Diw Records

John Zorn & Masada - Vol. 8: Het (1997) {DIW Records Japan DIW-925}
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© 1997 DIW Records Japan | DIW-925
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Klezmer / Post Bop / World Fusion / Ethnic Jazz

Recorded four months after the fragmented loose ends of Masada, Vol. 7: Zayin, Masada seems to be settling into a new – perhaps mature or more conventional – phase with Masada, Vol. 8: Het. The frantic frenzy that drove its early releases is largely reined in, a couple of actual ballads sneak in the repertoire, and there are some solos by John Zorn or Dave Douglas with just the rhythm section instead of their usual countermelody exchanges. "Shechem" opens with very loose-limbed, Ornette Coleman-influenced free bop, with the two horns playing off Joey Baron's light tom-tom touch before Zorn takes a very melodic, flowing soloing on his own until organically handing it off to Douglas.

John Zorn & Masada - Vol. 10: Yod (1998) {DIW Records Japan DIW-935}
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© 1998 DIW Records Japan | DIW-935
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Klezmer / Post Bop / World Fusion / Ethnic Jazz

From its first manic blast, it's clear that Masada, Vol. 10: Yod is going to be one of John Zorn and company's wildest, most confident works. It's also one of the most accessible, though that's hardly a safe recommendation: like all of the Masada series' works, Yod is not a friendly listen. The middle section of the album, though, with its gentle, hypnotic pace, offers a reprieve from the intensity of the other compositions. What continues to impress in this, their tenth release, is the group's relentless energy and the sheer brilliance of their interplay. The incredibly visceral soloing of Zorn and Dave Douglas, the mesmerizing, exotic pulse: all are the trademarks of one of jazz's greatest units, a group practically exploding with talent and ideas.

John Zorn & Masada - Vol. 7: Zayin (1998) {DIW Records Japan DIW-915}
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© 1998 DIW Records Japan | DIW-915
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Klezmer / Post Bop / World Fusion / Ethnic Jazz

Masada's seventh volume sounds almost like an odds-and-sods collection. It's a more fragmentary and disparate disc that doesn't have much musical middle ground – the extremes between the group's atonal free improv bursts and its more melodic or atmospheric pieces are very pronounced. "Shevet" has a more overt klezmer influence and almost timbales tones from Joey Baron, while the segmented "Hath-Arob" is very Ornette Coleman-like before breaking down into free-blow sections.

John Patton - Minor Swing (1994) {DIW Records Japan Mini LP} (ft. John Zorn)
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© 1995 DIW Records / Disk Union | DIW-896
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Hard Bop / Organ

An organ trio fronted by an avant-garde alto saxophonist like John Zorn isn't usually a combination associated with groove oriented soul-jazz. Luckily, on Minor Swing, organist Big John Patton and John Zorn encourage taking chances and opening the music up, while not going so far out as to overwhelm the intended fundamental groove. Zorn sounds comfortable and content, always maintaining his individuality, taking a cue from tenor saxophonist Harold Alexander who played in a similar "out" style on Patton's 1968 session for Blue Note, Boogaloo.

Franco Cerri - Chitarra (1964) {Japan Mini LP DIW-3019 rel 2009}
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© 1964, 2009 Columbia Records Italy / DIW Records | DIW-3019
Jazz / Cool / Bop / Guitar

Beautiful work from Franco Cerri — a really unique guitar jazz session that features his talents in a host of different settings ! The players vary throughout the set — so that one number only features a duo with bass, but others feature larger lineups that include Gianni Basso on tenor, Dino Piana on trombone, Oscar Valdambrini on trumpet, Renato Sellani on piano, and Giancarlo Barigozzi on flute – all key Italian players of the 60s who really get room to sparkle on the record! Cerri's tone runs from smoothly jazzy on the group numbers to a bit more raw and personal on some of the more stripped-down ones – and titles include "Chit Car", "Blues For Jo", "Bassezza", "New Nova", "Stardust", and "Blues Dei Framasteni".

