What Are You Doing for Record Store Day?

Tomorrow, April 18 is the 18th Annual Record Store Day, considering the spring events and not counting the events that come on Black Friday later in the year. In the past I've both groused and geeked out about this day. This time around, I'll leave it to readers to decide where the thing really lies. I mean, my son, who's a year older than RSD, finally got into buying music in all formats over the last year, after we bestowed my late mother's stereo on him. Suddenly he was interested in starting a pile of vinyl of his own, with a taste that spans styles and generations. So if there are old albums being reissued that are hard for him to find, my guess is that some of these new remastered versions could be a good thing for others of his generation. 

I checked out info on two John Coltrane releases that are going to be available tomorrow. The Tiberi Tapes offers a preview of a complete set of live recordings that will be released in the fall. Sounds cool but the record contains a mere two tracks, one 13 minutes long and the other 11 minutes. Somehow the idea of plunking down $30 (just a guess) for 24 minutes of music doesn't do it for me. Better to wait for the whole set.

France 1965 features all the music Trane's quartet played at Antibes and Salle Pleyel, spread over four platters. A rare performance of A Love Supreme takes up half of it, though it has already been released on the first deluxe CD reissue of the original album. The remainder of the album includes another rarely performed piece: what would become the seven-horn opus "Ascension," though here it's done with Trane as the lone horn and was known at the time as "Blue Valse."

All of this appeared on a two-disc set on Gambit Records, John Coltrane 4tet Live in France July 27/28 1965, though in looking at that disc, I have a feeling it might be a bootleg. Buying legit is better but I don't feel ready to chuck the disc for another box.

But on to the good stuff....

Cecil Taylor Unit

Fragments 

(Elemental)

One thing you can count on for RSD is that musical excavator Zev Feldman will have a handful of new releases by some legendary artists, replete with deluxe packaging that includes photos, liner notes and interviews with people close to the music. Fragments is a magnum opus here. It features pianist Cecil Taylor's Unit in 1969 that briefly featured Sam Rivers (tenor and soprano saxophones, flute) along with Unit regulars Jimmy Lyons (alto saxophone) and Andrew Cyrille (drums). 

A few days later they would play Fondation Maegth, a lengthy performance which has been spread over three records (and three CDs, which again, aren't legit as I found out a few years after purchasing them). The two performances on this set come from the 8th Annual Paris Jazz Festival, which put the Unit on a George Wein-organized concert with Miles Davis and the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

If the billing sounds like worlds colliding, it's nothing compared to the music. The band performed afternoon and evening sets. In the afternoon, they played for a mind-boggling 90 minutes. The evening set trimmed it down to 49 minutes. Lyons and Rivers (reportedly using sheet music) complement each other. While Lyons often avoid wailing in favor of complex, contoured lines that took Charlie Parker's ideas into a new world, Rivers seems to push him towards some wild shrieks throughout the performances. In fact, there are moments toward the end of the afternoon set (spread over two discs on CD edition) that recall some unhinged Frank Wright sessions.

But there are also moments of complexity and delicate work. Taylor takes numerous lengthy solos between the horn workouts, and his technique is staggering in both velocity and clarity. The way Cyrille finds ways to respond to the pianist (both of them play constantly) is beautiful as well. When Rivers grabs his flute, he alternates blowing and emitting loud groans and wails. With the composition titled "Fragments of a Dedication to Duke Ellington," one can only wonder what the honoree thought of it. 

Joe Henderson

Consonance

(Resonance)

Mr. Feldman has also gotten a direct line to recordings made at the landmark Jazz Showcase in Chicago, courtesy of the family of the club's late owner Joe Segal. Consonance features one set of them, with tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson stretching out at length in a quartet with pianist Joanne Brackeen, bassist Steve Rodby and drummer Danny Spencer. 

