Buffalo, Volcanic Rock (1973)

In a genre hardly recognized for its finesse, Buffalo's second album, 1973's aptly titled Volcanic Rock, was about as raw as heavy metal got in the early 1970s (and its cover art's barely concealed eroticism sparked a controversy all its own, but that's another story). Of course, as those well versed in matters of hard rock and metal well know, all of its crudity was absolutely intentional. This seeming contradiction is both epitomized and explained by the Sydney, Australia combo's signature single, "Sunrise (Come My Way)," which boasted unquestionable melodic sensibility and expertly dangled hooks beneath the coarse leather surface of guitarist's John Baxter's earth-rumbling fuzz distortion, and singer Dave Tice's simultaneously warm, soulful, and, when needed, borderline ragged voice. Next track, "Freedom," pays peremptory lip service to the "think big" mentality of then ultra-popular progressive rock (and the band's prog-loving label, Vertigo), but never succumbs to the genre's arrogant self-indulgence. Rather, much as they do on the mostly improvised studio jams "Till My Death" and "The Prophet," the rhythm section of bassist Pete Wells (later of Rose Tattoo) and drummer Jimmy Economu plants its hooves into honest, proletarian blues-rock mud and stays put. Actually, the mid-album vibe almost gets too basic and laid-back come the unremarkable "Pound of Flesh," but any serious concerns are quickly crushed under the stampeding, LP-closing eruption of "Shylock," which introduces Shakespeare to Black Sabbath by way of Budgie and Steppenwolf) and brings Volcanic Rock's most distinctive and powerful qualities full circle for an explosive finale. And, as had originally been instructed on their debut album before being reiterated here, Buffalo's peculiar brand of Volcanic Rock achieved best results when played even louder. [Volcanic Rock's 2006 reissue by Aztec Records resurrected long lost original album artwork for its handsome digipack, included comprehensive liner notes, and added two bonus tracks: the single edit of "Sunrise" and a live version of "Shylock," making it the definitive collectors' edition.] ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, Rovi (artistdirect.com)

1 Sunrise (Come My Way) 4:58
2 Freedom 9:02
3 Till My Death 5:38
4 The Prophet 7:24
5 Intro: Pound Of Flesh 4:33
6 Shylock 5:52
Bonus Tracks
7 Sunrise (Come My Way) (Single Version) 3:42
8 Shylock (Live Version)

Peter Wells: Bass Guitar 
Jimmy Economou:  Drums
John Baxter: Guitar
Dave Tice:  Vocals



info |
http://www.discogs.com/Buffalo-Volcanic-Rock/release/1922179
http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,3526803,00.html

The Mars Volta, Noctourniquet (2012)

1. The Whip Hand
2. Aegis
3. Dyslexicon
4. Empty Vessels Make The Loudest Sound
5. The Malkin Jewel
6. Lapochka
7. In Absentia
8. Imago
9. Molochwalker
10. Trinkets Pale of Moon
11. Vedamalady
12. Noctourniquet
13. Zed and Two Naughts

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez: Guitars
Cedric Bixler-Zavala: Vocals
Juan Alderete: Bass
Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez: Keyboards, synths
Deantoni Parks: Drums
Lars Stalfors: Synths



info |
http://www.themarsvolta.com/the-malkin-jewel/
http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=36504

Forgas Band Phenomena, Acte V (2012)

"For those of you who grew up on the Return to Forever / Mahavishnu Orchestra / Weather Report strain of modern jazz, you will love this group. There's no mincing words about the Phenomena tag this band is proud to own — terrific music made by a wonderful band that cannot be a trade secret for too much longer. Viva Forgas!" – All-Music Guide

"Composer and multi-instrumentalist Patrick Forgas has been making music for the last four decades, and now in the heart of his fifth one, he still has not run out of ideas to put into musical forms...[Forgas’s writing] and arrangements display elements of orchestral-jazz, ambient-rock, and progressive-bop with ethnic accents based in Eastern Europe cultures, the Middle East, and the Latin World. It is as if he pulls various influences out of the air, and transforms these bits and pieces that he grabs into magnificent complexes of multi-textured broths. " – Jazz Review

