Sarah Bernstein's Unearthish: Duets with Satoshi Takeishi

Sarah Bernstein, as I wrote several days ago in my review of the first Iron Dog Field Recordings (see posting below), doesn't do what you expect. And after a while that "not doing" is a "doing." There is style in what she does.

Unearthish (Phase Frame Music 001), a set of duets with drummer-percussionist Satoshi Takeishi, shows you how. It proceeds along a kind of three-pronged axis, if you can get into that: there is the pan-world drumming percussion of Takeishi, focused pulses and feels using the drum set and all manner of percussion instruments; there's the violin of Sarah's, structurally central to everything as an improvisational pivot and compositional articulator; then there are Sarah's vocals, recitations of prose poems having to do with experiencing life on the personal and cosmic-connectedness level. She's not really like Laurie Anderson except that there is a personally performative aspect. It is a conceptual place where recitation, singing-chanting, vocal improvisation and abstracted personal narrative join with key violin parts and percussion synchronizations.

The Iron Dogs recording (thus far volume one) is heavier electrically; Unearthish is acoustic and more like a trans-world sort of music, music by a key ensemble of the griots of New York, so to say.

It's a kind of conceptual-performance art. It comes out of the anguish of the experiential present and the transcendence possible, a way out. And it has the stamp of originality on it . . . Sarah's . . . Satoshi's.

It seems to me that what Sarah Bernsetin is doing right now is important to the place we are in. And if that's so, it is important that she be listened to and appreciated as a part of the Zeitgeist of our present. In other words, this is something you should listen to a bunch of times.

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey at Their Very Best: Race Riot Suite

The Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey have continually gone their own way. I must say I have not liked absolutely everything they've done, and at 21 albums (!) and counting I've missed a few. I do think they've entered a very productive stage in the last few albums. And their Race Riot Suite (Royal Potato Family), just out today I believe, puts them in vital territory.

It's the regular band [Brian Haas, piano; Chris Combs, steel guitar; Jeff Harshbarger, contrabass; and Josh Raymer, drums] plus five horns: Steven Bernstein on trumpet plus tenor-bari, two more tenors and trombone. It's a full-length suite that depicts musically a racial pogram that took place in Tulsa in 1921. It was brought on by a racist and manipulative white oil elite in tandem with the local government and the news media that did their bidding. That's a dark subject matter indeed and Chris Combs has created a work that expresses simultaneously a sense of outrage and a matter-of-factly dark sensibility in very creative terms.

The writing is excellent, with the core band and especially Combs's steel interacting with the horns for a brashly raucous music that has the freedom and fire of Carla Bley's Genuine Tong Funeral and Liberation Music, only a great deal more darkness. It is a marvelous pairing of the sharply defined individuality of the players with a score that is ultra-expressive.

Every bit of this suite counts; there is no dead weight whatsoever. In the end you get a sense of a musical reckoning, a retribution in tone, a emotionally wrought expression of disgust and sorrow. It does to my mind establish Chris Combs as an important jazz composer of our era, someone I hope we can look to for more music such as this.

It's music that disturbs, haunts and ultimately, honors the victims with a kind of musical memorial. Excellent music; highly recommended.

Thurston Moore's Demolished Thoughts: Beyond Sonic Youth, Beside Sonic Youth

It's the Monday after the passage of Hurricane Irene from my area and I am glad to get back to work. A shout-out of sympathy for any who did not fare as well as we did.

Today, Demolished Thoughts (Matador), the latest album from Sonic Youth leader, singer, guitarist and songwriter Thurston Moore.

Anyone who follows his career knows that the solo albums are not exactly the same full-band onslaughts as the Sonic's works. And that is true of Demolished Thoughts as well. It centers on Thurston's trademark guitar tuning and interesting chordal sequences, here on 6- or 12-string acoustic. There are good songs, somewhat in a cosmic contemplativeness mode. His voice is front and center communicating the essence of the lyrics and melody.

And there are some nicely put together cello/string parts and some nice touches with a harp now and then. I suppose you could say it's psychedelic light. But seriously in IS that in Thurston's very inimitable way.

If you like what he does in the Sonic's bag, once you get used to this, you'll like this one also.

It is music with a lot of depth, nice little touches, subtlety. So it's a winner then.

Guitarist Andy Fite Teams with Bassist Ulf Akerhielm in "A Place to Play," 2000

We covered Andy in his comedic singer-songwriter role several weeks ago (see posting below). Today we have at A Place to Play (Other Street Ag-11) which is an all-instrumental improvisational duet with bassist Ulf Akerhielm, initially released in 2000 and available again as CD or download.

