My eight-year-old son once asked me if I liked jazz. “Sure,” I said (because I do). “WHY!? It’s so BORING?” I agreed to disagree and hopefully you will too after listening to these, not-so-boring, in my opinion, albums.
Floratone: Floratone II
A friend recently described Bill Frisell as an “American treasure” and I have to agree. The breadth, quantity, consistency and overall awesomeness of his output is rather astounding… the guys seems to appear on 5 superlative albums a year. This one is the second featuring Frisell with Matt Chamberlain, Lee Townsend and Tucker Martine and features some swinging, mind-massaging tracks from top to bottom. Like much of Frisell’s music it’s equal parts beautiful and otherworldly.
MOG: https://mog.com/m#album/64597557
Rhapsody: http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/floratone/album/
Amazon: http://amzn.com/B007BV7VF8
The Touré-Raichel Collective: The Tel Aviv Session
The best music transcends labels, borders and expectations and these guys succeed in all three. The serendipitous meeting of Idan Raichel from Israel and Vieux Farka Toure from Mali (in an airport in Germany of all places) resulted in a studio jam session in Tel Aviv that produced this truly amazing album of music. Just go listen to it, you can thank me later. And next time you’re stuck in an airport, remember the gorgeous music from this album was born in similar surroundings.
MOG: https://mog.com/m#album/65248703
Amazon: http://amzn.com/B007IPXMTQ
Get the Blessing: OCDC
As with all three of these albums, calling Get The Blessing “jazz” is selling it short. Here there is plenty of sharp-fanged rock and greased-pan funkiness to go around. This young British quartet’s sound brings to mind MMW or John Zorn’s Electric Masada at times. This album finds that sweet spot serving both the body and the mind. Pop it on, hit the repeat button and enjoy.
MOG: https://mog.com/m#album/64425323
Rhapsody: http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/get-the-blessing/album/oc-dc
Amazon: http://amzn.com/B0079KOBEK
3 Responses
Neddy: as always, thanks for the recommendations..i have found some new favs through your reviews in Zeus and TBLSH (going to see them tonight at Bowery). so, when i hear something new and exciting i feel like should reciprocate. when you have a few mins i think you should check a band called Extra Classic out of SF. start with with tune, “give me your love”, which sounds circa 1970 and is equally impressive and haunting. lemme know what you think and keep em coming.
Right on man, thanks for the feedback, enjoy BLSH tonight (I’ll be there as well)… and thanks for the rec, always welcome new recommendations, so will definitely check it out.
cool..i’d be interested to hear your opinion