In more or less the order I heard them.
Horace Tapscott and the Pan Afrikan Peoples Orchestra: Ancestral Echoes: The Covina Sessions 1976 (Dark Tree)
Tapscott was an inspired pianist and a staggering composer and bandleader. It's both amazing and not at all amazing that he's not better known, but if you yearn for 100-proof spiritual jazz this will be your bag.
Brandon Seabrook with Gerard Cleaver and Cooper-Moore: Exultations (Astral Spirits)
Guitarist Seabrook's prior outing was called Convulsionaries and the change of backing players suggests a change of mood/mode (Cooper-Moore is an often ebullient player). Still pretty galvanic.
Bill Laswell: Against Empire (Method of Defiance)
This falls on the more anodyne end of the Laswell spectrum but it still sticks to the ribs. Members of its all-star cast include Herbie Hancock, Pharoah Sanders, and Jerry Marotta, but given Laswell's enthusiasm for aural montage I don't believe they all convened together in an approximation of a Rudy Van Gelder session.
Henry Kaiser: Problems Are Only Opportunities In Dress Clothes (Fractal)
Some typically bracing HK soloing on a record that his label offered as a free add-on to shoppers at varied forward-looking retailers, as a way to spur business.
Tisziji Muñoz: Drop Dead (MRI)
The healer (and Paul Schaffer's favorite free musician) gets a little brutal.
Not Two…but twenty (Not Two)
The excellent European label chronicles the products of a live fest celebrating its 20th anniversary
Milford Graves and Don Pullen: The Complete Yale Concert, 1966 (Corbett Vs. Dempsey)
As cosmic as its artist teaming suggests.
Ivar Grydeland and Henry Kaiser: In the Arctic Dreamtime (Rune Gramofon)
Chilled genius.
Sam Rivers Trio: Ricochet (No Business)
Fronting a trio with Dave Holland and Barry Altschul supporting, Rivers plays a variety of instruments over the course of one long improvised set. This is a musician who resets your expectations every time you hear him.
Threadbare: Silver Dollar (No Business)
An energetic trio juggling practices from the trad, the free and the fusion.
Ikue Mori, Phew, YoshimiO: I.P.Y. (Tzadik)
You know their names. Their concept of space music is exhilarating.
Terje Rypdal: Conspiracy (ECM)
A surprisingly ripping quartet date from the always stimulating guitar god.
Code Girl: Artlessly Falling (Firehouse 12)
Mary Halvorson stretches electric guitar language with a tone both crystal-clear and elastic. With the band Code Girl she stretches the art song. On this perfect album she brings on Robert Wyatt to sing a few of the tunes. Moving and magnificent.
Harvey Gold: It’s Messy Vol. 1 (Smog Veil)
An Electric Love Supreme (Cuneiform)
Henry Kaiser and Vinny Golia are the lead voices for the most part; Wayne Peet brings some Larry Young to the concept; drummer John Hanrahan shakes some action; and Watt from Pedro on bass is both in the pocket and around the world.
The Underflow (Corbett Vs. Dempsey)
Horn and electronics men Mats Gustafson and Rob Mazurek meet David Grubbs for something they all clearly found exhilarating: while the voices are recognizable, the pieces are rather different from what I'm accustomed to hearing from them.
Thumbscrew: The Anthony Braxton Project (Cuneiform)
The trio of Mary Halvorson, Mark Furmanek and Tomas Fujiwara pay tribute to a teacher, mentor, and collaborator and provide an iteration of his music both tidy and labyrinthine.
Schnellertollermeier: 5 (Cuneiform)
Imagine Polyrock without the keyboards and vocals, then think more austere. That's KIND of what this is like, but not quite. But if that description made you curious, you ought to check this out
Ray Russell: Fluid Architecture (Cuneiform)
On the fusion end of the Russell spectrum, and pretty great.
Cecil Taylor and Tony Oxley: Being Astral and All Registers/Power of Two (Discus)
There have been a couple of Taylor/Oxley recordings issued recently, and this is my favorite. But all of them are worth having.
Terje Rypdal? How on Earth do you find such cult Norwegian gitar gods? Mind you, one can't really go wrong with the label ECM. Do you dig ECMs fellow Norwegian Jan Garbarek? Sax for very late night listening.
Posted by: Titch | January 13, 2021 at 12:12 AM