David Buchbinder & Odessa_Havana - Walk To The Sea (Tzadik 2013)

Another Tzadik Release.

Another bunch of Tzadik releases arrived in the mail box this week, with most, like this one, being of the Radical Jewish Culture series. From what I have heard so far this series is rather broad in scope and isn't all necessarily Jewish music but usually will involve jewish musicians. This is a wonderful album and really caught my attention from the very beginning. The overall flavour here is Jazz, but with a strong Latin flavour,(not Bossanova). This is a fairly big band and of course the musicianship is excellent and the jazz workouts very impressive. Fifty two minutes of pure bliss and excellent sound quality as usual from Tzadik. A highly recommended release. Rating 4.5/5. 

John Zorn - Interzone (USA 2010)

The John Zorn Discography.

The last of all the recent John Zorn arrivals from the later end of his discography and this one from the end of 2010 may be the best of the lot. There is no track listing, the whole thing is under the "Interzone" moniker, although the CD has 3 tracks. This lots is a mass of different styles and takes us back to the likes of the Naked City stuff from 20 years earlier. Totally brilliant on the edge music and I feel this could be on par with the excellent "Big Gundown" as one of the best releases of an enormous and varied discography. Certainly challenging listening but never dull as we jump from avant-rock fusion to jazz to electronica to noise to ambient soundscapes and the rest. A master at work. Rating 5/5. 

John Zorn - Nova Express (USA 2011)

The John Zorn Discography.

Yet another great set from Zorn and this excellent quartet. This one is somewhat more chaotic than some of the other releases by this particular group but the quality of the music is again suburb. There are some melodic moments amongst the anarchy, although it is not as mad as I make it sound. As usual John Medeski is brilliant. I am becoming far more appreciative of the more chaotic music of John Zorn and I rate this set 4.5/5.

John Zorn - Satyr's Play / Cerberus (USA 2011)

The John Zorn Discography.

Someone on Amazon gave this quite possibly the worst review I have seen of John's music, including my own negative appraisals of his very early game pieces. I think this deserves better appraisal. Although some of the animal sounds didn't really gel for me, there are some other sound effects in these soundscapes  that worked well enough and kept it interesting enough. Being a sort of soundtrack, the ambience of the music definitely has a feel that it should accompany a film and if you close you eyes you could create your own scenes to each particular piece. Another interesting work in Zorns huge and diverse cannon and I'll rate it 3/5.

John Zorn - Enigmata (USA 2011)

The John Zorn Discography.

Continuing with working my way backwards through the John Zorn discography, we get to something at the more extreme end of the musical spectrum. Twelve short "Enigmas" with Mark Ribot on Guitar and Trevor Dunn on 5 string electric bass sounds like a stripped down Naked City but mostly improvised sounding music with only an occasional snippet of melody. Ribot is outstanding as usual and Trevor's bass is a mean distortion machine. Not an easy listen and difficult to stay with on casual listening, but focused attention reveals the true depth of this record. Certainly one that won't get so much attention but still a worthwhile addition to my Zorn collection. Rating 3/5.

Eyal Maoz's Edom - Hope And Destruction (Tzadik 2009)

And another recent arrival from Tzadik Records.

One of the beauties of the Tzadik label is the shear diversity of the releases. This release comes under the Radical Jewish  Culture banner and  is a sort of progressive Jewish rock. As you would expect from a Tzadik release, the band is tight and very accomplished. The music is rock based with a relentless beat that is almost dance like and is tinged with Jazz and a Jewish/world music inflection. The guitaring is great and there are some cool keyboard melodies. At times the music presented here has a vary 80s synth pop feel which is a quite intriguing aspect in amongst the more progressive rock.Three albums into my Tzadik collection and although I had never heard any of these artists before, I have struck 3 very good releases so far. Another highly recommended release. Rating 3.5/5.

John Zorn - At The Gates Of Paradise (USA 2011)

The John Zorn Discography.

Another in the Mysticism series with some of the usual great musos who play John's music. A lovely and very accessible set of contemporary jazz. As with all John's music, there is plenty happening, with plenty of subtle stylistic changes within his compositions and although this sounds quite similar to most of the releases in this series as well as some of his other series, I find that I never tire of this wonderful music and Zorn is good enough to keep each release interesting and enjoyable. Medeski's piano is again a stand out for me on this set and overall this is another excellent album. Rating 4/5.

Miho Hazama - Journey to Journey (USA 2013)

A Recent CD Arrival.

Stumbled across this somewhere on planet internet and heard a sample of one of the tracks off this album and was so impressed I brought a copy. This young Japanese lady is a recent graduate from Jazz school and leads this Big Band through a set of mostly her own compositions. For someone so young, this is an impressive first release. This form of jazz, as most modern jazz, covers a lot of ground as well as up tempo numbers and slower ones with plenty of swing and even a  touch of classical violin on "Blue Forest". The opening track, "Mr O" is the tour-de force that turned me on to this and I think it is the best thing on the set, a great swing up tempo work out with some nice solos. This music is pretty user friendly, not much here to offend the ears but a pleasant album of well constructed jazz. I am impressed, Rating 4/5.

