblebrag, Live at 800 East, Behip Records ***1/2
Naming a band after a neologism isn’t without its risks: what if the coinage in question disappears immediately thus dating the record to say nothing of the potential lifespan of the band. You might also think that there’s something smug about a band that calls itself Humblebrag but that’s not the case at all. http://www.marlbank.net/gigs/1671-michael-feinberg-s-humblebrag-live-at-800-east-behip-records-1-2
Jeremy Fox, With Love, Jazzbill Records ***
It’s a sign of these highly educated times that a debut album can be derived from an artist’s doctoral studies in jazz composition. But don’t let that put you off. Fox wears his learning lightly. What we have here are arrangements by the Miami-based jazz educator featuring an orchestra, big band, small group and string quartet settings in accompaniment to vocals from a procession of mostly prominent jazz singers in the tradition of the Great American Songbook including Kevin Mahogany, Kate McGarry, and one half of New York Voices, Peter Eldridge and Lauren Kinhan. Material includes Cole Porter’s ‘Get Out of Town’, and Neal Hefti/Bobby Troup’s ‘Girl Talk’ and ‘Dindi.’ http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1638-jeremy-fox-with-love-jazzbill-records
Erik Friedlander, Nighthawks, Skipstone Records ***1/2
The son of famous jazz photographer Lee Friedlander who contributes (look hard) a photo to the inside CD pocket, cellist Erik Friedlander, who’s worked with John Zorn, Sylvie Courvoisier, and Mark Feldman in the past, here with his band Bonebridge that recorded the Americana-styled record of the same name from three years back, so it’s the cellist with guitarist Doug Wamble, who comes into his own on slide guitar on ‘Poolhall Payback’ plus bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer Michael Sarin. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1663-erik-friedlander-nighthawks-skipstone-records-1-2
Nancy Goudinaki, I Wanna Be Your Star, No label **
Despite the presence of a strong band, featuring Orrin Evans on piano, the late Dwayne Burno on bass, Rudy Royston drums, and tenorist JD Allen taking a plum of an introductory solo on ‘I’ll Be Seeing You’, New York-based Greek singer Nancy Goudinaki really doesn’t convince here at all on this 2010-recorded album produced by bassist Richie Goods. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1633-nancy-goudinaki-i-wanna-be-your-star-no-label
Steve Grossman, Perspective, Atlantic ***
Steve Grossman is on some of my favourite Miles Davis records (A Tribute to Jack Johnson, and the recently reissued At the Fillmore). He’s not the superstar he could, maybe in his dreams, have been, but his contribution to the music is still significant. In the 90s I had the pleasure of interviewing him for a long defunct magazine called Jazz on CD and although he came across as a tough guy he was sensitive and interesting to talk to, something his Dreyfus records (Do It, In New York for instance) hinted at: he has always had something to say on the saxophone. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1674-steve-grossman-perspective-atlantic
Linley Hamilton, In Transition, Lyte Records ****
Three years on from the much more mainstream quartet album Taylor Made trumpeter Linley Hamilton has made giant strides here in terms of moving into a new interpretative space joined once more by pianist Johnny Taylor, who like drummer Dominic Mullan returns from the earlier Lyte release. Australian bassist Damian Evans, and Italian guitarist Julien Colarossi, the latter guesting on three tracks including a mellow turn on Hamilton’s own tune the yearning ‘Dusk’, complete the quartet+ line-up. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1625-linley-hamilton-in-transition-lyte-records
Eddie Harris, Silver Cycles, Atlantic **1/2
Opening with a Caribbean feel, a chugging percussive push and pull and Sonny Rollins-like set ups on ‘Free at Last’ Harris’ tone scalding hot the band swelling and reducing behind him at leisure. Released in 1969 the second track looks ahead five years literally on ‘1974 Blues’ with little funky phrases in the melody so familiar on Harris http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1669-eddie-harris-silver-cycles-atlantic-1-2
Hess / AC / Hess, Spacelab, Gateway Music ***
