spring is here

bill evans has the piano skills of an absolute dream. i have never heard the piano played like he plays it. so dead-on accurate... so brave and so confident.



i think i never have or at least never have in detail explained to you my deepest most achingly unfulfilled desire in all the world.

are you ready?

to play... jazz... piano

-

bill evans, dave brubeck, thelonius monk

just some of my very most favorite pianists in my meager experience of listening to jazz. a common trend among the three, one might rightly argue... is that their music sounds to be classically-influenced, yet experimental and reaching. i think i would have to say the most admirable thing i have ever found in music is this very quality: reaching.

ravel, debussy, debussy, ravel

in ravel, there are always chords that seem to be plucked right out of the very strings of life, those very phenomenal and very infinite strings. so full of unpredictable life. in debussy, softnesses you didn't know existed lightly dust the corners of depths unknown like fine snow.

to be able to play the jazz piano would mean that i could actually give a voice to the discord inside of me. i want to find the chords i dream of, and to play the passages that seem to climb stairs to a place that exists in a different dimension, just out of sight, barely within reach. jazz and jazz theory literally encompass everything that fascinates me about music and music-making. so many chords... so many impossible combinations of notes that seem to be never-ending. on the piano there are 88 keys, but there are only 12 notes with which you can actually create the combinations. what i love the most is finding those combinations which sound unlike anything i have ever heard in my life.

anyway. where to now?

Googoosh - Googoosh

 2011; 11 tracks  Googoosh is Faegheh Atashin, an Iranian singer and actress who has been releasing pop albums since 1970 and is continuing to tour and spread her music throughout the world.

This release is a compilation of tracks that survived the destructive Iranian revolution of 1979, in which many of her pre-1980 songs and performances were hidden or banned, and sometimes even destroyed.


Download.

Anouar Brahem Trio - Astrakan Café

 2001; 14 tracks  Here is a Tunisian collaborative release under the name Anouar Brahem Trio, which features the master oud (lute-like string instrument) player Anour Brahem accompanied by Barbaros Erköse on the clarinet and Lassad Honsi on both the bendir (Arabic frame drum) and darbouka (goblet drum).  

Astrakan Café is a deeply meditative release. As it dreamily floats among textures hinting at neo-classical and jazz, this caravan meditatively and elegantly re-imagines Arabic music.

01 Aube Rouge À Grozny
02 Astrakan Café Part
03 The Mozdok's Train
04 Blue Jewels
05 Nihawend Lunga
06 Ashkabad
07 Halfaouine
08 Parfum De Gitane
09 Khotan
10 Karakoum
11 Astara
12 Dar Es Salam
13 Hijaz Pechref
14 Astrakan Part 2

Download.

Lucrate Milk - La Rage Qui Vit

  1991; 20 tracks

As a bizarre French punk band who incorporate jazz, punk, and even some classical into their shrieking, riotous sound, Lucrate Milk is a band most people haven't heard of, but love once they do. I think. Here is a compilation of tracks from a 1983 split with MKB Fraction Provisoire, a 1983 EP entitled Nepla Relou, and their 1987 full-length I Love You Fuck Off. Enjoy.

Download.

Need New Body - U.F.O.

 2003; 23 tracks

This is seriously an amazing album. Repetitively mind-numbing, yet beautiful. Complete randomness... glorified. You might want to call it spazzcore.

Need New Body was an avant-garde/experimental/jazz band from Philadelphia active during the early 00s, and U.F.O. is their second album. Enjoyyy.

you are the pumpkin of my eye

EDIT: "Moondear" is probably my favorite track in the entire universe that is under 2:00. God daammnnn.

Vinicius Cantuária & Bill Frisell - Lágrimas Mexicanas

2011; 10 tracks

Bill Frisell and Vinicius Cantuária's Lágrimas Mexicanas epitomizes the junction of extraordinary musicians. Though the music of both artists have clear and distinct origins, their styles are complelementary. Through the combination of emotive rhythms and harmonies, and the mixture of classical and experimental sounds, the two artists have found the perfect mix of classical, jazz, and experimentalism.

As a guitarist, composer, and bandleader Bill Frisell is a recognized visionary talent in American music, best known for his innovative and improvisational guitar playing. The singer, guitarist and percussionist Vinicius Cantuária flawlessly merges the sounds of bossa nova with contemporary music, creating distinctive compositions and arrangements.

Having played together on many occasions during the past 25 years, Lágrimas Mexicanas is an opportunity to work together in a complete project.

When he came to New York from his home in Brazil, Cantuária discovered an amalgam of sounds from the streets of the city. What influenced him, particularly, was Hispanic diversity. Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Colombians, Venezuelans, Mexicans and many others were a rich multi-cultural collage. When these sounds filled the hearts and minds of Vinicius, he began writing Lágrimas Mexicanas in his apartment in Brooklyn.

Similar to the bossa nova movement of the 50s and 60s, Cantuária and Frisell's collaborative album merged Mexican traditional Latin rhythms with jazz improvisation methods. Bill understood the vision of Vinicius, and spontaneity inspired musical orchestration. While Vinicius wrote the lyrics in Portuguese, Spanish and English, both musicians went into the rhythm and together wrote the arrangements. At the heart of this album, Frisell and Cantuária demonstrate their ability: Frisell experimenting with arrangements and poetic lyrics whil Cantuária weaves the rhythms into motion. Together, these two great guitarists create a sublime, beautiful and accessible musical universe, one that will communicate a passionate sense of optimism, opportunity and hope.

Also, the title track fucking owns. I KNOW I've heard it in a movie at some point in time, but I have no idea which one! :(

Download.