John Zorn - Dreamachines (USA 2013)

The John Zorn Discography.

Oh Yeah! The latest John Zorn release. Man that dude is prolific. The blurb says that this is a companion piece for the "Nova Express" release(I have it but haven't had a decent listen yet) and talks of the group as a chamber ensemble playing chamber music and although there is some element of that, this really is a kick ass modern jazz record. It starts of at a fast pace and just keeps going along like that for the first 4 tracks of very impressive music. Classic Late period Zorn and possibly the best of this type of music he has assaulted my ears with. Track 5 is more in line with the chamber music and a little less cohesive than the previous numbers. Then its back on track again with this awesome quartet playing imbeccable music with superb sound and just making for an excellent aural experience. Zorn does it again, 5/5.

David Fulmer - On Night (Tzadik 2013)

A recent arrival from Tzadik Records.

The other arrival from Tzadik this week is another in the Composer series. Apparently David Fulmer is quite respected in the field of modern compositional music( Not sure if you can class it as classical but it is certainly related). Composed for small ensemble, this is kinda avant-garde music, lots of solo pieces for various instruments, plenty of space and little in the way of melody or rhythm. Reminds me of some of Zappa's orchestral music in places and is certainly on a similar plane as John Zorn's "Classical" music. So in trying to describe this, the other question is "is it any Good", well, yes, I really like it and have been able to stay interested throughout the CD, Fulmer sounds like he is deserving of the various awards he has received and has composed a quality listen as far as I am concerned. This type of music is an acquired taste, but I recommend it and look forward to growing my collection of Modern Compositional music from the Tzadik label. Rating 4/5.

Aya Nishina - Flora (Tzadik 2013)

New Arrival from Tzadik Records.

I have heard snippets of some of the releases from John Zorn's Tzadik imprint including the recent purchase of the excellent Jon Madof CD "Zion 80" and I thought I might start building a Tzadik collection. The first couple of CDs arrived this week and  this was the first one into the CD player. What a very pleasant surprise this release is. I am most impressed with the beautiful angelic ambience of the vocal compositions created here by Aya Nishina. One of the composer series of releases, it does have a classical feel but also reminds one of some early Enya and The Cocteau Twins amongst other reference points. A sort of Celtic come spritual come drone, all done with female voices multitracked into something wonderful. This will probably exist in the world mostly unheard but I am thrilled to have it in my collection, something different yet quite wonderful. Highly Recommended and gets a rating of 4.5/5. 

John Zorn - Dreamers Christmas (USA 2011)

The John Zorn Discography.

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! Christmas music! Of all the lame and sad elevator music, I detest Christmas music the most, and holy cow, John Zorn has gone and made a Xmas record. I wasn't going to buy this but I trust John and I wanted it for completion purposes. "Christmas Wonderland" is not a good start being an almost vomit inducing piece of smaltz. Fortunately things improve markedly with "Snowfall" a Xmas feely track but with some nice guitar from Ribot to spice it up. The feeling stays the same on the next couple of tracks where we get some mellow laid back Xmassy atmospherics but actually something that is quite listenable. A nice Contemporary Jazz album that is easy on the ear and even Mrs. Roddus enjoyed most of it, and I can even tolerate the Xmas bells.One of the most easy listening records John has ever produced and I won't mind playing it on Christmas day, but not one I will revisit a lot. Rating 3/5.

John Zorn - Mount Analogue (USA 2012)

The John Zorn Discography.

So I am way off track with my John Zorn reviews as well  and getting back to the more recent end of his catalogue with this first release of 2012, where he released an album every month, if you count the Book Of Angels releases. 2013 Hasn't been quite so prolific so far but that is not surprising with all the 60th birthday celebration concerts happening round the world. So Mount Analogue is just one long track of just over 38 minutes and appears to be another release in his Mysticism series. I can't say I am particularly excited about the music presented here. There is aplenty happening throughout the piece which could have quite easily been broken down into shorter tracks, although there are several themes that reoccur throughout. As is usual for a Zorn release. the playing and sound quality are excellent and although I am enjoying this particular blend of Mystic jazz and world music, there is nothing here to rave about, although there are occasional moments certainly capture my attention. Another worthwhile addition to my collection though and get a rating of 3.5/5. 

John Zorn's Book Of Angels volume 20 - Tap - Pat Metheny (USA 2013)

Masada Book Two.

