A New Vision Of Chicago: Josh Berman

Josh Berman (cornet; b. 1972)
Old Idea (Delmark Records)

Keefe Jackson (sax)
Jason Adasiewicz (vibes)
Anton Hatwich (bass)
Nori Tanaka (drums)

(photo: Jim Newberry)

Surprisingly, this is cornetist Josh Berman's debut album. But Old Idea (Delmark) shows a lot of strength from an artist who really is a veteran player on the Chicago scene. Josh Berman's resume is deep; with solid Chicago credentials that include Lucky 7s, Umbrella Music collective, Luzern Exchange, Exploding Star Orchestra, Fast Citizens and Rolldown (led by Jason Adasiewicz). So he has been around the block and in the circuit long enough. A first album really shouldn't be a surprise. Neither should it surprise anyone how fantastic Old Idea truly sounds.

On first spin Old Idea could sound like many of the other free jazz brass ensembles that have come out of Chicago in the last decade. Many emulating the power and creativity of the revered Ken Vandermark/Vandermark 5. But after closer inspection you realize that all of them stand apart quite nicely. And this quintet stand up forcefully well, all led on strength and direction of Berman.

Fueled by multiple inspirations ranging from the fellow Chicago native, Brad Goode, the late Bill Dixon, Miles Davis and Dave Douglas, Berman has created his own lyrical style which is both inventive as it is sensitive. His band has played together in various forms in the aforementioned bands since around 2001.

The beauty interplay throughout this group is phenomenal. On the opener "On Account Of A Hat" you can hear the mixture of improvisation, creativity and sensuality in the playing as each member slowly comes into the performance. Starting with Jackson and Berman on horns, Adasiewicz with Hatwich gently nimbling his way and resulting in Tanaka on drums mixing it up with Adasiewicz until Jackson and Berman come counterpointing back.

What sets Berman's Old Idea apart is the free sparse arrangements he written for this group. While it is definitely based in the Chicago Free Jazz tradition, it definitely utilizes the aspects of space and breath for the listener to jump in and absorb. On "Let's Pretend", one of my favourite new Chicago performers Keefe Jackson, delivers some near perfect phrasing that is muscular but delicate. Delivered in a Rollins-like model, Jackson moves the material along as Adasiewicz adds the spacey earth-tone elements to proceeding. As the piece strays into "Out There" territory, Berman turns in a veracious yet cerebral performance that sort of tells you all you need to know---this cat is bold, serious and highly engaging.

The ballad "Almost Late" is a lovely piece led by Adasiewicz's moody Dave Pike meets Bobby Hutcherson momentum with swathes of rhythmic beauty from both Tanaka and Hatwich with Berman and Jackson combining to add some lush overtones. "Almost Late" is a exquisite piece of writing that had me coming back to this track over and over.

There are three short pieces entitled "New Year (A, B and C)" spread across the session that demonstrate the duo and collabrative efforts of the members within Berman's material. While the three pieces are different, they definitely show top-notch musicianship of the players. Particularly New Year C in which the full band add elements of space, colour and subtle improvisation that make it an absolutely beautiful way to close out a great recording.

Overall, Old Idea is an album highlighted by veteran performers with a leader in Josh Berman who's absorbed a lot over the last decade and it's finally made its way into the studio. This is an awesome debut if you want to call it that. Chicago has a rich tradition of Free Jazz artists. It's sometimes very hard to know where to start; I think Josh Berman is a great, creative and accessible way to dig your ears in for a taste of an artist with true vision for the future. I hope that he continues to strike out on his own in addition to the performances with his collective in Chicago.

Sex Mob

Slide trumpet madman Steven Bernstein's New York-based outfit Sex Mob (with Briggan Krauss on alto sax, Tony Scherr on bass and Kenny Wollesen on drums) isn't your father's jazz group. The Knitting Factory regulars specialize in a subversive brand of acid jazz with pop cult references ranging from New Orleans swing to spy soundtracks, from bachelor pad exotica to rock acts as disparate as Prince and Nirvana.

Simply put by Bernstein himself: "Jazz used to be popular music. People would go out to clubs, listen to the music, go home, and get laid. Simple as that. We're bringing that spirit back."

Thanks in part of its raucous live shows, Sex Mob has done just that over the course of a decade, during which they've released six albums, starting with the aptly named Din of Inequity ('98), followed by Solid Sender ('00), Sex Mob Does Bond ('01), Dime Grind Palace ('03), Sexotica ('06), Sex Mob Meets Medeski: Live in Willisau ('09).

On record, Sex Mob cooks up a seedy, sleazy, sordid vibe of drunken depravity — and that's what's great about it! The sound of Sex Mob is slightly unhinged, as if the musicians have escaped from an insane asylum, only to join a kinky carnival. Don't get me wrong though — there's sense to the insensibility. Taken out of context (as when your iPod shuffles to random tracks like "Call to the Freaks" and "Pygmy Suite") Sex Mob can disrupt your train of thought like the sudden appearance of a drag queen at GOP fundraiser. But taken in its natural element — the dedicated listen – Sex Mob will free you from your pedestrian notions of socially acceptable behavior. Our advice: Listen to Sex Mob and let your freak flag wave.

