John Chacona writes Posts

I get a lot of music for my consideration, more than 160 new releases so far this year. Almost all of them are notable for something, and I’d like to give them their due. So every week, I’ll do quick hits on the releases of the preceding seven days. it’s a great writing exercise, and a lot of fun, too.

This year’s anniversary of the release of Miles Davis’ “Bitches Brew” is a reminder that what was once called jazz-rock fusion music is now 50 years old. That’s a point when many of us start to show our age, but even in middle age, the danceable rhythms, electric instrumentation and virtuoso soloing continue to inspire.

European-born players such as Joe Zawinul, John McLaughlin and Jean-Luc Ponty bought early tickets on the fusion train. Polish-born pianist Bartosz Hadala keeps it rolling on “Three Short Stories.” His athletic, Toronto-based band touches the usual bases: bigfoot funk, technical  brilliance and pretty balladry. Cuban-born alto saxophonist Luis Deniz adds some welcome spice and drummer Marito Marques locks down the Steely Dan vibe with the Pretty Purdie triplet shuffle feel under Hadala’s playful “Monk’s Unfinished Symphony.” If fusion music has two sides, both earth and sky, body and spirit, “Three Short Stories” honors the former.

I get a lot of music for my consideration, more than 160 new releases so far this year. Almost all of them are notable for something, and I’d like to give them their due. So every week, I’ll do quick hits on the releases of the preceding seven days. It’s fun and it’s a great writing exercise, too.

Young jazz instrumentalists have it relatively easy. When they record, say, “Caravan” or “‘Round Midnight,” they’re competing with everybody who’s recorded those tunes, which is, well, everybody. The jazz singer universe is much smaller, and comparisons, odious though they may be, are easier to make. If a young singer chooses to sing “Strange Fruit,” she’d (most jazz vocal releases I get are by women) had better put her own spin on it.

Leslie Beukelman and Naama Gheber are two young jazz singers who have waded into the deep waters of the Great American Songbook on their most recent records. All 12 songs on Gheber’s “Dearly Beloved“ are from that ancient well, while Beukelman divides her nine-song program on “Golden Daffodil“ between five standards and four originals. Neither woman has a “jazz” voice in the mode of Sarah Vaughn, Carmen McRae or Betty Carter. Both approach improvisation and scatting sparingly. Both are backed by excellent piano trios on their self-produced CDs and Gheber adds vibist Steve Nelson on some tracks.

I get a lot of music for my consideration, more than 150 new releases so far in 2020. Almost all of them are notable for something, and I’d like to give them their due. I have a lot of time on my hands as my biggest gig, previewing events for a local newspaper, has evaporated. So every week, I’ll do quick hits on the releases of the preceding seven days. It’s fun and as a writing exercise, it’s a great way to learn to make a point quickly and decisively. Like all roll calls, this will proceed in alphabetical order, starting with . . .

Just like the Tuscan dialect of Dante gradually became the accepted Italian language, the New York style of playing is the NPR accent of mainstream jazz. That doesn’t imply a lack of a recognizable character necessarily. In the right hands,  New York jazz is immediately identifiable for its refinement, urbanity and professionalism. And that’s what you get on pianist John DiMartino‘s Passion Flower (Sunnnyside Records). The 14 Billy Strayhorn compositions are mostly well known (except “Absinthe,” which was new to me at least) and DiMartino’s arrangements avoid needless interventionism. So do bassist Boris Kozlov and tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, who are solid throughout. Drummer Lewis Nash, alert, creative and supremely musical, steals the show. It’s what New York drummers are supposed to do.