My Jazz Now Picks and A Comment On Their Usefulness
The timing of A Blog Supreme’s Jazz Now post goes along nicely with my post on education from the 12th, primarily because the goal of both the Jazz Now posts and the outside materials I hand out in private lessons are to turn people on to the fact that jazz is new, exciting, and wildly different than many people expect. Whenever I hand out a “jazz sampler” the following bands (my picks) always make the cut:
Kneebody-Low Electrical Worker
Perhaps the most underground of the bands that are making a big impact on jazz, Kneebody has developed a unique compositional voice that doesn’t simply combine jazz and pop elements, it redefines them both. Contrapuntal layering and dissonant tension building is offset by triumphant rock and pop proclamations, and it’s done so smoothly that it sounds the most natural combination in the world. Here is “Dr. Beauchef, Penguin Dentist” from their latest release:
Happy Apple-Happy Apple Back On Top
One of my favorite albums of the past year, this group combines the most accessible and inaccessible elements of jazz into an inexplicable end result. “Destiny In Dan’s Fan City” is a case in point. The head in is a dissonant thing with an evolving, funky drum part. The sax solo then swings for the most part, weaving in and out of the chord changes before the entire thing dissolves into a contemplative trance for David King to play Drum&Bass grooves over. The original material never returns. It’s baffling, and fantastic. As is this, “Very Small Rock.”
Polar Bear
It’s hard to ignore a contemporary jazz group that was nominated for both the Mercury Music Prize and the BBC’s Best Jazz Band Award. Like Kneebody, their brand of music is entirely unique, with many contrasting styles weaving in and out of each other like nothing at all.
Ben Allison
I have personal experience with how Allison’s compositions can grab people, and I am here to testify. People dig his tunes, plain and simple. I covered his Riding The Nuclear Tiger on my senior recital (available on my myspace), and it was the hands down favorite. Later, when a group I was in played it at a few gigs, everyone in the audience remembered the tune and even who wrote it. I have been asked about it incessantly by everyone from jazz musicians to economics majors. Here is “Respiration” from 2004’s Buzz.
The Bad Plus-These Are The Vistas
One can’t avoid discussing the bad plus in a conversation about new jazz, and for me it’s not all about the covers. Yes, playing Nirvana and Aphex Twin in a piano trio is a compelling way to grab new listeners. But it’s the originals that keep them coming back. This is not to take away from TBD’s covers. They are among the best of all time, full of integrity with regard to the original material, and simultaneously wholly unique. Still, the impact of this group doesn’t end there. Their originals too have familiar elements, pop harmonies and rhythms, but from the odd metered “Big Eater”, to the free jazz of “Boo-Wah”, to the probing “Silence Is The Question’, what makes this band great is how every statement they make is made profoundly, no matter what the style or intent.
They may have fun with “My Funny Valentine” or “We Are The Champions”, but it is a mistake to think this band isn’t both serious and seriously great. This is “Flim” From These Are The Vistas.
In addition to the five albums above, I have also included tracks from Brad Mehldau’s Largo on mixes for my students, as well as tracks from Acoustic Ladyland, Medeski, Martin, and Wood, John Scofield, Vijay Iyer, and The Philadelphia Experiment, which have been received with varying degrees of enthusiasm. These kinds of mixes have direct benefits with music students, because most of the time the interest is at least partially in place already. They just need material to digest. In terms of fixing this identity crisis jazz is still going through in the public eye, it’s not quite as simple as handing out a cd and saying “hey, check this out.” Although with music this good, we have the content, the biggest hurdle, taken care of. Now it’s up to smart people to figure out how to get it moving.
Comment and leave your top 5, and don’t forget to check out the lists of the people who matter here.