The challenge with any acoustic jazz piano trio is to be fresh and that bit different. Last year’s Nikolaj Hess tantalising release Trio (the pianist joined by bassist Tony Scherr and drummer Kenny Wollesen) found a new path and achieved a certain impact via the New Melodic and a tunnelling back to Ellingtonia. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1608-hess-ac-hess-spacelab-gateway-music
Joachim Kühn, Trio Kühn Humair Jenny-Clark/Europeana, ACT ***1/2
A 2-CD set marking the Leipzig-born Joachim Kühn’s 70th birthday with, on the first disc, the great pianist’s trio featuring bassist Jean-François Jenny-Clark (1944-1998) and drummer Daniel Humair, recorded here at the Berlin jazz festival in 1987 and 1995 performances that have hitherto been unreleased. The second disc contains the latest reissue of Mike Gibbs’ significant orchestral work Europeana – Jazzphony No 1 recorded 20 years ago featuring the Hanover-based NDR Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and guests including Albert Mangelsdorff and Richard Galliano, with Kühn piano soloist. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1622-joachim-kuehn-trio-kuehn-humair-jenny-clark-europeana-act-1-2
Bobby McFerrin, Bobby McFerrin, Elektra/Musician ****
Last year on his album Spirityouall Bobby McFerrin honoured his father the baritone Robert McFerrin Sr, the first African-American to sing a title role at the Met as well as a noted interpreter of spirituals, on a collection of 13 freedom songs that as ever with McFerrin exuded an insatiable joie de vivre. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1656-bobby-mcferrin-bobby-mcferrin-elektra-musician
Carmen McRae, For Once in My Life, Atlantic ***
With an orchestra arranged and conducted by the Scot Johnny Keating this 1967 album by Carmen McRae opens uncompromisingly with the title track. Overwhelmingly a show tune album not that that might put off many jazz vocals fans because McRae possesses the unique formula to connect with a jazz sensibility even when she’s not as a jazz singer per se. You could compare her to Madeline Bell a bit in that regard. But nonetheless after ‘Don’t Talk’ the album could do with a little less showy run of numbers to really engage with a jazz audience although her rendition of protest singer Buffy St Marie’s ‘Until It’s Time For You To Go’ is a gem no matter what you want to call it, a glorious ballad McRae accompanied initially by harp, and then the orchestra taking up the running. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1666-carmen-mcrae-for-once-in-my-life-atlantic
Magos&Limón, Dawn, OKeh ***1/2
The glamorous duo of husky New York-based Mexican vocalist Magos Herrera, singing in English, Spanish and Portuguese, and Madrileño Flamenco guitarist Javier Limón whose work has encompassed appearances with the late Paco de Lucía and Bebo Valdés among others, bookend Dawn with the ever dependable ‘Afro Blue’ and Miles/Bill Evans' ‘Blue in Green’ (as in Cassandra Wilson’s “Sky and Sea” take from Traveling Miles).http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1631-magos-limon-dawn-okeh-1-2
Pat Martino, Joyous Lake, Warner Bros ****
Confession time: I’d never heard Joyous Lake at all until two days ago, missing out on it for a mere 37 years. Some Martino aficionados think Joyous Lake is Martino’s best record. But it really depends on which end of the telescope you’re looking through. Post the brain aneurysm that afflicted the Philly jazz legend in 1980 just a few years after this album was made and his having to “relearn” everything, you could be forgiven (although that’s still no real excuse) for thinking that the Martino fusion period never really existed (!) as Martino, who’s 70 this summer, made a new career playing highly advanced pristine acoustic post-bop for Blue Note to huge acclaim http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1661-pat-martino-joyous-lake-warner-bros
Harvey Mason, Chameleon, Concord Records ***1/2
Trumpeter Christian Scott over in the summer to play the Sligo Jazz Festival, the Unity Group bassist Ben Williams, and José James keyboardist Kris Bowers, are among the great coming together of jazz talent here on Chameleon, with guitarist Matthew Stevens, trombonist/singer Corey King, West Coast Get Down saxophonist Kamasi Washington, vocalist Chris Turner and broken beat leading light keyboardist Mark de Clive-Lowe joining the much revered jazz-funk drummer Mason (Head Hunters, Sunburst, etc) more known these days for his work with smooth jazz supergroup Fourplay. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1673-harvey-mason-chameleon-concord-records-1-2
