What's New?

[Ron Thorne]

To get things started, I'll ask a general and specific question.

On the jazz front, what projects have been recorded but have not been released yet?

Two of my all-time favorite drummers are Jack DeJohnette and Jon Christensen. I'm aware of Jack's latest output with Keith Jarrett & Gary Peacock in Somewhere, but haven't heard anything with Jon in the drum chair in a while. What's new with him?

There are so many wonderful recordings of these two men, but I never tire of their work.

Thanks in advance, Steve.

[Steve Lake]

Hi Ron,

Jon Christensen’s spent much of this year on the road with guitarist Jakob Bro’s trio,
with Thomas Morgan on bass. The group hasn’t yet recorded.
Jack DeJohnette was in Munich last week with Keith Jarrett’s trio, and sounded great.
One uncommon piece in the set of standards was “Is It Really The Same”, which Keith and Jack used to play with Charles Lloyd a long time ago...

ECM jazz (etc) to come in the next few months: Stefano Bollani has a live duo album, “O que sera”, with Brazilian bandolim (10-string mandolin) genius Hamilton de Holanda. ...Aaron Parks appears on two ECM releases, a solo album “Arborescence” , and an album called “Lua Ya” with South Korean singer Yeahwon Shin ...Ralph Towner introduces new guitar trio with Wolfgang Muthspiel and Slava Grigoryan (“Travel Guide”)...Two releases upcoming from John Abercrombie, “39 Steps” with Marc Copland, Drew Gress, Joey Baron, and a box set of 70s/80s recordings with Richie Beirach, George Mraz and Peter Donald... Carla Bley “Trios” (that’s the title) with Andy Sheppard and Steve Swallow ... Ralph Alessi’s “Baida” with Jason Moran, Drew Gress, Nasheet Waits ... There are new albums by Tim Berne’s Snakeoil (“Shadow Man”), Norma Winstone’s trio with Glauco Venier and Klaus Gesing (“Dance Without Answer”), and by Arild Andersen’s trio with Tommy Smith and Paolo Vinaccia....Not jazz but with very strong improvisational content: live duo set by Kayhan Kalhor and Erdal Erzincan, intertwining melodies from Persian and Anatolian traditions...

[Ron Thorne]

Hi, Steve

Thanks for the update on Jon Christensen. Here's hoping a new recording is in the works soon.

Would loved to have heard that set with Keith's trio in Munich!

Man, those new projects are substantial, and I'm already looking forward to those 70s/80s box sets, too. Also, "Not jazz but with very strong improvisational content: live duo set by Kayhan Kalhor and Erdal Erzincan, intertwining melodies from Persian and Anatolian traditions..." That's very intriguing, to say the least!



By the way, congratulations to ECM and Manfred Eicher for the recent awards from JJA and Downbeat Magazine!

Please feel free to post about other projects, news of interest, and to share photos and graphics at your pleasure, Steve.

[7/4]

ECM jazz (etc) to come in the next few months: Ralph Towner introduces new guitar trio with Wolfgang Muthspiel and Slava Grigoryan (“Travel Guide”)...Two releases upcoming from John Abercrombie, “39 Steps” with Marc Copland, Drew Gress, Joey Baron, and a box set of 70s/80s recordings with Richie Beirach, George Mraz and Peter Donald... There are new albums by Tim Berne’s Snakeoil (“Shadow Man”)...

I'm really looking forward to checking these out!

[drumsolo]

Good to have Steve back on the new forum!

[Ron Thorne]

Yes, it's wonderful that Steve has joined us here at JazzTalk. It's greatly appreciated.

Do you have a question for Steve, 7/4 or drumsolo?

[7/4]

Quite happy with the new Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri – Transylvanian Concert, although I'm still digesting it.

Planning on getting the new Stefano Scodanibbio, Reinventions soon.

[Mike Schwartz]

First casual listen (while at work) really nice!!

[jtx]

Steve,

I've listened to Jan Garbarek for years and saw him live on tour with the Hilliard Ensemble in Osaka, I believe in 1994 or 1995. Amazing performance.

I still have a soft spot for I Took Up the Runes, as well as the ensemble work of all the contributors on Gary Peacock's Guamba:



I've also enjoyed the work of Jan's daughter Anja, particularly Smiling & Waving:



Something I've been hoping to see is an album featuring a collaboration between Jan Garbarek and Anja Garbarek. Any chance of that on the horizon?

[7/4]

I love that Anja Garbarek album. I like her voice.

[jtx]

Also amazing that she was able to coax Mark Hollis out of retirement to both play on and produce the album.

[Ron Thorne]

This looks and sounds very exciting, but we'll have to wait until next week.




John Abercrombie’s revised quartet provides Marc Copland with his first appearance on ECM. Yet guitarist and pianist are old allies, with an association stretching back forty years. In the early 1970s both were members of Chico Hamilton’s quartet, and at the dawn of fusion both played with pioneering jazz-rock band Dreams. Since the late 1990s they’ve revived their partnership in diverse contexts and have toured in formations ranging from piano-guitar duo to trio with Kenny Wheeler to the cooperative group Contact with Dave Liebman and Billy Hart. For much of the last decade Abercrombie and Copland have also each had bassist Drew Gress as a regular member of their respective bands so “39 Steps” draws on a network of trusted relationships. Jazz ballads and lyricism predominate on this disc with six tunes from Abercrombie’s pen, two Copland tunes, one collective improvisation, and a creative deconstruction of the old standard “Melancholy Baby”. The album – produced by Manfred Eicher at New York’s Avatar Studio in April 2013 – is issued in time for a European tour by the quartet with concerts in France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Poland, Hungary and Macedonia.

