Weekly Picks and Misc.
Picks
Alexander Hawkins and Sofia Jernberg - Musho (Intakt Records) Any regular readers of my work will know how important I think Hawkins is to modern jazz, as a pianist, first of all, and also as a great listener and explorer of music, broadly. You see these qualities on display in his series of duo albums (for Intakt, Astral Spirits, and Fundacja Słuchaj, among others). Unless I’m mistaken, Musho is his first recorded duet with a vocalist, and a phenomenal album has resulted from his partnership with Sofia Jernberg, one of my personal favorite vocalists. I’m using the term “vocalist” specifically beause Jernberg (along the lines of say, predecessors like Julie Tippetts and Maggie Nichols and contemporaries like Elaine Mitchner, with whom Hawkins put out the memorable UpRoot several years ago) is maybe best described through a kind of basic lens of musician performing on vocals, rather than “singer” (see also, the monster quintet The End). Even when Jernberg is singing, in a traditional definition, her voice is overwhelmingly compelling; “Gigi’s Lament,” just to call out one song, moved me to tears. One last thing to note, the album’s mixed and mastered by Alex Bonney, which is always a sign of a superbly produced recording. Bonney reminds me of Jim Clouse of Park West Studios in the States, so if that is a meaningful comparison to you, consider it one more reason to get this album.
Chad Fowler, Shanyse Strickland, Sana Nagano, Melanie Dyer, Ken Filiano, Anders Griffen - Birdsong (Mahakala Music) Speaking of Jim Clouse! This session (which, admittedly, I have only streamed from Bandcamp so far and haven’t spent as much time with as I would like) is currently living rent free in my mind. Fowler performs here on stritch, and the assembled group includings Nagano, Dyer, and Filiano on strings, Griffen on drums, and Strickland on French horn. There’s a blusey, folk throughline, with some genuine warmth felt among the players. Check out “N-Beam” for a brilliant French horn soloing on a fine Griffen composition.
Misc.
I was delighted to speak with Rudy Fischmann for the Discografitti Soldiers of Sound podcast. We spoke so long it resulted two parts, episode 145A and episode 146A. We talked through my long and winding road to criticism, and then we reconvened for a talk about jazz and music and a few of our favorite -adjacent music. A couple of mementos of bands I mention playing in during our chat:
Speaking of podcasts, I highly recommend Marc Masters’s The Music Book Podcast, which is one of my very favorite podcasts, being at the crossroads of my two favorite art forms, music and books. Marc’s latest episode features Michael Veal speaking about his new book Living Space: John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Free Jazz, from Analog to Digital.
And speaking of books, in the midst of my processing of John Barth’s departure, I found someone has digitized John Barth Reads From Giles Goat-Boy. Barth has such a mid-Atlantic laconism to his voice, I feel like I’m transported 30 years ago, before I left Maryland.