For over 35 years, composer/drummer/bandleader Patrick Forgas has been making progressive jazz/rock music in his native Paris. He has led various incarnations of his Forgas Band Phenomena for nearly 15 years and four previous and excellent albums, all of which have featured shifting personnel, but the group featured on Acte V, the group's fifth album, has been stable for five years and is the same group that performed on their last release. So, happily, the band still consists of Patrick, Sebastien Trognon on saxes and flute, Dimitri Alexaline on trumpet and flugelhorn, Benjamin Violet on guitar, Karolina Mlodecka on violin, Igor Brover on piano and keyboards, Kengo Mochizuki on bass. These musicians enliven his compositions with an energy and verve that gives his compositions the performances they deserve!

Fusing new jazz directions with the electric crackle of rock with inspired solos, the music will appeal to fans of Frank Zappa’s instrumental works, Jean-Luc Ponty, Morglbl, Return To Forever and Mats/Morgan Band. The quality of the music and performances is obvious from the first note and we're not the only ones who have noticed, as the group has been invited to play some very high profiles concerts: in 2008 they were invited to Seoul, South Korea to perform and - more relevant to this release - in June 2010, the group were invited to perform at pentultimate edition of NEARFest, performing to a packed audience of over 1,000. (cuneiformrecords.com)

1 Ultraviolet (8:34)
2 L'Axe Du Fou (16:06)
3 Feu Sacré (6:53)
4 Soleil 12 (9:09)
5 Double Sens (13:38)
6 Extralucide (10:20)
7 Eclipse (7:45)

Patrick Forgas: Drums
Sebastien Tregnon: Tenor, alto & soprano saxes, flute
Dimitri Alexaline: Trumpet, flugelhorn
Benjamin Violet: Guitar
Karolina Mlodecka: Violin
Igor Brover: Keyboards
Kengo Mochizuki: Bass



info |
http://forgasbp.online.fr/
http://cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/forgas.html
http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=36844

Charles Gayle Trio, Streets (2012)

The post New Thing lineage is a sacred thing. In the fields sown by Ayler and Coltrane and Sanders and Shepp, the music is free and flowing without ego but with purpose. It’s a judgment call of course, but the proponents are arguably few.

Without attaching too many words to it, it’s a style of playing that’s something spiritual, something other, a connectivity between the players and with the listener. And without overly delineating who’s in and who’s out, it’s certain that Gayle is a master of the form.

Deeply committed to free improvisation and the jazz tradition in all its manifestations, Gayle is a blazing saxophonist, a fluent pianist and, has more recently been playing the double bass. Here he is heard at his best, in classic form on the tenor horn with an exhilarating trio.

The title and cover here evoke a character Gayle took to portraying onstage back in the 1990s, a bit of social commentary using the familiar face of a sad clown (read Emmett Kelly or even Charlie Chaplin), using a tragic face with no comedic angle to reflect on his own homeless days. But the music within is all new, recorded in the studio this year with Gayle heard on tenor exclusively joined by longtime timekeeper Michael TA Thompson on drums and Larry Roland on bass.

To say that he recalls the pilgrims of free jazz is no small praise, but it’s not to lock him in the past. At 72, Gayle remains a vital force. The Streets are paved with some serious intentions. (northern-spy.com)


1. Compassion I Charles 5:16
2. Compassion II 6:43
3. Glory & Jesus 9:12
4. Streets 10:34
5. March Of April 9:24
6. Doxology 10:46
7. Tribulations 8:32

Charles Gayle: Tenor saxophone
Michael TA Thompson: Drums
Larry Roland: Bass



info |
http://northern-spy.com/products-page/charles-gayle-streets/
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=93241

Jack DeJohnette, Sound Travels (2012)

Sound Travels is many things: It’s a celebration of Jack DeJohnette turning 70 and being named an NEA Jazz Master in 2012; it’s an updated tour of some of the vast musical landscape traversed in his career; and it’s a chance for him to play — piano as well as drums — with a hand-picked ensemble that purposefully includes some of his favorite younger musicians.

