Gao Hong and Friends, Pipa Potluck, Lutes Around the World

The convergence of music and the world has accelerated in the last century or so, thanks to modern developments in technology and transportation. Nowadays many musically inclined members of the earth's population have the opportunity to hear and appreciate diverse world music traditions that were once isolated to the regions from where they originated.

An excellent example of the convergent possibilities can be found in the recent album by Gao Hong and Friends, Pipa Potluck (Innova 916), subtitled "Lutes Around the World." Gao Hong is an excellent exponent of the Chinese lute named the pipa. She gathers for this recording some very notable players of other stringed instruments, mostly lutes by definition, from various world traditions. Gao and her friends produce a remarkable series of pieces that call upon traditions and create new music as well that combines such traditions in unprecedented ways.

Ms. Hong is joined by some fabulous players: George Kahumoku, Jr. on the Hawaiian slack key guitar, Jeffrey Van on guitar in the bluegrass tradition, the bluegrass-and-beyond fiddles of Darol Anger and Matt Combs, banjo by Alison Brown, Yair Dalal and Bassam Saba, both on the Mid-Eastern oud, plus bass (Gary West) and percussion (Dror Sinai and April Centrone).

This is a wonderful tribute to the flexibility of Gao Hong's musical approach and of course of all of her friends. We are treated to unusual combinations of Chinese, bluegrass, Hawaiian and Mid-Eastern music. Throughout we get some marvelous playing and some ingenious multi-cultural adaptations. It is great fun and seriously good fusion of the true sort.

Do not hesitate to get this. It's one-of-a-kind and a fabulous listen.

Double-Bass, This is Not Art, Benjamin Duboc, Jean-Luc Petit

The free music world has become infinitely plastic, completely malleable and as a result unpredictable. Take the duo Double-Bass and their album This is Not Art (Clean Feed 333). It consists of bassist extraordinaire Benjamin Duboc (type his name in the search box above for more reviews of his music) and the equally strong Jean-Luc Petit on contrabass clarinet. The apt name of the duo is a play on words, of course. Duboc plays the double bass and at the same time there are two bass instruments in this duo.

The group name is playful and the two lengthy improvisations on the album are playful yet quite serious. Duboc we have already seen can be very effective as a solo bassist, with lots of good ideas and a timbral sensitivity that goes far in creating music of interest. Jean-Luc Petit is the contrabass clarinet counterpart for this improvisational encounter, with an equal sensitivity to the timbral richness of his instrument.

The two most definitely hit the ground running on this one, complementing each the other with sound structures in motion that mesh well with one another and unfold a universe of low sounds and falsetto-like upper registers. They bring out the richness, the graininess, the colorfulness of the sound available through conventional and extended techniques. And it all has real musicality to it.

Free avant music has increasingly gained open-field possibilities these days. Duboc and Petit show us how such openness gives rise when things are right to an unpredictable series of musical events, to sonic adventure. These are two players at the top of their game! They give lovers of the lower depths much to explore and appreciate.

Highly recommended!

Joshua Breakstone, 2nd Avenue, The Return of the Cello-Quartet

Joshua Breakstone plays some excellent bop guitar. He is as vibrant an exponent of the traditional bop style as anybody out there today. He has a considerable line-creating inventiveness that rivals the greats. I've covered a fair amount of his music here and in Cadence when I wrote for them. His new album reaffirms his importance with four trio tracks and five reuniting his cello quartet from the 2014 date With the Wind and the Rain.

2nd Avenue (Capri 74137-2) is the name of the new one. With Joshua are the excellent players Lisle Atkinson on bass and Andy Watson, drums, a perfect rhythm section for the swinging Breakstone approach. For the Cello Quartet numbers Mike Richmond's cello returns.

The repertoire is lively and unexpected. Joshua unearths neglected treasures like Cannonball's "Home," Konitz's "Thingin'," Dexter's "Evergreenish," plus some American Songbook items like "The Lamp is Low." Finally there are some excellent blowing vehicles in Joshua's title tune and "Hit It" by Lisle.

The numbers with the full quartet have that special sound in arrangements and solos with the pizzicato cello. It's a beautiful blend and of course will remind you favorably of the things Oscar Pettiford did on his own and with Duke and Strayhorn. But as an extension into today.

This is an album that keeps growing on you as you hear it. There are no wasted notes. Everything is centered and central, sounding as current as can be yet working its way out of bop tradition.

Strongly recommended!