This is a very nice set of standards, originals, and jams on classic changes (including the blues). Andy does some masterful, very lightly amplified solo work on his semi-hollow, a 1950 Epiphone Broadway (which by the way sounds great).

It's a lively date with overtones of the old swing style modernized and transformed. The music, to quote Andy, reflects his "fascination with the Bach-Tristano concept of a long melodic line packed with multiple meaning." And for sure you can hear some of the Tristano-style rhythmic displacements and some very well crafted, multi-valent lines that Bach might have been tempted to join in with on organ with a version of Milt Buckner-meets-Larry Young (now that would be something)!

Ulf Akerhielm walks up a veritable storm and takes some very beautiful arco solos.

Here we have infectiously joyful music on all fronts. Those who are inclined to tap their toes will no doubt find themselves doing so. Most importantly it shows Andy Fite in a very fluid light as an inspired improviser. I suppose you can tell from this that I like it but I'll go ahead and say "recommended" anyway! By the way you can grab this music at CD Baby, i tunes, Amazon, etc.

Guitarist Mike Rood Debuts with "The Desert and the City"

Sometimes I get so many CDs to audition that the first listen is a matter of waiting to see if the artist eliminates him or herself by showing poor execution, hitting on a banal and coarse sort of commercialism, or otherwise just not quite making the grade. Mike Rood's album was subjected to this initial scrutiny and came through with music that surpassed my expectations completely. That is, on his debut album The Desert and the City (self-released, no #).

Mike studied from a rather early age with John Patitucci and later Vic Juris, among others, and graduated from the New School, Jazz Studies Division. He plays with five-finger picks, which of course is not at all a norm for jazz guitarists (he's the only one I've heard of doing this). His sound is a combination of that and a treble reduced, mellow, slightly reverberent jazz sound that folks like John Abercrombie have made current.

The album features his group, a quartet of sympathetic musicians that include tenor saxist Mike Bjella, Alex Spradling on acoustic bass, and Goh Izawa on drums. They keep with him and do a fine job, but this is Mike Rood's moment to shine and he does. His soloing combines an admirable harmonic and melodic sense that goes far from the standard cliches and stays there. His compositions are sophisticated and well thought out. The album has a vaguely ECM-ish ambience to it.

This is a most promising new guitarist and he shows a polish and subtlety that is quite rare in a newcomer just entering onto the scene.

Excellent job. With any luck Mr. Rood will be on the scene for many years to come. He could be quite important!

Say "Yes" to Wobbler? "Rites at Dawn" Pleases in a Familiar Way

Norway's progressive rock outfit Wobbler reaches back to the heyday of bands like Yes on their CD Rites at Dawn (Termo 008). In fact they sound so much like Yes (and a touch of ELP) that it is almost as if they emerged out of a time machine from 1972.

They have the high ranged lead vocalist, the close harmonies, the roto-sound stringed bass lines, the key sounds, the guitar pick and play, and elaborate arrangements and baroquely intricate songs. The mellotron gives them another retro dimension that adds to their charm and occasionally gives them an early King Crimson aura.

Most importantly the musical element is strong. They have the ability to run with a style and make something new out of it. And that is what they do. There is the large orchestrated sound that is in no sense a simple matter to achieve. They do it well.

If you are a progressive fan, this will be music to savor. If not this probably will not change your mind.

Sarah Bernstein & Stuart Popejoy Go For A Big Sound on Iron Dog Field Recordings 1

Sara Bernstein embodies surprise. For example she teams up with bassist Stuart Popejoy and (for half the cuts) drummer Tommaso Cappellato in the series of live recordings from 2005-2006 we're taking a look at today. What's surprising about Iron Dog Field Recordings 1 (Iron Dog Music 001) is the kind of experimental metal approach. Sarah gets a big, electrified and sometimes distorted sound most of the time, as does Stuart.

It's not your everyday metal though. The notes, the wider melodic range, the improv approach (with or without the drums), all of this tends to put this in a league of its own. And it's also not always full-out, full-throttle electricity.

Whatever it is, you end up with the impression of being in the middle of some very original music. It has a drone aspect. It doesn't have a lot of harmonic movement, which is in keeping with the metal aspect.

This is a very interesting disk. It gives you yet another side of Sarah Bernstein the artist. And it will defy your expectations while providing some thought-provoking voltage readings.