Franco Cerri - Franco Cerri and His European Jazz Stars (1959) {Japan Mini LP DIW-3018 rel 2009}
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© 1959, 2009 Columbia Records Italy / DIW Records | DIW-3018
Jazz / Cool / Bop / Guitar / Saxophone

A gem of a session from Italian guitarist Franco Cerri — recording here at the end of the 50s with a well-titled batch of European jazz stars ! The groups shift slightly throughout the set, and players include Lars Gullin on baritone sax, Flavio Ambrosetti on alto, George Gruntz on piano, and Pierre Favre on drums ! The album features one trio track, three quartet numbers, three quintet tunes, and one sextet cut — all of them with Cerri's illuminating single-line work on guitar — sounding especially nice next to the horns. Ambrosetti is a real treat here — a sharp-edged player we'd never heard before, working with a strong undercurrent of soul that we really appreciate.

Trio Transition (R. Workman, M. Miller, F. Waits) - Trio Transition (1988) {DIW}
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© 1988 DIW Records | DIW-808
Jazz / Post Bop / Piano

Trio Transition were a short-lived trio consisting of pianist Mulgrew Miller, bassist Reggie Workman, and drummer Frederick Waits; this is the first of the only two CDs they recorded for DIW prior to Waits' death in 1989. The two standards include a driving version of "I Hear a Rhapsody" and an easygoing "Like Someone in Love," though most of the session focuses on originals. Miller contributed three songs, including the constantly shifting post-bop vehicle "No Sidestepping," the unusually structured ballad "Whisper," and the thoughtful hard bop tune "Second Thoughts," the latter a tune that shows the influence of James Williams, with whom Miller had recorded previously while working with Art Blakey.

Sun Ra - Live from Soundscape (1979) {2CD DIW-388 Japan Limited Edition rel 1994}
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© 1979, 1994 DIW Records Japan | DIW-388
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Experimental Big Band / Progressive Jazz

This CD should be essential for anyone who is a fan of Sun Ra. It is a live concert from Soundscape (recorded on November 11, 1979), featuring such classics as "Astro Black" "Discipline 27," and "Space is the Place," among many others. While the concert could have been recorded or mixed a little better (some of the vocals and instruments are occasionally hard to hear), the performance is brilliant. Mr. Ra, June Tyson, John Gilmore et al. really give the music a vitality that is inspirational and at times staggeringly beautiful.

Esbjorn Svensson Trio - When Everyone Has Gone (1993) {2004 Japan diskUnion Edition DIW-480}
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© 2004 Dragon Records / diskUnion | DIW-480
Jazz / Post Bop / Progressive Jazz / Piano / Electronic

Clearly it's difficult to listen to any jazz recording without making comparisons with other great artists who have gone before them. In the last couple of decades, the position occupied by Keith Jarrett's Standards Trio has almost demanded that such comparisons should be made with them, and those who are fans of Jarrett will not be disappointed here. But this 1993 (and also pre-ACT) recording in the wide-ranging catalogue of the Esbjorn Svensson Trio not only establishes them as artists who march to the beat of their own orignal drum, but offers the listener a signpost to how the trio would emerge over the next decade or so.

Like so many American players, Sweden's Esbjorn Svensson has backed his share of pop artists but is essentially a jazz improviser at heart. Svensson's enthusiasm for improvisation came through loud and clear on his Dragon dates of the 1990s, one of which was the decent When Everybody Has Gone. Backed by fellow Swedes Dan Berglund (bass) and Magnus Ostrom (drums), Svensson favors the piano trio format and draws on post-bop influences like Chick Corea, Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett on the standard "Stella By Starlight" and originals ranging from the pensive "4 a.m." to the melancholy "Waltz for the Lonely Ones" and the Middle Eastern-influenced "Mohammed Goes to New York." Much of Svensson's work tends to be introspective and impressionistic, but things get surprisingly funky and almost Horace Silver-ish on "Tough Tough."