The sound quality is strong here, putting you in the front row to experience 23-minutes of "Mr. P.C." followed by no less than 26 minutes of the saxophonist's "Inner Urge." And that's just half of the first disc. It's hard not to think of the Coltrane quartet, especially with Brackeen's way of thundering behind Henderson, and her frequent habit of dropping out after a few choruses, which inspires the saxophonist to take harmonic liberties with the music. 

Resonance is also releasing another Jazz Showcase performance with Stardust and Starlight, a 1979 Mal Waldron set that features Sonny Stitt as a guest on two tracks. (There's a combination that should be heard.) Anyone who can't get enough of Bill Evans performances should be stoked to find At the BBC, which features the pianist in a trio with bassist Chuck Israels and drummer Larry Bunker. The late pianist Michel Petrucciani is also the subject of an Elemental release with Kuumbwa, a two-disc set from the 1987 festival of that name, backed by Dave Holland (bass) and Eliot Zigmund (drums). 

Right before writing this post, I was digging into Ahmad Jamal's At the Jazz Showcase - Live in Chicago, from 1976. Opener "Ahmad's Thene" alone is spellbinding for the way the late pianist could maintain momentum with gentle grooves and then suddenly switch to a nearly orchestral flow. In "Wave" his hands do some gymnastics up the entire length of the keyboard too, as if to prove there was a wild side beneath the reserve for which he may be known. Throughout it all, bassist John Heard and drummer Frank Gant are there with him. 

(Personal aside that I can't resist mentioning: When my son did a show of Pittsburgh natives on his college radio station, Ahmad Jamal was the first person he played, in a set that jumped genres, going all the way to Mac Miller.)

Whether you decide to camp out in line at your favorite record shop or stay home, these new releases should be discovered, in all their glory. Not just online either. Feldman and his crew went to a lot of trouble compiling the engaging interviews that shed light on these performances. The least you could do it grab them. 

 

Rempis, Corsano & Adasiewicz Hit The Bop Stop

A road trip to Cleveland's Bop Stop was in order this past Wednesday, when (left to right above) vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, saxophonist Dave Rempis and drummer Chris Corsano set up shop for two amazing sets of free improvisation. I had seen Rempis there a few years ago at the same venue with the group Ballister, and Corsano frequently comes to Pittsburgh with his various projects. Yet the only time I saw Adasiewicz in these parts was 2011, when Starlicker (with Rob Mazurek and John Herndon) played at the Andy Warhol Museum. He dropped out of music a few years later, working as a carpenter.  Luckily he resurfaced when Corbett V. Dempsey released two albums by him in 2023. As something of a fanboy for the vibes man, I was ecstatic, albeit eventually bummed that I missed seeing him at the Bop Stop last year. 

The evening was the group's seventh show during a nine-day tour and they immediately locked in with one another, knowing how to lift the bandstand. Rempis began the set on tenor, blowing with a fury and heavy vibrato that almost overpowered the vibes. But Adasiewicz is still a heavy hitter and he put his whole body into his playing throughout the night. "God help those mallets," was scrawled in my notes from the first part of the set. 

Corsano never let his momentum waver whether he was flying over his trap kit or incorporating accessories into his playing. When the dynamics dipped down during the first set, he dexterously placed some bowls on his drum heads to get some sustained sound. He also used a paper hand fan, in a effort to bend the sound of the heads a bit, as he later explained to me.

The first set lasted close to an hour, giving Rempis a chance to switch to soprano and later baritone saxes as things surged forward. On the big horn, he began producing a flury of brutal overtones that eventually began to lock into a wave of sound that felt more like a spiritual. When Adasiewicz joined him for pedal point wave over Corsano's rolling work, it felt to my ears akin to the spirit of the final moment of A Love Supreme without recurring line that offered thanks to any higher power. That was left to the audience, who whooped enthusiastically and waited patiently for the second half.

People who look down on free music but think it lacks nuances, but there was plenty of that in the second half of the night. 

