A flood of new releases deserving attention is pouring in over the transom. To cover more of them, I’m keeping these reviews short and sweet. Here are several releases worthy of your attention, from Myra Melford’s new quintet; the quartet Kind Folk; the trio of Aaron Parks, Matt Brewer, and Eric Harland; and singer/songwriter Jason Tamba.
Clarinetist Ben Goldberg composes slippery, well-structured music that invites wide improvisation, with a modern sound that subsumes a variety of influences drawn from the well of the past. He describes his latest album, Everything Happens to Be, as an exploration of the facets conjured by the word chorale, touching on a range of influences from J. S. Bach to Louis Armstrong, Ornette Coleman to Paul Motian.
Sometimes you just know—and quickly, too.
The first time I heard Jimi Hendrix was on a Friday afternoon in 1967. I was hanging with my friend Eric Walsh at his parents’ house after school when he put on Are You Experienced. It was only a few seconds into “Purple Haze” that, eyes wide and forearm hairs standing involuntarily erect, I knew I had never heard anything like it before and wanted to hear more. It filled a void whose existence I hadn’t even suspected.
Jazz guitarist Mary Halvorson had a life-
changing experience when she first heard Hendrix at the tender age of 11 or so. She abandoned the violin she’d been sawing away at for a few years, grabbed herself a black-and-white Stratocaster and some tablature books, and started on her quest to play like Jimi Hendrix.
The circle came full last week when I slid Halvorson’s Bending Bridges CD (Firehouse 12 Records, 2012) into the tray and hit Play. I knew in just a few seconds that I was hearing something previously unheard. There was something in the angle of the melodic lines, the way the horn lines rubbed against each other, something in the gloriously doleful feel that said: “New voice. Pay attention.”
She’s bringing her quintet—with Jonathan Finlayson (trumpet), Jon Irabagon (alto saxophone), John Hébert (bass), and Ches Smith (drums)—to the Outpost this Thursday, and I’ll be wearing bells. Continue reading