For a collection this lighthearted and variegated, it still packs a surprising musical punch. Among the memorable moments are DeJohnette and percussionist Luisito Quintero trading licks after Esperanza Spaulding’s wafting vocal on “Salsa For Luisito;” the way trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire seems to suspend time on a compelling stop-and-go solo of fiery power during “New Muse;” the galvanizing guitar solo by Lionel Loueke on a DeJohnette-penned calypso tribute to saxophonist Sonny Rollins on “Sonny Light;” and pianist Jason Moran’s ability to energize and uplift “Indigo Dreamscapes” without ruffling the ethereal fabric of the tune. (Alas, it’s Moran’s lone contribution to Sound Travels.)

Along with Spaulding’s turn on “Salsa,” there are two other vocal tracks, both standouts. “Dirty Ground” is a 7/4 slab of funk equally inspired by New Orleans and the Band, with DeJohnette playing those familiar, galomping accents forever associated with the Band’s Levon Helm, while Bruce Hornsby provides the lyrics and vocals. The third and final sung song is actually a spellbinding feat of vocalese by Bobby McFerrin, in conjunction with Quintero and DeJohnette, on “Oneness,” a song that first appeared on a Gateway Trio disc back in the ’90s. McFerrin’s execution is immaculate, conjuring the ineffable yet potent ambiance of spirituality. It fits well with the two DeJohnette piano solos that bracket the album, especially the closing “Home,” which DeJohnette rightly likens to the South African master of gospel-blues serenity, Abdullah Ibrahim. (emusic.com)

1. Enter Here [02:24]
2. Salsa for Luisito [06:56]
3. Dirty Ground [04:49]
4. New Muse [06:06]
5. Sonny Light [05:40]
6. Sound Travels [01:43]
7. Oneness [05:59]
8. Indigo Dreamscapes [08:05]
9. Home [04:34]

Jack DeJohnette: Piano (1-7, 9), drums (2-6, 8), resonating bell (1), vocal (2), keyboards (3)
Tim Ries: Tenor saxophone (2, 3, 5, 8), soprano saxophone (3, 4)
Ambrose Akinmusire: Trumpet (2, 4, 5)
Lionel Loueke: Guitar (2, 3, 5, 6)
Esperanza Spalding: Bass (2-6, 8), vocal (2, 3)
Luisito Quintero: Percussion (2-8), vocal (2)
Bruce Hornsby: Vocal (3)
Bobby McFerrin: Vocal (7)
Jason Moran: Piano (8)



info |
http://www.jackdejohnette.com
http://www.emusic.com/listen/#/music-news/review/album/jack-dejohnette-sound-travels

Wynton Marsalis, The Music of America (2012)

Yes and Love. These two words summon the affirmation and arc of intention, and the meaning and values at the core of Wynton Marsalis’s oeuvre, a small sample of which is contained on this two-disc set. When you listen, other words will bubble to the surface, other metaphors and images will arise. Nouns like “America” – rural to city, farming to high-tech, white and black and the spectrum of colors of the spiral rainbow –will be evoked. Marsalis’s music also registers an emotional spectrum, from the sensual slow drags to the in-the-pocket mid-tempos to the high-velocity-jet swing. You’ll also find down-home timbres, horns with bite and sass, plus strings that sing and sting with a fiddler’s edge.

The music in this collection covers only a thirteen-year period in a career that spans three decades, yet the scope and range of aesthetic content encompasses the sweep of a century of jazz tradition and modern innovation. Several cuts on the first disc – “Express Crossing (Astride Iron Horses),” “Station Call” and “The Caboose” – explore the dead metaphor of Pullman porter and Amtrak trains, even harkening back to the Underground Railroad, yet reinvigorate the metaphor in light of high-speed rails. These compositions are the best train onomatopoeia since Ellington’s many classics capturing the iron horse in sound.