Dan Block: Rethinking Ellington

Dan Block (sax, clarinet)
Plays Duke Ellington: From His World To Mine (Miles High Records; 2010)

Dan Block is a highly respected reed player with a list of significant creditenials that should have more jazz fans standing up and taking notice. Of the many records we've reviewed this year, From His World To Mine (Miles High Records), is one that should have universal appeal to jazz new comers and jazz stalwarts alike.

Here at JazzWrap we've usually titled to more avant garde/free jazz, world and ambient, but I try to make a point when a record comes along that is so rich in tradition that you just have to spread the news. Dan Block has done just that with his new album. And I think you all need to know about.

Dan Block came out of the St. Louis jazz and blues tradition. He has performed or recorded with such legends as Charles Mingus, Frank Wess, Marty Grosz, Clark Terry, Rosemary Clooney and Maria Schneider to name a lot! He has also done his share of work in TV, Film and Broadway.

His style and arrangements are more for large ensembles but he creates an atmosphere that's more bebop small group that large scale big band. His previous release, Almost Modern (Sackville; 2006) which I thought finally captured the essence of Block ability has now been fully expanded and gone beyond sounding retro-big band. Dan Block is so much more than that. With From His World To Mine, Block has created a solid album of hard bop infused with the rich energy of Ellington or Goodman's big bands.

This homage to the Duke is a wonderful experience for those unfamiliar with Duke Ellington's material. Dan Block has kept the feeling of the numbers but has added a ting of his own buoyant personality on both sax and clarinet as evident on rolling and infectious opener, "Kissing Bug" (a Billy Strayhorn penned piece) which adds a dash of Latin flavour. This was a number which originally had some nice jumping vocals but is transformed by the Block's arrangement into something familiar but still original. Block's performance is crisp and bold with excellent accompaniment from Mike Kanan (piano), Brian Grice (drums) and Renato Thoms (percussion). This is a sextet piece that sounds like quartet. How can that be!?!

"Old King Dooji" is a small group number with Block starting off on clarinet and features some fierce performances from Grice again along with perfect pattern sculpting from Kanna and Lee Hudson gently on the bass. Nice stuff.

Elsewhere, Block shows the emotional beauty of Ellington with his arrangement of "Creole Blues". The arrangements are not that dissimilar. The blues tempo remains, but its the depth of Blocks performance on sax that really transforms the piece into something with deeper introspection and range. This introspection is also apart of "New York City Blues" where Block's sax and Mark Sherman's vibes dominate but don't upset the sentimental structure of the oriiginal tune.

"Mt. Harrissa" is another moment in which the emotional depth of the band is really prominent. The interplay of Grice, Kanan and now Mark Sherman (vibes) and gentle melody of James Chirillo (guitar) with some majestic playing by Block floating overhead, you will find yourself top-tapping away.

Duke Ellington's material is vast and stretches across different arranging structures. What Dan Block has done with From His World To Mine---by choosing mostly under-rated pieces from the Ellington canon is provide a vehicle that not only delivers a solid enjoyment of originality--it also demonstrates that you can look back to your elders and be inspired to create something familiar but yet highly effective for this new generation of modern jazz listeners. Highly Recommended.

Brian Eno: Small Craft on a Milk Sea

Brian Eno (electronics, manipulations)
Small Craft On A Milk Sea (Warp Records)

Brian Eno, electronic music innovator and influential record producer (U2, Coldplay, Talking Heads, etc), recently resurfaced with a new album of ambient soundscapes entitled Small Craft on a Milk Sea (Warp Records), created in improvised collaboration with relative newcomers Jon Hopkins and Leo Abrahams.

Eno has described his latest project as a kind of imaginary soundtrack. In fact, some of the tracks date from his work on the soundtrack for Peter Jackson's movie The Lovely Bones, which mostly resorted to recycling older Eno work. Of course, film music isn't a new concept for Eno. He has contributed music for a number of typically small, independent films. Those recordings can be heard on such albums as Apollo (1983) and Music for Films (1978).

So, what can one expect from Small Craft on a Milk Sea? Like most of Eno's ambient instrumental work, it focuses not so much on melody as it does on mood. Instead of obvious "arrangements" one gets intuitive textures. Sometimes the approach is languid and dreamy, and at other times frenetic and aggressive. If it weren't for the aggro tracks (such as "2 Kinds of Anger") you'd think you were listening to outtakes from his ambient masterpiece On Land (1982), in which sounds created by instruments blend seamlessly with environmental recordings.

The general sensation on Small Craft is one of disquieting expectation. Eno has always excelled at creating these kinds of eerie soundscapes with subliminal undercurrents, and his latest offering is fully loaded with foreboding. It isn't exactly a dark album — Eno eschews such obviousness — but the persistent sense of solitude has the potential to spook. At the very least, it's an immersive listening experience.http://brian-eno.net/seven-sessions/

Included below are tracks from the album and a rather hilarious fake interview with Eno conducted by Eno in rock critic drag.