Maelstrom Run

Recorded live in Burghausen, Germany in 2007, Far Side features journeyman avant-garde saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell and his ensemble the Note Factory performing in a concert. Joining Mitchell here are trumpeter Corey Wilkes, pianists Craig Taborn and Vijay Iyer, bassists Jaribu Shahid and Harrison Bankhead, and drummers Tani Tabbal and Vincent Davis. Beginning with the epic three-part 30-minute suite "Far Side/Cards/Far Side," the concert is an atmospheric and cinematic mix of Mitchell's longstanding musical touchstones including free jazz, European classical music, and modern creative group improvisation. Tracks such as the fragmented and atonal "Quintet 2007 A for Eight" and the similarly inclined "Trio Four for Eight" have the feel of composed classical music while evincing a more freely improvised aesthetic. This is often achieved by juxtaposing bowed cello and bass parts against improvised piano and sections where each musician seems to interject a melodic idea into an overall harmonic theme. There are moments of layered percussion, expansive atonal soundscapes, and fiery and combative moments between Mitchell and Wilkes as well as windy, drawn-out passages that tilt upon silence. If you're a hardcore Mitchell aficionado and/or fan of ECM's cerebral jazz catalog, Far Side would be a stellar addition to your library.

Chu Berry - Classic Chu Berry Columbia and Victor Sessions (2007) {7CD Set Mosaic MD7-236 rec 1933-1941}
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© 1933-41, 2007 Columbia / Victor / Sony BMG / Mosaic Records / BMG | MD7-236
Jazz / Swing / Tenor Saxophone

This is a comprehensive collection with countless pivotal sessions. It features 203 separate recordings on seven CDs and collects both the sessions led by Chu Berry and other sessions where he contributed significantly as a sideman. You can study his remarkable surefootedness as a soloist; remember an era where evolution in the music was running rampant and Chu Berry's tenor saxophone was one of the things making it run.

Veteran Japan-based instrumental rock band MONO return with ‘OATH’, their 12th full-length album of genre-defying contemporary classical orchestration and transcendental guitar soundscapes in a career that has spanned four decades.

Dennis Warren's Full Metal Revolutionary Jazz Ensemble - Very Live (1994) {FMRJE–Not On Label}
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© 1994 FMRJE / Not On Label | [none]
Jazz / Contemporary Jazz / Psychedelic Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Drums

The Boston-based FMRJE belies the notion that the only thing happening in that city jazz-wise is the bebop played by whippersnappers at Berklee. Drummer Dennis Warren is apparently the leader of this outfit, but former Cecil Taylor sideman/trumpeter Raphe Malik takes composer credit on all but one of the tunes. Not that the tunes are particularly substantive – they serve merely as springboards for the collective improvisations to follow. The soloists are without exception first-rate.

Released in December 1970, King Crimson's third studio album, Lizard, is often viewed as an outlier in the pioneering British prog outfit's nearly half-century discography. It's not easily grouped with 1969's stunning In the Court of the Crimson King debut and 1970 follow-up In the Wake of Poseidon, and along with 1971's Islands it's considered a transitional release on the band's path toward the relative stability of the Larks' Tongues in Aspic (1973), Starless and Bible Black (1974), and Red (1974) trilogy. Plus, the Lizard sessions were difficult and the core group lineup acrimoniously collapsed immediately afterward, as bandleader/guitarist Robert Fripp, with lyricist Peter Sinfield, continued brave efforts to save King Crimson from disintegrating as the group's lengthy history was just getting underway.

Cecil Taylor - Live In The Black Forest (1978) {MPS Japan Mini LP, UCCU-9014 rel 2003}
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© 1978, 2003 MPS / Universal Japan | UCCU-9014
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Piano

A leader in the revolution that overtook jazz in the late 50’s and early 60’s, pianist Cecil Taylor’s ‘Unit’ groups reflect the move towards total ensemble Play. The concept of soloist and accompanist is abolished; instead, the improvisations consist of a continual interchange of ideas between players. Alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons played with Taylor from 1961 until Lyon’s death in 1986. Heavily influenced by Charlie Parker, his lyrical style helped tie Taylor’s style to more traditional jazz roots.