“D in the Key of F” captures the Yes and Love of romance and intimacy between couples, alto and tenor sax alternating conversational choruses, ending in an embrace of harmony. Another number, “Jump,” swings with the verve of the best of the big bands of yesteryear. Marsalis’s trumpet mentor, Harry “Sweets” Edison, rises to the occasion, showing the young men how it’s done. Edison was a member of the Count Basie Orchestra that came swingin’ out of Kansas City in the 1930s.

“Fiddler’s March,” a response to Stravinsky’s A Soldier’s Tale, is exemplary of the way Marsalis incorporates classical composers into his aesthetic statements and counter-statements. “Hellbound Highball” demonstrates this engagement with European tradition more explicitly in string quartet format. “Go, Possum, Go” recalls the days of Davy Crockett, in an American slave fiddling context, through violin master Mark O’Connor, who, like Marsalis, reflects Anglo- and Afro-American traditions in his music.

The penultimate song on the first disc appropriates the march beat so fundamental to jazz and Western music. The last composition captures the spiritual optimism, the Yes and Love, of “I Am.” Both are from Marsalis’s 2002 engagement with a jazz quartet, a vocal choir and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, All Rise.

The second disc opens with the ultra-modern “The Majesty of the Blues,” followed by “The Dance,” an invitation to waltz along in triple meter, to modulate and break, and to flow in ensemble groove. But the reverie is interrupted by the tragic awareness of man’s inhumanity to humankind, by the lurching of slave ships on the rocky Atlantic. From Blood on the Fields (Marsalis’s epic piece, recorded by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, which garnered a Pulitzer Prize in Music in 1997), we see through hearing the tale of a man and woman captivated with each other as captives. “Move Over,” said the woman, yet really desiring for him to “come close to me, touch me” because although they were enslaved externally, she tried to teach him how to live in spite of a bad situation.

This American tragedy, this tale of irony – freedom’s grounding in unfreedom – and the romance and adventure of life still amounts to a Yes, an affirmation of life. But to affirm life we also say “No” to “Soul for Sale” –an allusion to Cole Porter’s “Love for Sale,” with likewise jaunty music contrasted by the harsh reality of the lyrics. We affirm life anyway by signifyin’ and scattin’, by declaring “We gonna swing anyway!” Even with tears, Yes. With the blues, Yes. With tenacity, discipline, integrity, and with what Marsalis calls soul: “to give without want.” Yes. And to Love, to give without seeking in return. Yes.

Do you yet wonder how and why Yes, and when and where Love? The fourth cut, where the heroic soloist is supported by the ensemble bosom of the democratic process, shows a way, as “Double Rondo on the River (Pedro’s Getaway)” swings the forward motion and drive of jazz. This is the feeling of players and listeners immersed in a purification ritual, the spirit of regeneration in the midst of tragedy. To complete the cycle of life, you also need romance, the sweet embrace of life captured in the tenderness of “Spring Yaoundé,” whereby a ritual of fertility conceives springtime. That’s the Saturday Night Function.

On Sunday morning, from the solemnity of the “Altar Call” to the jubilation of the “Holy Ghost,” you’re in an Afro-American church service where you give glory to God in the Highest by shouting a joyful noise unto the Lord. You done worked hard all week, had a good time Friday and Saturday nights, so now’s the time to rejuvenate through joy, to show gratitude for the blessing of life, of breath, of the senses, of time and space. Time to show appreciation for feeling in form, for the memory in sound that is music and all of God’s gifts. Yes, Love.

Whereas a mournful “The Death of Jazz” taps into the very earliest of jazz traditions, the funeral and the parade, we ride the rollicking second line in the Crescent City with the final cut, “Oh, But on the Third Day.” Guitarist and banjo player Danny Barker, who performed with, among others, Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet and Cab Calloway, shines here. Marsalis played in Barker’s Fairview Baptist Church Brass Band when he was eight years old.