Benedicte Maurseth / Åsne Valland Nordli, Over Tones, ECM ***1/2
Western Norwegian folk music that blurs musical boundaries and sends you back centuries, this Hardanger fiddle (Maurseth) and kveding voice (Nordli) duo has been together for the past three years. But it’s their first record together for the German label, recorded in Oslo during their early days together in May 2011.http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1626-benedicte-maurseth-asne-valland-nordli-over-tones-ecm-1-2
Michelson Morley, Aether Drift, F-IRE ****
Get the Blessing saxophonist Jake McMurchie’s first album of his own material joined in his brand new band by Moonlight Saving Time double bassist Will Harris and drummer Mark Whitlam. Recorded in Bristol in July 2012 there can’t be that many albums, if any, that feature a photo of an interferometer in the artwork; or for that matter bands, as Michelson Morley find themselves, named after a 19th century physics experiment that confounded the existence of the luminiferous aether. http://www.marlbank.net/gigs/1619-michelson-morley-aether-drift-f-ire
Charles Mingus, Mingus Moves, Atlantic ****
1973 was all about Mingus to the power of five. Besides this album, produced by Nesuhi Ertegun and recorded in Atlantic’s New York studio during the last three days of October, the year saw a great deal of quintet activity with fairly stable personnel throughout. Playing with Mingus here are trumpeter Ronald Hampton; tenorist/flautist George Adams; pianist Don Pullen; and drummer Dannie Richmond plus singers Honey Gordon and Doug Hammond added on the third track ‘Moves’. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1686-charles-mingus-mingus-moves-atlantic
Mingus Dynasty, Chair in the Sky, Elektra **** Recommended
This crackles with energy, recorded months after the passing of Charles Mingus in 1979 the septet belting away with ‘Boogie Stop Shuffle.’ Powered by Charlie Haden the band includes in its number John Handy who appeared, as trombonist Jimmy Knepper and drummer Dannie Richmond all did, on the 1959 Mingus Dynasty album that gave this band its name. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1659-mingus-dynasty-chair-in-the-sky-elektra-recommended
The Modern Jazz Quartet, Concert in Japan Vol. 1 / Vol. 2, Atlantic **** / **** Recommended
The last MJQ album reviewed in these pages was in January when the Modern Jazz Quartet were caught in 1957 in a German radio recording studio. But to my mind these two discs of The Concert in Japan out on CD here for the first time in a UK release capturing as they do a 14 March 1966 concert at the Kōsei-Nenkin Kaikan concert hall in Tokyo (the same venue where John Coltrane would record half of Live in Japan in July later that year) represent the most exciting MJQ reissue since Under the Jasmin Tree was reissued in 2010. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1652-the-modern-jazz-quartet-concert-in-japan-vol-1-vol-2-atlantic-recommended
Nils Petter Molvær, Switch, OKeh **** Recommended
Coming hard on the heels of 1/1, 2013’s meaty techno ambient duo affair with Moritz von Oswald, Switch shares its predecessor’s darkness but instead opens with a slow John Barry-type Ipcress File crime flick atmosphere that summons the aching trumpet of the futurejazz pioneer from the gloomiest of lairs to bare his soul on the gorgeous title track. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1624-nils-petter-molvaer-switch-okeh-recommended
The Claus Ogerman Orchestra, Gate of Dreams, Warner Bros ***
Originally ballet music for large orchestra and jazz group premiered in 1972 at Lincoln Center performed by the American Ballet theatre under the title ‘Some Times’, this 1977-released rarity is newly reissued for a first UK CD release in the ongoing Japanese mid-price 1000 Yen series. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1670-the-claus-ogerman-orchestra-gate-of-dreams-warner-bros
OKO, _I Love You Computer Mountain, Diatribe ***1/2
Washed in electronica and ambient dub OKO take chances you wish everyone would in a jazz scene whose head has been frequently turned by virulent Golden Ageism. The Irish band, part of the Match & Fuse family (although it’s not really a prog-jazz outfit), recorded I Love You Computer Mountain in Dublin in 2012.