Rempis had picked up his alto during the first set, but put it down in favor of the baritone. The second set began with him on alto, at one point blowing in little peeps and murmurs. Adasiewicz, who began by clanging his instrument with the opposite end of his mallets, showed some admirable restraint when his bandmates took off in a brief duet, looking at them thoughtfully but not playing. Corsano seemed to take inspiration from the vibraphonist's visceral performance because the whole drum kit was trembling at one point while his dug into it. Even when he used brushes later on, the sounds he made felt like thunderclaps.

Rempis switched back to tenor saxophone and his blowing evoked the throaty tone of pre-bop players, creating something rich and full-bodied. Things built to a climax when Adasiewicz placed a plastic stick across the sharps/flats on his instrument and repeatedly created a sustained cluster of notes with his left hang, while his right built some concluding statements. When that device fell between the metal bars of the vibes, he pounded them with his fists to keep the sound flowing. 

Musicians who are skilled at free, open playing always astounds me with the way they know when they've reached a conclusion and know that it's time to stop. Watching this can be compared to a rollercoaster ride coming to a stop, creating another rush. Rempis, Corsano and Adasiewicz did something like that last week. As much as I wasn't looking forward to the two-plus hour drive back home, I had the energy for it after their set. 

CD Reviews: Tomeka Reid Quartet - dance! skip! hop! / Adam O'Farrill - Elephant

Tomeka Reid Quartet

dance! skip! hop!

(Out of Your Head) outofyourheadrecords.bandcamp.com/album/dance-skip-hop

The title track to Tomeka Reid's dance! skip! hop! comes off as one of those "worth the price of admission" tracks. With Tomas Fujiwara laying down a steady 4/4 beat with brushes, cellist Reid (plucking not bowing here), guitarist Mary Halvorson and bassist Jason Roebke dig into the spritely melody, with all three occupying an full, intriguing frequency range not heard all that often in this music. In keeping with Reid's album title - affixed to it when she realized how all the music inspired her to dance - the bounce of it recalls early Chico Hamilton work with cellist Fred Katz. With Halvorson's solo beginning like an electric harpsichord and the track's ending which pulls apart, finally going into a 9/8 vamp, it ultimately feels very of-the-moment. (Hearing this live was a highlight of the 2026 Winter Jazz Fest.) 

Of course the rest of the album yields many exciting moments as well. "a(ways) for CC and CeCe" (the title an acknowledgement of both a Chicago music supporter and to Reid's great aunt) begins freely, with Fujiwara sounding like he's playing drum heads with his hands, before it goes into a swing tempo. Reid produces some heavy strums that seem to channel either flamenco or a lick from "Ahmad's Blues." Halvorson goes for the former idea, with string bends that give it a surreal quality. Later in "Oo Long!" the guitarist's fuzz offers quite a contrast with the bass and cello behind her which might not exactly be acoustic but are definitely cleaner than the gitbox.

For "Under the Aurora Sky" Reid's bow creates an arresting cello ballad, with guitar offering counterpoint in the second chorus. "Silver Spring Fig Tree" gets free in the middle, until Roebke and Reid lock into single note ostinato. As Halvorson adds dissonant harmony. the cello feels extremely soulful solo with loud, crisp plucks.

The opening track might be the gateway, but everything that follows is equally strong for diverse reasons. 

Adam O'Farrill

Elephant

(Our Of Your Head) adamofarrill.bandcamp.com/album/elephant

Once in a while a musician pops up on a stage and evokes a reaction that places them several spaces ahead of their equally talented peers. They elicit a reaction similar to "Woah - this cat's going places." (At least that's what I often think.)