Wynton Marsalis’s achievement as a composer for small and large groups has not been given due consideration by so-called serious music critics. Similar to Duke Ellington, whose prolific production make assessing his body of work a daunting task, Marsalis has written so much music encompassing such a panorama of styles, genres, grooves and feeling-tones that even a Ph.D in musicology is no guarantee of proper critical judgment. In 1999 alone, he came out with an average of one full recording per month. Who – in these days of pop flash and flesh, celebrity worship and corporate greed – does that? Who has the depth to plumb the entire American jazz tradition as if it’s all good and new, and then connect it with music from Africa, Spain, France as well as the spicy flavors of the Mediterranean? Who is searching for the ineffable qualities of spiritual transcendence in the artistic objectives of jazz? Wynton Marsalis is foremost among them.

Perhaps his early celebrity, as a superb classical instrumentalist who also played precise jazz, overshadowed his compositional achievement. Benny Golson, one of the greatest jazz musicians and composers, puts this in perspective: “Wynton is fantastic. As a trumpet player, this guy did his homework. He used to play the classical literature, the Haydn Trumpet Concerto and what not. But when he started to write, everyone was so overwhelmed by the playing that they weren’t aware of his writing. This guy has written symphonies, he won the Pulitzer Prize. He’s been going forward ever since.”

We invite you to go forward also, with one foot in the past and the other pointing to the future, to bask in the music of Wynton Marsalis, so that you too will say: Yes, Love. (Greg Thomas)

Disc 1
1 - Jazz: 6 1/2 Syncopated Movements; Express Crossing (Astride Iron Horses)
2 - Jazz: 6 1/2 Syncopated Movements; "D" in the Key of "F"; (Now the Blues)
3 - Jump Start - The Mastery of Melancholy; Jump
4 - Station Call
5 - The Caboose
6 - Sweet Release; Church: Renewing Vows (Instrumental)
7 - Go, Possum, Go (Instrumental)
8 - Jean-Louis Is Everywhere
9 - For My Kids at the Collège of Marciac
10 - Sunflowers
11 - At the Octoroon Balls - String Quartet No. 1 *; Hellbound Highball (Instrumental)
12 - A Fiddler's Tale Suite; The Fiddler's March (Instrumental)
13 - All Rise; Movement 1: Jubal Step
14 - Movement 12: I Am (Don't You Run From Me) from All Rise (Edit)

Disc 2
1 - The Majesty Of The Blues (The Puheeman Strut)
2 - Jump Start - The Mastery of Melancholy; The Dance
3 - Move Over (Edit)
4 - Double Rondo On The River (Pedro's Getaway)
5 - Spring Yaounde
6 - Soul For Sale
7 - Altar Call
8 - In The Sweet Embrace of LifeSermon: Holy Ghost
9 - The Death Of Jazz
10 - Oh, But On The Third Day (Happy Feet Blues)

Sidemen
CD 1

#1-2
Wynton Marsalis/Marcus Printup: trumpets
Wycliffe Gordon/Ron Westray: trombones
Todd Williams: tenor/soprano, clarinet
Wessell Anderson: alto/soprano saxophones
Victor Goines: baritone saxophone, bass clarinet
Kent Jordan: piccolo, flute
Eric Reed: piano
Reginald Veal: bass
Herlin Riley: drums
Robert Sadin: conductor

#3
Wynton Marsalis: conductor
Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison: trumpet solo
Ryan Kisor/Marcus Printup: trumpets
Wessell Anderson: alto/soprano saxophones
Victor Goines: tenor/soprano saxophones, clarinet
Ted Nash: tenor/soprano saxophones
Gideon Feldstein: baritone saxophone, bass clarinet
Wycliffe Gordon/Ron Westray: trombones
Kent Jordan: piccolo, flute
Eric Reed: piano
Ben Wolfe: bass
Herlin Riley: drums

#4-5
Wynton Marsalis: trumpet
Farid Barron: piano
Rodney Whitaker: bass
Herlin Riley: drums
Roland Guerrero: percussion
Doug Wamble: guitar, banjo
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra

