Music
Blanchard and West
You’ll note that Terence Blanchard’s Choices is not on my 2009 year-end list, although Blanchard’s group is one of my favorites. The music on Choices is very strong and would almost certainly have made my list, but for the catastrophic decision to include running commentary by Cornel West throughout the program. Don’t get me wrong: I’ve learned a lot from
The week on disc (59)
In case you missed the last one… Eric Alexander, Revival of the Fittest (HighNote) Simon Fisk Trio, Unless (Plunge) Dana Hall, Into the Light (Origin) Komeda Project, Requiem (WM) Phoenix Ensemble with Mark Lieb, Clarinet Quintets: Morton Feldman, Milton Babbitt (Innova) In the Country, Whiteout (Rune Grammofon)
Top shows 2009
This list is somewhat skewed, given the degree to which new fatherhood slowed my gig attendance in 2009. Nonetheless, I managed to attend roughly 120 shows. Here are my top 30. 1. David Sanchez with Lage Lund, Orlando Le Fleming, Henry Cole Village Vanguard, March 20 2. Peter Bernstein solo guitar Smalls, July 15 3. John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble Painted
Top 25 of 2009, plus
My list of faves for 2009, now up at the Jazz Journalists Association website. I realize there are overlaps in the supplemental categories (a debut disc might also be a large ensemble disc and vice versa, for instance). But listing them this way seemed to make the most sense. Also bear in mind that I have about 100 more CDs
Cringe of the day
From Claire Cain Miller and Miguel Helft’s NYT story on iPhones as musical instruments: “And a big-band jazz group called Large Ensemble used smartphones as instruments during a recent performance in New York.” Um, that’d be John Hollenbeck’s Large Ensemble, which I previewed here.
Inzinzac
They’re a Philly-based trio (guitarist Alban Bailly, saxophonist Dan Scofield, drummer Eli Litwin), and they’re fundraising online for a studio project and a tour in France. Check out their video pitch.
On Dan Aran
The following review appears in the December 2009 issue of All About Jazz-New York. — Dan AranBreathing (Smalls Records) By David R. Adler Dan Aran’s Breathing arrived with a short, dour note from Luke Kaven, head of Smalls Records, on the shaky future of indie-label jazz. That’s not news, and yet Breathing underscores the stakes involved for artists whose work
On Miguel Zenón
The following review appears in the December 2009 issue of All About Jazz-New York. [Update: I’m going to do my best to offer end-of-decade reflections here in the near future, but meanwhile let me note that young jazz artists of Latin descent — such as Zenón, Dafnis Prieto, David Sanchez, Edward Simon, Yosvany Terry, Claudia Acuña, John Benitez, Francisco Mela