I felt that way back in 2018 upon seeing Adam O'Farrill live with Stephen Crump (who is about to come back to town with a different group) and hearing the album El Maquech by the trumpeter's band Stranger Days. There was imagination and fire working together in equal parts. Since then, O'Farrill has released more of his own albums and has worked in numerous bands including Mary Halvorson's About Ghosts project and with pianist Hiromi, whose intense music requires a serious set of chops. Elephant marks the first time O'Farrill has acted as the lone horn, in front of a trio of upcoming but equally skilled players. (Though bassist Walter Stinson was also a part of Stranger Days too.) 

"Curves and Convolutions" launches the set with pianist Yvonne Rogers playing a steady arpeggio, with Stinson adding the skipping counterpoint. O'Farrill, with wah mute, initially floats on top of this rigid setting before the mood loosens up and expands. By the end, the quartet's music has made a big transformation, a feeling that repeats throughout the album.

The three-part "Sea Triptych" follows, each section virtually flowing into the next, giving it the feel of a bigger piece. Dreamy visions of water travel are accentuated by ghost trumpets floating and melting in the background. In "Iris Murdoch," the third section, Stinson holds down an ostinato that has him moving all over the neck, while O'Farrill and Rogers play the edgy melody and Holzman manages to find some funk to glue it together.

O'Farrill's love of soundtracks factors into the music as well. The album concludes with Ryuichi Sakamoto's gentle "Bibo No Aozora," which features the trumpeter sounding lush, as he plays the part originally arranged for strings. Stinson comes up with another flowing solo, boosted by the comping of Rogers, who gets her own sharp solo in as the album closes. "The Return" takes its name from Twin Peaks: The Return; at nearly 12 minutes in length, it feels as much like an epic as the earlier "Sea Triptych" going through a vast array of moods, in a evocative manner akin to soundtrack work.

Throughout the album, O'Farrill clearly has undisputed chops on his horn, but some of the most arresting moments come when he plays some long tones like the muted parts beneath the piano in "Herkimer Diamond." That piece, and the brief "Eleanor's Dance" include strong backbeats which might make them more accessible but never skim on the power of the piece. 

Like O'Farrill, the Out Of Your Head imprint has also grown by leaps and bounds in terms of number of releases in their catalog and their knack for being on the vanguard of exciting improvised music. 

Caroline Davis' Return to Pittsburgh

Once again, the productive drive in the early months of the year fizzled out shortly before spring. But perhaps April showers will bring some writing on this blog. 

Lately, plans have been underway for the second annual Monongahela Pop Festival, which will happen on October 2 & 3 here in Pittsburgh, at the Government Center. I'm not able to confirm the bill either night but, as long as travel costs allow, it should be good. Check back. Incidentally, there is now an Igor Records (my label) Instagram page that will keep track of such things. It can be found at igorrecordspgh. Pink Gin Marimbas, in which I play drums, will be playing the first night of the Millvale Music Festival on Friday, May 15. We're at Cousins Lounge at 6 pm, which means you might be able to catch us before the borough gets mobbed with people.

Along with Easter busyness, there have a been a few shows happening around here. Back on March 28, saxophonist Caroline Davis came to town, a day after the release of her new album, Fallows (Ropeadope). She played a solo show at Stage MK, the home/performance space of Mark Micchelli and Mai Khôi, arrmed with her alto and some electronics.

Davis is a productive musician and a diverse one at that. While her albums Anthems and Portals Vols. 1 & 2, reveal his thoughtful writing in a more structured jazz framework, she has also released albums like Alula, that bring in the electronics and get a little freer. Accept When was a collaboration with guitarist/vocalist Wendy Eisenberg, where the adventurous streaks and more song-oriented tendencies of both performers came together.

Fallows is a wild ride, in the best sense, a rather personal one too it seems, and her set at MK incorporated that. Early on, a dreamy version of Geri Allen's "Barbara Ann" filled the room with sound. "Cloudburst" (an original, not the Jon Hendricks classic) incorporated a looped spoken sample of the late pianist Connie Crothers, which slowly became clearer as the piece continued. She used the same technique in "She Know She Is Water," [sic] using a sample of Vietnamese monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh.  