#6
Wynton Marsalis: trumpet, conductor
Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra

#7
Mark O’ Connor: mandolin, violin
Mark Schatz: bass, banjo

#8-9
Wynton Marsalis: trumpet
Wessell Anderson: alto saxophone
Victor Goines: tenor/soprano saxophones, bass clarinet
Wycliffe Gordon: trombone
Eric Lewis/Marthaniel Roberts: pianos
Rodney Whitaker: bass
Herlin Riley: drums

#11
Oriano String Quartet
Daniel Phillip/Todd Phillips: violin
Steven Tenenbom: viola
Timothy Eddy: cello

#12
Wynton Marsalis: trumpet
Chamber Music Society of Lincolin Center
David Shifrin: clarinet
Milan Turkovic: basson
David Taylor: trombone
Ida Kavafian: violin
Edgar Meyer: bass
Stefon Harris: percussion

#13-14
Wynton Marsalis: trumpet
Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra
The Paul Smith Singers
The Northridge Singers of California State University at Northridge
Morgan State University Choir
Esa-Pekka Salonen: conductor
CD 2

#1
Wynton Marsalis: trumpet
Marcus Roberts: piano
Todd Williams: tenor/soprano saxophones
Wessell Anderson: alto saxophone
Reginald Veal: bass
Herlin Riley: drums

#2
Wynton Marsalis: conductor
Ryan Kisor/Marcus Printup: trumpets
Wessell Anderson: alto/soprano saxophones
Victor Goines: tenor/soprano saxophones, clarinet
Ted Nash: tenor/soprano saxophones
Gideon Feldstein: baritone saxophone, bass clarinet
Wycliffe Gordon/Ron Westray: trombones
Kent Jordan: piccolo, flute
Eric Reed: piano
Ben Wolfe: bass
Herlin Riley: drums

#3
Cassandra Wilson: vocals
Wessell Anderson: alto saxophone
Victor Goines: e-flat clarinet

#4
Wynton Marsalis: trumpet
Marcus Roberts: piano
Wessell Anderson: alto saxophone
Herbert Harris/Todd Williams: tenor saxophones
Joe Temperley: baritone saxophone
Alvin Batiste/Dr. Michael/Todd Williams: clarinet
Wycliffe Gordon: trombone
Reginald Veal: bass
Herlin Riley: drums

#5
Wynton Marsalis: trumpet
Todd Williams: tenor/soprano saxophones
Wessell Anderson: alto saxophone
Wycliffe Gordon: trombone
Reginald Veal: bass
Herlin Riley: drums

#6
Jon Hendricks: vocals
Wynton Marsalis: trumpet, conductor
Wessell Anderson: alto saxophone
James Carter: baritone saxophone, bass clarinet, clarinet
Victor Goines: tenor/soprano saxophones, clarinet, bass clarinet
Robert Stewart: tenor saxophone
Russell Gunn/Roger Ingran/Marcus Printup: trumpets
Wayne Goodman/Ron Westray: trombones
Michael Ward: violin
Wycliffe Gordon: tromobne, tuba
Eric Reed: piano
Reginald Veal: bass
Herlin Riley: drums

#7-8
Marion Williams: vocals
Wynton Marsalis: trumpet
Wessell Anderson: alto saxophone
Wycliffe Gordon: tromobne
Todd Williams: tenor/soprano saxophones
Reginald Veal: bass
Herlin Riley: drums

#9-10
Wynton Marsalis: trumpet 2nd, trumpet, mute
Marcus Roberts: piano
Todd Williams: tenor/soprano saxophones
Wessell Anderson: alto saxophone
Dr. Michael White: clarinet
Danny Barker: banjo
Teddy Riley: 1st trumpet
Freddie Lonzo: trombone
Reginald Veal: bass
Herlin Riley: drums



info |
http://wyntonmarsalis.org/discography/title/music-of-america-wynton-marsalis