Most of the recordings for this "Book Of Angels" series have been recorded by various combinations of Zorn's regular players or others from the roster of his Tzadik label. This time Zorn has gone outside that ring and involved someone of more considerable international renown. I am not at all familiar with Pat Metheny's works but this set is living up to the hype. The album kicks of in great style with an impressive up tempo piece that has all sorts of things happening all over the place but is a mostly coherent piece and is kinda the highlight of the record. Metheny plays all the instruments except drums. The following track is a far more subtle track with mostly guitar, some light bass and laid back mellow percussion, a bit of an ECM feel and that mellower vibe is where parts of the rest of the album heads, even Mrs. Roddus said she liked some of it.

Track 3 starts off kinda like track one but gets more ECM like especially with the Flugelhorn(I Think), it is all quite beautiful, although almost mechanical like in places and finishes up more full on.

On initial listens I was immediately taken in by the opening track but in casual listening was slightly disappointed the rest of the album didn't quite follow suit although the mellower moments did attract the notice of Mrs. Roddus as noted. On closer inspection with headphones the set isn't as mellow as first impressions gave, it is just that it doesn't quite reach the heights of  the first track and there are several mellower sections that I focused on. Metheny is obviously a great guitarist and there is plenty of that throughout this set to keep his fans interested. So, first I was excited about a new volume of  Book Two, then I was most impressed with the first track but felt let down by the rest of the album, now I am growing in my appreciation of this release as I give it more attention and concentration. Rating 4/5.

Sun Ra - Janus(The Invisible Shield) (USA 1974?/1999)

The Sun Ra Discography.

Kinda confusing how this one ended up in the position it is listed in the discography, but that is because there is a possibility that part of the track "Janus" was recorded in 1963. 

This is an eclectic set cobbled from several different recording sessions and it is quite a stunner too. The opening track is quite accessible little ditty and quite enjoyable whereas "The Invisible Shield" is a very out there, mostly improvised piece, of almost industrial proportions of Ra letting loose on the keyboards. This track segues into "Janus" via some distorted sounding gongs? before we get into that weird reverberating percussion which was so prevalent in the Choreograph Workshop recordings. These pieces are about as far away from jazz as you can get.

Velvet is a great live recording of a much older song from Ra earlier Chicago days with some great solos, a fairly straight track after the madness of the last two. "Joy" is somewhat more free sounding and presents us with another aspect of Ra on this rather impressive release. Rating 4.5/5.

       

Sun Ra - Secrets of the Sun (USA Prob. 1965)

The Sun Ra Discography.

With Sun Ra CDs arriving in number from all over his vast discography, I kinda got sidetracked from my chronological appraisals of the Albums. So I'm trying to get back on track with this re-issue of an ultra rare session from a 1962 Choreographers Workshop rehearsal in New York. Being so rare, this CD has been remastered from a vinyl copy of the original recording, so the sound quality ain't the best but is certainly good enough not to detract from the music too much. With quite an experimental edge, this set of small combo recordings still has plenty of melody and coherent structure, making for a more easier listening experience than some of the more challenging later recordings. Like most Sun Ra recordings I have experienced so far, the music get better with familiarisation, it usually sounds too loose and chaotic on initial listens, but the complexities reveal themselves with repeated concentrated attention. I am not expressive enough or have enough musical knowledge to describe what is happening on this recording but there is a great description and review over on Nuvoid blog. This set is growing on me and as I am now a dedicated Sun Ra fan, it is mostly unlikely I am gonna give it a bad rating. I think it deserves 3.5/5.

ALEF: Masada Vol 1 (USA 1994)

The John Zorn Discography.

I don't remember how or where or even when I first heard John Zorn's Masada, but it was well after the release of the 10 volumes of the first Masada Songbook. My Masada collection on CD had been most of the live albums and pretty much all of the other Masada related releases on Tzadik, but not the original 10 volumes. This was due to them not being all that readily available, with the original releases being on the Japanese DIW label and the asking prices on Amazon just a little to high for my liking. I luckily picked up Volume 7 at the local Borders shop sometime back and now I just recently found the rest of the series available at a reasonable price from the Downtown Music Gallery.So I now have all ten volumes adorning my CD shelf.

Volume one kicks ass. With the classic quarter of Upright bass, drums, Trumpet and Zorn on Sax, this is full on contemporary Jazz with a strong tinge of Jewish Klezmer and a good wallop of Avant-garde. Brilliant sound and brilliant musician ship, this is the music that really turned me on to Zorn the most. Some incredible melodies and awesome solos, for me this is some of the most fantastic Jazz ever released. I rate Volume one 5/5.

John Zorn's Book Of Angels Volume 16 - Haborym - Masada String Trio (USA 2010)

Masada Book Two

Any and all of the permeations of the actual Masada excel in both this series and in the first book of Masada. This CD is no exception. Absolutely FanTzadik. We know what to expect now and we get it in spades. Nuff Said, 5/5.