Throughout the set, her alto produced some pops and slaps that became percussive backdrops for the music. Sometimes, watching her turn knobs on her organelle, to finetune the sounds, felt like a distraction so it was better to just listen.    

To begin the night, host Micchelli (who was celebrating a birthday), played prepared grand piano in a trio with Patrick Breiner (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet) and Antonio Croes (electric piano, harmonium, melodica) in a project called Two of Anything. Breiner projected several short phrases of music on the wall, but admitted beforehand that they might not use any of them during the set. Regardless of what was used, they delivered an exciting three-way improv, which included Micchelli taking drum sticks to the piano strings and dumping balls into the frame for visual and sonic effects.A good time was definitely had by all.  

Preview: Album Release by AurallaurA

AurallaurA is the nom de music adopted by vocalist Laura Chu Wiens, who is about to release her second album, The Critique of Capital: An Engagine Revue. The Pittsburgh artist penned nine of the album's 13 tracks, with a style that combines upbeat jazz cabaret with a singer-songwriter's depth, in many cases delivering uplifting messages that reflect and react to the current state of the world. 

One of the album's more telling moments comes with a song that has been heard umpteen times in various settings. In fact, it's easy to think the world doesn't need another version of Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg's "Over the Rainbbow" - until this version starts. When AurallaurA skips the octave leap of the first two notes, something is up. She's reharmonized the chord changes, not quite into a minor key, but something equally as foreboding. The arrangement changes the whole focus of the song, from whistful and light to something more urgent. In her hands, the final line of the song isn't rhetorical. She wants an answer. 

Throughout the album, this feeling of low-burning intensity mixes with the upbeat delivery of originals like "The Other Shoe Is Going to Drove," with Jeff Leonhardt's searing electric guitar lead adding to the groovy riff. "Remember Better" features harp, upright bass and bass clarinet for a more subdued setting, playing up the empowering lyrics and an intriguing shift in melody for the chorus. 

The bright "Oh No Honey" - another bright modern take on cabaret style tunes ,which also seems like a dose of encouragement in the face of oppression -  has been released with a video featuring 412 Step, a local LGBTQ line dance group cutting the rug while Aurallaura belts it out into an old square box microphone. It can be seen here. 

AurallaurA, who frequently overdubs a set of harmonies to lift the song, brings a signature style to the album, which also includes readings of the traditional folk/gospel song "Wayfaring Stranger" and the Taiwanese folk song "Gao Shan Qing." She exudes the cheery confidence of a stage performer, but her voice also sounds like it has a bit of vibrato that might come more from modesty or shyness. Rather than detract from the songs, it adds to the power, as if to say this critique might be hard to express but it's necessary, so listen close. 

Aurallaura plays an album release show Thursday, March 26 at City of Asylum at 7 pm. Click here for free in-person or livestream tickets. The Critique of Capital: An Engagine Revue will be available on vinyl and CD. 

CD Review: Brandon Seabrook - Hellbent Daydream

Brandon Seabrook
Hellbent Daydream
(Pyroclastic) brandonseabrook.bandcamp.com/album/hellbent-daydream

The opening seconds of Brandon Seabrook's newest album - in the track "Name Dropping is the Lowest Form of Conversation (Waltz)" - feature a tranquil celeste that, to folks of a certain age, might recall the opening shot of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, where music director Johnny Coata play that instrument while a camera panned across a toy village right before he switched to piano and the show's namesake made his entrance. Here, those twinkly notes last just long enough to create a mood that quickly turns mysterious when Seabrook begins playing some arpeggiated chords. The scene is dreamlike, not blissful but not nightmarish either. It's could be a soundtrack for low level anxiety dream. Or maybe that's what Seabrook had in mind with the title Hellbent Daydream.