http://www.marlbank.net/gigs/1609-oko-i-love-you-computer-mountain-diatribe-1-2
Pierrick Pédron, Kubic’s Cure, ACT ***1/2
The counterpart to the Breton saxophonist’s Kubic’s Monk from 2012, the geometric box-y figure on the cover is a different colour, and that’s the closest these two albums come. By huge contrast what we have here is rather than heritage bebop a take instead on gloomy but enduringly popular English post-punk outfit The Cure’s 1980s output. Pédron fronts a trio (with bassist Thomas Bramerie and drummer Franck Agulhon) plus a few guests. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1646-pierrick-pedron-kubic-s-cure-act-1-2
Enrico Pieranunzi / Marc Johnson / Joey Baron, Play Morricone 1 & 2: The Complete Recordings, Cam Jazz ****
A thirtieth anniversary reissue to mark the first coming together of the trio which was formed in unlikely circumstances when pianist Enrico Pieranunzi got a call from Rome jazz club the Music Inn, as the pianist explains in the notes, asking him to take the place of Kenny Drew. “I can still feel the thrill sensation in my body when the three of us started playing together,” the Italian piano jazz icon, now 64, writes. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1610-enrico-pieranunzi-marc-johnson-joey-baron-play-morricone-1-2-cam-jazz
Gregory Porter, Donald Smith, Mansur Scott, Great Voices of Harlem, PAO Records ***1/2
An easy-going stroll into the jazz-soaked atmosphere of Harlem in the company of former St Nick’s pub scene stalwarts Mansur Scott, singer/pianist Donald Smith whose sound lands a little in the Jimmy Scott arena, and the standard bearer of the scene internationally Gregory Porter particularly after the latter’s ‘On My Way to Harlem’ from Be Good. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1687-gregory-porter-donald-smith-mansur-scott-great-voices-of-harlem-pao-records-1-2
Jamie Saft / Steve Swallow / Bobby Previte, The New Standard, RareNoise ****
Not to be confused with a seminal 1990s Herbie Hancock record of the same name, erstwhile John Zorn sideman Jamie Saft, Giuffre veteran and latterday Impossible Gentleman the great Steve Swallow, and hipster rhythm rainmaker drummer Bobby Previte, who included Saft in his Coalition of the Willing band, fire up a storm here on an album mostly made up of Saft’s fine tunes. The album gets into the zone on ‘Minor Soul’ after a swinging start on ‘Clarissa’, Previte stroking the band home.http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1627-jamie-saft-steve-swallow-bobby-previte-the-new-standard-rarenoise
Dino Saluzzi Group, El Valle de la Infancia, ECM ***1/2
For more than 30 years Dino Saluzzi has brought a poetic passion and heat to ECM beginning with the album Kultrum, his work sitting uniquely within the label’s vast range of styles. In 2012 the documentary El Encuentro provided some firm insights to this most mysterious of music-makers whose work has so much earthiness but also so much improvisational abandon. Here with his brother Felix, son José Maria, and nephew Matías on reeds, guitar and bass respectively, plus the classical guitarist Nicolás Brizuela and drummer Quintino Cinalli on a studio album recorded in Buenos Aires last year comprised mainly of Saluzzi’s own compositions many of which are grouped into informal suites. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1683-dino-saluzzi-group-el-valle-de-la-infancia-ecm-1-2
David Sanborn, Sanborn, Warner Bros *** / Another Hand, Elektra ****
Two sides of Sanborn here 15 years apart. While his sound is always immediately identifiable, the later Another Hand (1991) is the darker of the two, as introverted as the saxophonist is likely to ever become. If you listen to him these days for instance on last year’s excellent Quartette Humaine, ostensibly a tribute to Dave Brubeck, in duo with Bob James, you’ll find another side to his musical personality. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1664-david-sanborn-sanborn-warner-bros-another-hand-elektra
JC Sanford, Views from the Inside, Whirlwind Recordings ***
Eagle-eyed followers of John Hollenbeck’s Large Ensemble might have spotted the name of conductor JC Sanford, the trombonist and composer, whose 15-piece orchestra makes its debut here.http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1632-jc-sanford-views-from-the-inside-whirlwind-recordings