Mario Pavone, Blue Dialect, with Matt Mitchell and Tyshawn Sorey

Anyone who has listened closely to the free-avant zone of jazz over the years has come to know double-bassist Mario Pavone as one of the most innovative, consistently creative practitioners of the art. He rarely comes to us as a leader of a date, but that is just what he does on the intriguing set Blue Dialect (Clean Feed 319).

He has chosen his bandmates with care. Pianist Matt Mitchell is fast becoming a pianist of genuine stature with some excellent work as a member of Tim Berne's Snakeoil and in other projects. Drummer Tyshawn Sorey rides at the top of the new wave of avant jazz drummers. Both together create a potent 2/3rds of the trio.

Mario presides with some excellent bass playing and a set of compositions (eight in all, with an additional number that is a collective improv) that are provocative and modern.

The tensile strength of the trio grabs you on first hearing and the impression remains in subsequent listens. Everybody pulls much weight for a moving result.

If Matt Mitchell gives us an open, blowing horn sort of pianism here, it fits the character of the compositions and gives lots of latitude for bass and drums to swing busily yet primally. The three-way interaction may extend outward from and simultaneously remind you of the classic Paul Bley trios of earlier days. That certainly fits with Mario's excellent inward-outward bass playing stance. Tyshawn and Matt excel in their interpretations of their respective roles. This is not a glace backward so much as it is a journey forward with a mindfulness of the roots.

The results are beautiful. You should hear this one.

Dreadnaught, Gettin' Tight with Dreadnaught

The prog rock juggernaught Dreadnaught returns with a new EP, Gettin' Tight with Dreadnaught (Red Fez Records). I've covered their music here before (type in search box above for those articles). If anything they have gotten more accomplished and complex in their guitar-keys-bass-drum routines. They give us some 20 minutes of music that presses the prog virtuoso possibilities to the edge but then does not forget to include the song-vocal elements.

It's a recording that packs a punch. The songs are at times as innovative as the instrumental routines, though they may not have an anthemic radio sort of presence, meaning they are unlikely to be found played on top-40 rock stations, if such a thing still exists.

But what do we care about that? This is driving prog that will satisfy those who seek something new and beyond in the genre and perhaps will win over those who flirt with the fringes of the scene.

In any event this is a great listen! Recommended.

Honeybird, Out Comes Woman

Some music is beyond category. It fits in a number of pegholes but not comfortably. Honeybird (aka multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter Monique Mizhrahi) is that, on her album Out Comes Woman (self-released).

She comes out of California of Yiddish-Sephardic parents and an apparent openness to many musical styles and genres. She plays electric bass, charango and sings the lead on all her tunes, accompanied by a good band. There is a quirkiness to it all. R&B, rock, world folk, jazz elements and a good else get into her mix. She was initially attracted to punk in her formative years and I suppose something of that comes through with a careful listen, perhaps more Lydia Lunch than the Sex Pistols. But nothing direct in that sense.

I suppose it all qualifies as a sort of alt music if you must chose. These are songs, good ones, and they partake of a cornucopia of elements to get what she is after.

There are 14 songs in all here. Every one is different and I will not try to give you a blow-by-blow on them. They stand out, as does her singing.

If you are after different, it is found here. Try this one out, by all means.

XADU, Random Abstract

In the realm of guitar-based fusion, all of course depends on the quality of the improvisations and the freshness of the compositions. We get both with the band XADU and their album Random Abstractions. It showcases the electric guitar excellence of Dusan Jevtovic and the fine drumming of Xavi Reija.

They have two previous albums that were covered on these pages (type in the search box above for the reviews): Dusan with Am I Walking Wrong and Xavi with Dusan and bassist Bernat Hernandez on Resolution. Both albums were very good. As the duet XADU they have moved a step further.

This is metal jazz if you like, with compositions that enliven things considerably and excellent musicianship. Dusan reminds ever so slightly of Terje Rypdal in his advanced harmonic-melodic ingenuity. Xavi drums with fervor and imagination, rocking freely with a pulse that is less tied to bar lines than it is additive and subtractive, which frees up the time and gives Dusan a flexibility in phrasing that allows him literally to take off.

The tunes are the opposite of formulaic. Dusan's "New Pop" has a chord progression that stays in your head uniquely. That may be the high point but it all has substance and innovative qualities.

This is an album that needs to be heard. Guitarists will have much to hear on this one, but everyone who responds to fusion will find something different and very much directionally ahead.

Highly recommended!