Background

John Abercrombie Quartet
39 Steps

John Abercrombie guitar
Marc Copland piano
Drew Gress double bass
Joey Baron drums

Track listing -

Vertigo
LST
Bacharach
Greenstreet
As It Stands
Spellbound
Another Ralph’s
Shadow Of A Doubt
39 Steps
Melancholy Baby

Recorded April 2013
ECM 2334

Release Date: September 20th, 2013

[Steve Lake]

In case you’re travelling: This Friday (October 18) in Oslo, at the National Library on Soli Plass, there’s a seminar addressing ECM albums made in the Norwegian capital. The seminar will focus upon the music and, from different perspectives, discuss its production and reception. Speakers will include Manfred Eicher, Arild Andersen and engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug. Eicher has produced hundreds of sessions in Oslo since 1970. “From the very start”, the library’s press release says, “this work set a standard in studio production and many of the releases have become seminal in the history of recorded jazz. In 2013 ECM deposited their archive of master and production tapes from Rainbow Studio with the National Library of Norway for preservation and research purposes. With this as a backdrop, the National Library, in collaboration with the Department of Musicology of the University of Oslo, initiated this seminar.” The event begins at noon, and admission is free.

[Ron Thorne]

Thanks for that heads up, Steve. Sure wish I was traveling in the region and could take advantage of what will be shared by this remarkable trio.

Our friend Helge Sandvik (Sand) might be in attendance. I'll send him this information in case he's unaware of the event.

[relyles]

A few months ago I read an article on jazztimes.com that Mark Turner was scheduled to record an album with his quartet on ECM. Did that recording actually take place? If so, any estimate on when it will be released?

[Steve Lake]

Yes, the album was recorded at New York's Avatar Studio some months ago. It's not yet mixed, though that's happening soon. Release date hasn't yet been set. But 2014 will be a good year for Mark Turner followers. In addition to his own album, he will be heard on a new recording from the Billy Hart Quartet, and also guests on a new album from Stefano Bollani.

[relyles]

Yes, the album was recorded at New York's Avatar Studio some months ago. It's not yet mixed, though that's happening soon. Release date hasn't yet been set. But 2014 will be a good year for Mark Turner followers. In addition to his own album, he will be heard on a new recording from the Billy Hart Quartet, and also guests on a new album from Stefano Bollani.

Thank you. As a Mark Turner follower (and discographer), that is all very good news to me.

[jtx]

Is anything upcoming from Gianluigi Trovesi, particularly the Gianluigi Trovesi Ottetto? I have been enjoying Fugace since it was released.

[Steve Lake]

There's nothing scheduled with the Trovesi octet at the moment, but just a few days ago Gianluigi recorded in Lugano together with Anat Fort's trio. In January we will also be recording a Trovesi project with the Accademia Bizantina and Stefano Molinari ...

[Tom Storer]

About that Mark Turner quartet album: will that be his quartet with Avishaï Cohen on trumpet? I saw them in a superb concert last year.

[Steve Lake]

About that Mark Turner quartet album: will that be his quartet with Avishaï Cohen on trumpet? I saw them in a superb concert last year.

Yes, it is. Line-up is:

Mark Turner - tenor sax
Avishai Cohen - trumpet
Joe Martin - bass
Marcus Gilmore - drums

[bluenoter]

ECM jazz (etc) to come in the next few months: ...Ralph Towner introduces new guitar trio with Wolfgang Muthspiel and Slava Grigoryan (“Travel Guide”)...

It's now out (ECM 2310); see the review from DownBeat posted in JT's Record Reviews forum.

[bluenoter]

ECM jazz (etc) to come in the next few months: ... Ralph Alessi’s “Baida” with Jason Moran, Drew Gress, Nasheet Waits ...

That one too (ECM 2321) is now out . . .



. . . and other forthcoming albums that Steve Lake mentioned in July 2013 may now be out---

ECM jazz (etc) to come in the next few months: Stefano Bollani has a live duo album, “O que sera”, with Brazilian bandolim (10-string mandolin) genius Hamilton de Holanda. ...Aaron Parks appears on two ECM releases, a solo album “Arborescence” , and an album called “Lua Ya” with South Korean singer Yeahwon Shin ...Ralph Towner introduces new guitar trio with Wolfgang Muthspiel and Slava Grigoryan (“Travel Guide”)...Two releases upcoming from John Abercrombie, “39 Steps” with Marc Copland, Drew Gress, Joey Baron, and a box set of 70s/80s recordings with Richie Beirach, George Mraz and Peter Donald... Carla Bley “Trios” (that’s the title) with Andy Sheppard and Steve Swallow ... Ralph Alessi’s “Baida” with Jason Moran, Drew Gress, Nasheet Waits ... There are new albums by Tim Berne’s Snakeoil (“Shadow Man”), Norma Winstone’s trio with Glauco Venier and Klaus Gesing (“Dance Without Answer”), and by Arild Andersen’s trio with Tommy Smith and Paolo Vinaccia....Not jazz but with very strong improvisational content: live duo set by Kayhan Kalhor and Erdal Erzincan, intertwining melodies from Persian and Anatolian traditions...

[7/4]

ECM jazz (etc) to come in the next few months: ...Ralph Towner introduces new guitar trio with Wolfgang Muthspiel and Slava Grigoryan (“Travel Guide”)...

It's now out (ECM 2310); see the review from DownBeat posted in JT's Record Reviews forum.

I don't think this trio has played in NYC....would be nice.

[Ron Thorne]

Travel Guide is this trio's 2nd recording, but their 1st for ECM Records.

Listen to samples by clicking here.




Ralph Towner, Wolfgang Muthspiel & Slava Grigoryan - © Dániel Vass / ECM Records