Angelica Sanchez: Wires & Moss

Angelica Sanchez (piano)
Wires & Moss (Clean Feed; 2012)
Tony Malaby (sax)
Marc Ducret (guitar)
Drew Gress (bass)
Tom Rainey (drums)

Everyone knows I tend to rave about Fred Hersch and Jason Moran as my favourite modern pianists. But there are others that are emerging with the same talent and vision as these two future legends. Kris Davis is definitely one of those that I put in the list. Recently I have also been listening another bright and inventive composer, Angelica Sanchez.

Sanchez, now with her forth album (third for Clean Feed), hopefully will find a wider audience. With Wires & Moss, she explores an ever growing lyrical and conceptual structure that is both calm and free flowing. "Loomed" is an expansive piece with various layers of expression, tightly pulled together by Ducret, Malaby and Rainey. Sanchez and Gress play the static calm palate to the trio's frenetic brushes. But it's always the leader who carries the tune's soft undulating notes towards the close.

"Wires & Moss" is a stunning display of rolling melodies. Sanchez's performance is filled with multiple chord changes and jagged directional cues for the rest of the quintet. Early on, Ducret shines with crafty Arto Lindsay meets Thurston Moore type qualities. The piece moves up, down and outward. The rest of the group approach midway through and it becomes more poetic with each movement. Gress and Sanchez take the band quietly out with some beautiful passages.

Motionless might be the feeling you get from the closing number, "Bushido." This starts off gently but then moves roughly in staccato motion while consistently holding the listener in place. The entire quintet is scorching on this number and exemplifies Sanchez's creative vision that she has worked on since setting out as a leader over a decade ago.

Angelica Sanchez writes with a very cerebral approach that puts her in a category of the previous mentioned artist from my point of view. If you haven't experienced her music before--now is the time. Wires & Moss is absolutely brilliant and highly, highly recommended!

Black Motor w/Verneri Pohjola: Rubidium

Black Motor w/Verneri Pohjola
Ribidium (Tum Records; 2013)

Sami Sippola (sax)
Simo Laihonen (drums)
Ville Rauhala (bass)
Verneri Pohjola (trumpet)

A meeting of two growing sets of Finnish musicians, the Black Motor trio and Verneri Pohjola is a cause for celebration. The artfulness of Pohjola's trumpet and expansive sound of the Black Motor have produced the stellar, Rubidium. An album covers a small amount of ground but provides every bit of detail in the journey.

"Song Of India" (originally written by Rimsky-Korsakov, is wonderfully and creatively filled and stretched all over the place. While still keeping the underlining romantic nature of the original piece, the quartet do manage to bring in new bold structures that give the tune more improvisation and originality.

"Rubidium" and "Old Papa's Blues" feel like soulmates. Both tight ballad frameworks are definitely free formed epics that highlight each musician at their best during this session. A bright and intense conversion happens between Pohjola and Laihonen during the title that is just soft but still killer. "Old Papa's Blues" is an emotional dedication and celebration with the trio being more the focal point.

"Kynnyspuulla" is almost indescribable in its depth and beauty. Soulful, epic and the emotional distance that Sippola's sax travels in staggering. The piece is slow moving and drips with intensity. Moving passages of stillness and heartache, the quartet take the listener on a journey that is immediate and passionate.

Rubidium is a great session of young musicians with immense talent that continue to be on the rise. They are showing how expansive the Finnish jazz scene continues to be. This is an excellent outing and well worth checking out. I hope you dig it as much as I did.

Moskus: Salmesykkel

Moskus (trio)
Salmesykkel (Hubro Music; 2012)
Hans Hulbaekmo (drums)
Fredrik Luhr Dietrichson (bass)
Anja Lauvdal (piano)

Truly an unbelievably beautiful debut. Moskus show a balance maturity and youthfulness that breathes new life into a scene that is filled with trios that now starting to branch outward. With Salmesykkel, Moskus manage to keep things contemporary yet with clear traditional lyricism.

Moskus set aside the cold, distant nature usually associated with trios from the Scandinavian region in favour of keeping things simple. The title track opens the album with vibrancy and adventure. Lavdal's notes delicate, airy and inviting. Dietrichson and Hulbaekmo add textured beats that provide a subtle groove later incorporates small closing gospel lines. A beautifully written opening that carries a clam spirit throughout the session.

"Farlig Norsk Hengebru" is jovial and well collected. Hulbaekmo's drums and percussion drive the rhythm. While Lauvdal weaves in and out with improvised lines all with the background of a tight bass line melody from Dietrichson. The piece quickly becomes engrossing with the trio improvising their way into the closing notes.

"Dagen Derpa Og Veien Tellbaksjatt" and "Creperie De Marie" are more introspective and free moving pieces that show Moskus' capability of moving from captivating rhythms to personal and thought provoking themes. Closing on the trio's on name with "Moskus" is bold. Something about the piece for me had me thinking "what if Nick Cave laid down lyrics for this?" What an amazing collaboration. It's a dark ballad but executed with such beauty and grace you could cry.

Salmesykkel is a stunning achievement of maturity from a young trio that is still finding its voice. But that may come sooner than you think. This a superb debut from Moskus and highly recommended.

The Thing w/Neneh Cherry: The Cherry Thing

The Thing w/Neneh Cherry
The Cherry Thing (Smalltown Supersound; 2012)
The Cherry Thing Remixes (Smalltown Supersound; 2012)
Neneh Cherry (vocals)
Ingebright Haker-Flaten (bass)
Paal Nilssen-Love (drums)
Mats Gustafsson (sax)

For a group that has already covered Groove Armada, PJ Harvey as well as reconstructing free jazz over the last 15 years in various forms, The Thing teaming up with avant punk, soul wordsmith, Neneh Cherry is really nothing out of the ordinary. Together they have created the poetic, Cherry Thing. And it really demands your attention.

A rustic fusion of love and social consciousness through Cherry's lyrics and The Thing's ability to timely move from gentle to aggressive with superb balance. "Cashback" illustrates this agility with funk and free thinking and harsh lyrical content that knocks you back and keeps you fully engaged. Nilssen-Love, Gustafsson and Haker Flaten cut a crisp and incisive groove that on "Too Tough To Die" (written by Martina Topley Bird). With Cherry at the helm, she and the trio really make the piece their own. Slightly unrecognizable but completely excellent.

The ballad "What Reason Could I Give" beautifully closes the session with shimmering echo treatments on Cherry's vocals with an emotional backdrop of notes by the trio. Lovely stuff.

What better way to follow this superb session than with an equally unexpected but blistering re-interpretation, The Cherry Thing Remixes. Opening the album with the lovely closing number of the original "What Reason Could I Give" is even more haunting with muted and echo chamber piano notes clashing against 80's electro drums. Really turns the piece into a ghostly journey through love and despair.

"Accordion" is fierce with a mixture of pulverizing keyboards and treble effects that later creates a dreamlike atmosphere for a piece that originally hung on Cherry's rhymes. Now, engulfed in anthematic electronics yet still holding its effectiveness. "Golden Heart" is layered with tribal beats and wah wah guitars creating a hypnotic mixture that slowly builds but never overspills. Just as intense as the original but with more of a swirling romanticism.

One of my favourite groups, The Thing continue to do the creative and the challenging with every project. In both The Cherry Thing and The Remixes they have managed to capture the vibe of the avant garde and the dance floor with unbelievable results. These are two richly rewarding projects that should not be missed.