Vijay Iyer, Prasanna & Nitin Mitta - Tirtha

2011; 9 tracks

The Sanskrit word "tirtha" (THEER-tha), literally 'crossing' or 'shallow passage of a stream,' denotes a place of pilgrimage near sacred waters. It suggests a liminal space between the fixed and the fluid, a threshold between worlds.

"Jazz" and "Indian music" are two imperfect labels for massive systems of information, archives of knowledge, zones of activity, fields of possibility. These traditions are "as wide as all outdoors," to borrow Julius Hemphill's phrase; they both embody the great legacies of their respective heritages, and yet they have spanned the globe, evolving and adapting, constantly heralding things to come.

It's no secret that the two histories have intersected many times already. Tirtha is the latest in a series of such tirthas (crossings). But it also represents a unity that only recently became possible, after several decades of South Asian global mobility, transition, and flow.

Vijay Iyer is a very involved and prolific American jazz pianist, working in several groups as well as solo. Tirtha is his first album with collaborative partners Prasanna, a guitarist-composer, and tabla player Nitin Mitta. The band formed in response to an invitation. In 2007, Iyer was asked to put together a concert celebrating 60 years of Indian independence. He wanted to steer clear of fusion experiments that attempted to mix styles - to "create something," as John Coltrane famously admonished, "more with labels, you see, than true evolution." Prasanna and Nitin Mitta, two outstanding musicians from India who have settled in the states, had been traveling alongside Iyer. The trio had never collaborated before, but of their first rehearsal Iyer says, "We felt a jolt of recognition. There was no question of 'fusion,' no compromise, no attempt to sound more or less 'Indian'; just a fluid musican conversation among three individuals, an atmosphere of camaraderie, a sense of beginning.'"


the sound of a new reality.

The For Carnation - Promised Works & Self-titled

Promised Works
1997; 9 tracks
This is a compilation of the band's first two releases, Fight Songs (EP, 1995) and Marshmallows (1996).

  Download.

The For Carnation
2000; 6 tracks
Download.
Out of the ashes of Slint, a Louisville, Kentucky post/math rock band with a somber disposition, there arose The For Carnation. It was created by Slint's vocalist, Brian McMahan, whose melancholic and achingly cute and sexy voice (to me) pervade the glorious, sonic landscapes. Sometimes jazzy, sometimes slow and sad, sometimes upbeat and sludgy, The For Carnation plow on in unfaltering assurance. Imagine an old-fashioned train, endlessly circling around some distant planet or moon, far off in space where no eye has ever seen. It has been happening for as long as time, maybe longer, and it will continue forever, unnoticed. Listening to this band makes me feel as if I'm observing this train's movements from a distance, captivated by such fearless monotony.

I apologize for lousy album covers, and also THANK YOU to Selim for turning me on to these guys. Get the self-titled first, if you're unsure. The first track, "Emp. Man's Blues," is a portrait of perfect solitude.

Cortex - Tropeau Bleu

1972; 11 tracks

Smooth and jazzy music from 70's France, gilded with glittering female vocals that are shockingly high-pitched. I am personally obsessed with the song "Chanson d'un jour d'hiver," it is sooo pretty! Tropeau Bleu is a very nice and wintry album, so I'll just leave it at that.

Download.

Morphine - Good

1993; 13 tracks

Distant, suspended worlds. Reality experiences a slight abeyance as the sensual world caves in on all sides... a world of rain and failure.

Morphine was an acclaimed jazz/rock group based in Massachusettes. Good, a beautifully constructed work of soft jazz-infused alternative rock, was their debut album.


you look like rain

Espen Eriksen Trio - You Had Me At Goodbye

2010; 8 tracks

Espen Eriksen Trio is a fairly new Norwegian jazz group that focuses, primarily, on the gentle and rainy shades of the piano.

"Fantastic piano trio that combines highly melodic and lyrical instrumentals, with a hint of Scandinavian folk music. Focusing more on melodies and short solos! Very unique & minimalistic."

My friend showed me this, and it really is stunning. Jazzy melodies that seem to flow from another place, perfectly, like a pure liquid. There is an appealing folkiness to You Had Me At Goodbye that isn't too common in much of jazz music (which I truly know little about), but it proves a glistening attribute to this lovely music.

Download.

Michel Legrand - Castles in Spain

1956 (2007 reissue); 17 tracks

I have no idea how to tag this, really. Spanish-influenced soundtrack classical with jazz, maybe? In any case, it is perfect - the exact kind of jazz music I've been looking for. Michel Legrand is a French composer of film scores and occasional jazz music, as well as an accomplished conductor and musician. He actually did an album of Satie, as well, which I am very anxious to hear... (and find).

Castles in Spain is a perfectly lovely album of jazz melodies and reincarnations of classics, such as the beautifully done "Oriental" and "Andaluza," originally penned by Enrique Granados as collections of his "Spanish Dances." These two tracks are my favorite on the album, although each track is very Spanish in sound, rhythm, and performance.

Download.

Maki Asakawa - 浅川マキの世界

1970; 12 tracks

The first time I ever heard Maki, I fell in love. Literally. Her vocals are honestly breathtaking, and the smoky, dark atmosphere her music creates is beautiful. Click here for more info and a very apt description of her music. Maki's vocals are stunning, especially for a 70s-era Japanese jazz artist. This album in particular puts me in the mood to read some Hemmingway, sit in a "clean, well-lighted place," hear Asakawa's murky, seductive voice in the background and watch old men play cards or a bartender rub his eyes... The smoke of the night is peacefully penetrating my lungs and calming my bloodstream. I lick my lips and close my eyes. My head is empty and my toes are warm. Maki sings...

Download.