Russell Malone's second CD for Maxjazz Live at Jazz Standard, Vol. 1 has a bit of a harder edge then Playground, his first session for the label. Well accompanied by pianist Martin Bejerano, bassist Tassili Bond and drummer Jonathan Blake on this live performances at the Jazz Standard, the guitarist focuses mostly on his challenging originals. "I Saw You Do It" is a marvelous example, an intricate, boundary stretching affair that is essentially a blues intermingled with post-bop and a touch of dissonance, while the breezy "Flirt" is more easygoing, built from a call and response pair of riffs that are developed into a full-fledged work. Malone's choice of Frank Rosolino's "Blue Daniel" may turn a few heads as he slowly transforms it from a jazz waltz setting into a cooking hard bop…
This live date from the titular Nagoya venue reveals the mellow side of Japanese free jazz. That could seem unlikely when considering the lead name, guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi, a maverick follower of Lennie Tristano who later turned to total freak-outs and noise, partnering with the likes of outsider saxophonist Kaoru Abe. Recorded nine months before his death 30 years ago this month, the concert finds him in the company of regular collaborator bassist Nobuyoshi Ino, plus celebrated pianist Masabumi Kikuchi, who died in 2015, sitting in during a trip home from his long sojourn in the U.S. Kikuchi, who worked with Miles Davis, Gil Evans, Dave Liebman and Joe Henderson, as well as a cooperative trio with Gary Peacock and Paul Motian, exerts a pull towards the tradition.
New York improvising guitarist Bill Frisell recording with Dutch/Belgian chanteuse Chantal Acda (Sleepingdog) at the 2017 Jazz Middelheim Fest, in Antwerp, Belgium, which they agreed to do based on mutual satisfaction of their collaboration on Acda's studio album "Bounce Back" that year, resulting in a wonderfully compatible concert of rich and beautiful music.