WNUR Jazz Report, 5/6/96

NEW MUSIC COMMENTS

• At the Chicago Jazz Festival last fall, trumpeter (and ex-Chicagoan) Wadada Leo Smith performed as a member of the Muhal Abrams Experimental band, contributing a trumpet solo so stark and plaintive that it seemed to cast a spell over the audience in Grant Park. Regrettably Smith was a no-show at the AACM festival a few months later. In any case, his new CD on Tzadik, Tao-Njia, was eagerly awaited. It features one long piece showcasing his talents as a composer (performed by Smith and the California E.A.R. Unit), one piece in tribute to Don Cherry (Smith doubles on an assortment of ethnic instruments, as Cherry always did), and one trio piece (for trumpet, low drums, and bells) that matches the Arctic beauty of the solo mentioned above. Recommended.
• On Fire, veteran Chicago tenor player Von Freeman is accompanied by what amounts to the Southport Records house band: Tatsu Aoki, Bradley Parker-Sparrow, Michael Raynor, and Joanie Pallatto. It's interesting to hear Freeman the variety of unusual contexts they provide, including one piece which is built around George Clinton samples!
• No More Records is a new label debuting with solo piano releases by Matthew Shipp and Anthony Braxton (we'll add the Braxton next week).
• Kelly Brand is an Evanston pianist who leads a sextet including some musicians well known to area audiences like Ryan Shultz and Art Davis.
• The Brotzmann/Crispell/Drake trio CD was recorded back in 1992 but not released by Music & Arts until 1995. The concert from which the disc is taken was only their second together.
• Oliver Lake pays tribute to Eric Dolphy on his new one. The program is a mix of Dolphy tunes and originals.
• The Kansas City soundtrack features too many musicians to name, but I'll name a few: James Carter, Don Byron, David Murray, Geri Allen, Olu Dara. I look forward to the film, which looks at a chapter in the genesis of swing.
• Latin jazz meets West Coast on the new Howard Rumsey reissue (recorded: 1952-1956) on Contemporary.
• The Gil Scott Heron CD (released 1994) was recorded live in Europe in 1989, six years before the apperance of "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" on a television commercial...

ADDS THIS WEEK

<New releases>

• Richie Beirach Trio: Trust (Evidence)
• Kelly Brand Sextet: A Dream in Stone (Koch)
• Brotzmann/Crispell/Drake@: Hyperion (Music & Arts)
• Von Freeman: Fire (Southport)
• Keystone Trio: Heart Beats (Milestone)
• Talib Kibwe: Introducing Talib Kibwe (Evidence)
• Oliver Lake Quintet: Dedicated to Dolphy (Black Saint)
• Michael Orta@: Freedom Tower (Contemporary)
• David Pavkovic & Tatsu Aoki: Actual Music (Toe)
• Art Pepper & Zoot Sims@: Art'n'Zoot (Pablo)
• Matthew Shipp: Symbol Systems (No More)
• Wadada Leo Smith: Tao-Njia (Tzadik)
• various: Kansas City (soundtrack) (Verve)

<New reissues>

• Art Farmer: Out of the Past (Chess)
• Lionel Hampton: Legendary Decca Recordings (MCA)
• Max Roach: It's Time (Impulse!)
• Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars: Mexican Passport (Contemporary)

<Not new, but new to WNUR>

• Gil Scott Heron: Minister of Information (Castle)
• John Lurie: Stranger than Paradise/The Resurrection of Albert Ayler (Crammed)
• Charles Mingus: Jazz Composers Workshop (Savoy)

JAZZ SHOW TOP 25

* denotes reissue, @ denotes not real new.

1. Dave Douglas: Five (Soul Note)
2. Fred Anderson: Birdhouse (OkkaDisc)
3. Mocktet: Periphery (Mocktet)
4. John Coltrane*: Complete Atlantic Recordings (Rhino)
5. Anthony Braxton & Derek Bailey*: First Duo Concert (London 1974) (Emanem)
6. Pino Minafra: Sudori (Victo)
7. Pandelis Karayorgis & Eric Pakula@: Lines (Accurate)
8. Ivano Torre Quintetto: Urt' O Logique (Unit)
9. John Zorn*: The Classic Guide to Strategy (Tzadik)
10. World Saxophone Quartet: Four Now (Justin Time)
11. Guillermo Gregorio: Approximately (hat ART)
12. Muhal Richard Abrams: Think All, Focus One (Black Saint)
13. Paul Rutherford & Paul Rogers: Rogues (Emanem)
14. Bill Evans w/ Stan Getz@: But Beautiful (Milestone)
15. Renee Rosnes: Ancestors (Blue Note)
16. Plimley/Ellis/Robinson@: Density of the Lovestruck Demons (Music & Arts)
17. Koch/Schutz/Studer: Hardcore Chambermusic (Intakt)
18. Pigpen@: Live in Poland (Cavity Search)
19. Grant Green@: Solid (Blue Note)
20. Nil (Scholl/Erismann/Niggli/Frith/Koch/Kowald): Nil (Unit)
21. Charles Papasoff: International Baritone Conspiracy (Victo)
22. Project W: Project W (Apraxia)
23. Jimmy Smith & Eddie Harris: All the Way Live (Milestone)
24. Cassandra Wilson: New Moon Daughter (Blue Note)
25. Anthony Braxton: 2 Compositions (Jarvenpaa) 1988 (Leo)

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