Moments occur throughout the album when the instrumentation plays tricks on the ears. There's no contra-bass clarinet on the album, but a reedy screech occurs during "Namedropping" which must be from coming bassist Henry Fraser. Violinist Erica Dicker's pizzicato playing complements Seabrook's banjo to the extent that they sometimes blend into one sound. Elias Stemseder, the fourth member of the band, is responsible for a good deal off  the settings with piano and keyboards.

For what seems on paper like a group with certain sonic limitations, the quartet changes shape constantly throughout the album. "Bespattered Bygones" sounds rather Appalachian folk initially, Seabrook having switched to banjo. But Stemseder's keys come off like a synthetic calliope, dragging things back to the Big City. During the title track, Seabrook reprises the riff from the "Namedropping" but this time, he pairs it with an augmented chord, eventually overdubbing a sea of guitars that create a wash of sound.

A Zorn-like brand of quick cuts occurrs during "I'm a Nightmare and You Know It" and "Existential Banger Infinite Ceiling," with so much happening, from fast flashes of trebly guitar plunks to droning, almost chamber piece drones. "The Arkansas Tattler" might be the least zany of the titles but it plays on the folk classic "The Arkansas Traveler" (a recurring melody heard in Warner Brothers cartoons), giving Dicker and Stemseder a jaunty melody before Fraser unpacks a solid, flowing solo. It's notable that the microphone placement captures the visceral sound of Fraser in a room, plucking the strings, with a background sound that almost comes off like a ghostly bit of brushes on a snare. As he proceeds, his solo becomes engulfed in the swell of keyboards and strings, again fusing electric and acoustic sounds together to create something bigger than both. Ultimately, it feels dreamy too, in the best way. 

CD Review: Angelika Niescier - Chicago Tapes

Angelika Niescier

Chicago Tapes

(Intakt) angelikaniescierintakt.bandcamp.com/album/chicago-tapes

European alto saxophonist (Poland-born, German resident) Angelika Niescier has often traveled to the US, collaborating the likes of cellist Tomeka Reid, and a trio with bassist Christopher Tordini and drummer Tyshawn Sorey, to name few. The connection with Reid has also lead to a collaboration with drummer Mike Reed, who serves as the other constant in the two groups that make up this disc.

The first quartet on the set adds an alto foil in Dave Rempis, along with vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz. The remainder features flutist Nicole Mitchell and bassist Luke Stewart (the one non-Chicago resident, but a worthy addition to the fold). The album switches between groups as it proceeds, maintaining a consistant esprit de corps, while changing up sonically, with some members sitting out as things move.

Niescier and Rempis, each in their own speaker, play in a complementary style, both able to run through a range of brightly toned wails, frantic lines or overtones. In "Great Horned Owl," they interact not so much like nocturnal creatures as a nest of bees, while Adasiewicz plays a slow, resonating melody beneath them. "Rejoice, Disrupt, Resist" features a long-tone theme with both horns moving together before going off, with Niescier delivering a series of lines that alternative sharp clarity and rugged execution. In "Fluxed," Rempis follows her franitc solo with a more restraint, though he eventually adds some incisive overtones. Throughout Adasiewicz's voicings fill up harmonic and foundational space to make sure things never get spare. 

With both quartets, some of the shorter tracks could be pure improvisations or built on basic structures. While "Ext. 17" and "Poranek" feel like quick snapshots of sponataneous work, "SAMO (bsqt)," with Mitchell and Stewart, goes through several movements where both qualities come into play. Double stops form the basis of Stewart's taut solo, with some striking alto and flute lines eventually commenting on top. After a more structured interlude, Mitchell playes a melody to complement Niescier's sharp, icy solo, with a climax coming from some punchy drum breaks courtesy of Reed. "Bouncing the Ledge" also features this quartet getting wild with excellent results. 

Between the different sonic elements of the two different lineups and their desire to never let one mood settle down, The Chicago Tapes maintains focus to the end, which, in the final moments, feels like a natural pause rather than a finale.