Sax Appeal, Funkerdeen, Jazzizit Records ***
Closely arranged saxophone parts, lightly funkified jazz-rock and swing delivered with bags of energy are some of the most obvious aspects of this latest album, the sixth from Sax Appeal whose discography stretches back to the beginning of the 1990s. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1639-sax-appeal-funkerdeen-jazzizit-records
Gwilym Simcock, Instrumation, ACT ***1/2
Impossible Gentlemen pianist Gwilym Simcock’s most recent album Reverie at Schloss Elmau released in January was a sumptuous duo affair on which Simcock was joined by double bassist Yuri Goloubev. The bassist is also featured here in both settings: ‘Move!’, the first, a five-part chamber-music suite with Goloubev and Simcock joined by Spin Marvel drummer Martin France, guitarist John Parricelli, and the 14-piece City of London Sinfonia conducted by Clark Rundell. ‘Simple Tales’, the second suite, is different: Simcock plus violin, cello, Goloubev again and France.http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1617-gwilym-simcock-instrumation-act-1-2
Spacemonkey, The Karman Line, Hubro ***1/2
First of all the debuting Spacemonkey, or maybe it’s just their designer, like to play around with tOggle caSe lettering. But you know that already if you have glanced at the cover of this free improv duo album that derives its title from the boundary between the earth’s atmosphere and outer space. Pianist/keys player Morten Qvenild and Lion drummer Gard Nilssen have played together, by way of complete contrast, on Mathias Eick’s anthemic Skala album, and appear intimately here with only a little synth cameo from producer Jørgen Træen for company (on ‘Digital Cigarettes’). http://www.marlbank.net/gigs/1645-space-monkey-the-karman-line-hubro
Zan Stewart, The Street Is Making Music, Mobo Dog Records ***
A case of gamekeeper turned poacher, veteran jazz writer Zan Stewart, who celebrated his 70th birthday recently, debuts with this quartet album recorded in California in December. Stewart’s tenor saxophone style has a stumbling easygoing charm and while a little uncertain to begin with his quartet of pianist Keith Saunders, bassist Adam Gay, and drummer Ron Marabuto, settle soon enough as they perform the opening samba original of Stewart’s, ‘Daddy’s Blue Song.’http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1637-zan-stewart-the-street-is-making-music-mobo-dog-records
Stanley Turrentine, Betcha, Elektra **1/2
The moment you switch on this 1979 recorded album it speaks disco. The first song, ‘Take Me Home’, one that singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor covered in a 2001 hit version but more a song identified contemporaneously with Cher as the singer’s version had been released a couple of months before Betcha was recorded, has the warm tenor sax of Stanley Turrentine (1934-2000) accompanied by lush sickly strings. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1675-stanley-turrentine-betcha-elektra-1-2
Various artists, Atlantic Jazz Legends, Rhino ****
You can see at a glance from looking at the graphic above what treasure is here. Presented in what Rhino call ‘cigarette box’ packaging, basically you lift up the bonnet of the box and then can look inside at the spines to pull the slim CD sleeves out at ease. The set includes a booklet containing notes written by the highly regarded Mingus biographer and jazz authority Brian Priestley (the Mingus selection here is Blues & Roots). http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1662-various-artists-atlantic-jazz-legends-rhino
Miroslav Vitous, Magical Shepherd, Warner Bros ***1/2
If you’re in search of the holy grail in terms of 1970s jazz-rock fusion then Magical Shepherd is a staging post of the journey. And at last it’s now on CD properly released via the budget 1000 yen series. Released initially in 1976 the album unites a lot of music, primarily street funk, jazz-rock and disco-soul. http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1653-miroslav-vitous-magical-shepherd-warner-bros-1-2
Last month's list of albums reviewed can be found here