Jazz – Page 9 – musicophilesblog – From Keith Jarrett to Johannes Brahms

A Duo of Jazz Piano and Organ? Seriously? Yes!!!!

The Jazz Organ

I haven’t written a lot about the organ in Jazz yet. This is because I don’t very often listen to it.

I mean, there are some legendary album’s like Jimmy Smith’s The Cat, which I love, but in total I have less than 15 jazz organ albums in my library (which contains 7-8,000 albums).

Michel Petrucciani

However, why haven’t I written about Michel Petrucciani yet? This French genius on the piano?

He was born with a rare genetic disease which lead to very brittle bones and a very short body height. But when you see him on the piano, you can be nothing but amazed:

I guess the reason why I didn’t write about him yet is because some of his later albums went into a certain style I didn’t necessarily like that much.

But there is one album I’ve treasured for two decades now, that combines a Jazz organ and Michel Petrucciani, and guess what, nothing else!

Conférence de Presse (Dreyfus 1994)

This album was recorded at the Petit Journal Montparnasse, a Paris Jazz club I used to go to when I lived in Paris years ago. But unfortunately I wasn’t at this particular concert, which is very much of a pity.

Michel Petrucciani Eddy Louiss Conférence de Presse Dreyfus 1994

But let me introduce the second musician first: Eddy Louis. He’s a French pianist, but better known for his organ. He played with Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie and any other Jazz greats.

I’m pretty sure you don’t have many duo albums of an organ and piano in your collection. So why should you have this one?

Very simply, because it swings like hell.

You already get an idea from the Youtube clip above about what Petrucciani can do with a classic like Caravan. Now add an organ to that, and you get a performance you won’t forget that quickly.

And there’s another true gem on this album when it comes to standards: Summertime. Obviously, nothing beats the legendary performance of Ella & Louis, but this really is an extremely entertaining version.

Check it out!

My rating: 4 stars

Unfortunately, the album is not that easy to find individually.

Qobuz has it as part of a 5 CD box: http://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/conference-de-presse-both-world-solo-flamingo-trio-in-tokyo-michel-petrucciani/3460503694026

And you find it on Amazon, often used: https://www.amazon.com/Conférence-Presse-Michel-Petrucciani/dp/B004A3INP2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477118700&sr=8-1&keywords=petrucciani+conference+de+presse

Il Canto Delle Montagne – Beautiful Trio Jazz by Thierry Maillard

Streaming

I mentioned before that I subscribe to a streaming subscription. This truly is an amazing music discovery tool. It’s like having a huge record shop (remember those) in your own house and on the go 24/7.

I was late to the game and started streaming less than 18 month ago. How stupid of me.

Well obviously, there’s the issue that artists don’t make enough money from streaming. That’s why I, even if I don’t have to, I end up buying albums from the relevant artists I really like anyhow, and everybody should do the same, or even better, go to see them live if you can.

That said, for browsing and discovering new stuff there is simply nothing better.

Thierry Maillard: Il Canto Delle Montagne

The other day I was going through Qobuz “Nouveautés” on my Iphone (I use their app in French, the translations can occasionally be a bit clunky, although they are getting more international these days). I have the genres set to “Classique “and “Jazz”, so new albums in both categories show up here.

More out of boredom I clicked on a relatively ugly cover, a picture of a mountain scene with the Italian title “Il Canto Delle Montagne”. Even my quite poor Italian tells me this means “The Song of the Mountains” in a pretty ugly font (see below). I was expecting something either very rural or very esoteric.

Thierry Maillard Andre Ceccarelli Dominique di Piazza Il Canto Delle Montagne 24/88 2016 Ilona Records

Then I started playing. And noticed I got a really nice piano trio. I clicked on the album cover to enlarge and finally noticed in small white letters that we’re talking about Thierry Maillard’s latest album.

I knew this French pianist from his 2013 album Beyond the Ocean, which I really liked. OK, so moving from the sea to the mountains now.

Now what should you expect from this album? Well, the easiest is to click on the Youtube link below to get an idea, but basically this is very melodic trio jazz, in the way I realyl like it. André Ceccarelli is a French drum legend, who’s played a lot of jazz but also with pop artists like Sting or Tina Turner. He is one of the best drummers France has to offer.

I must admit I didn’t know Dominique Di Piazza, the French bassist, but it turns out he played with John McLaughlin in the past. He doesn’t limit himself to the traditional upright double bass, but goes into electric bass playing quite a bit.

Therefore, very experienced personnel here, and it shows. They pay a lot of attention to each other, and therefore each of the 16 tracks, are worth discovering. We’re not getting a lot of standards, but originals. Some background reading about the album tells me it was essentially composed after the Bataclan terrorist attacks in Paris. However, there’s no terror in here, just beauty.

My rating: 4 stars

You can find it here (Qobuz)

Reis/Demuth/Wiltgen: Places in Between – A Review

The Jazz Piano Trio

As regular readers know, I’m always on the lookout for new piano trios, as it is one of my favorite art forms.

The trio I’ll be writing below isn’t new to me, I already discovered them with their previous album, which was simply titled Reis/Demuth/Wiltgen and released on the French label Laborie Jazz.

Reis/Demuth/Wiltgen

The naming of the band isn’t very complicated to explain, as we have Michel Reis on piano, Marc Demuth on bass, and Paul Wiltgen on drums.

All three come from Luxembourg, the small place in the middle of Europe known to most people as a tax haven, and somehow next to Brussels and Strasbourg host to some of the EU institutions. Beyond those clichés it’s actually a beautiful little place.

I really liked their first debut album on Laborie, so I was very curious to hear their latest release, which came out some weeks ago in August.

Places In Between (Double Moon Records 2016)

Reis-Demuth-Wiltgen Places in Between Double Moon 2016

So how do I like it? Well to be honest, I liked their previous album better, I found it more inspiring.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a well done jazz trio album. You can really feel that the three musicians are well connected, this isn’t some collection of stars just put together for one album.

So what’s my issue with it? I guess it’s probably the songs. All are “nice”, but I don’t know, they leave me hungry for more.

More of what? If only I knew. I guess this won’t be the most useful music review I’ve ever written, as I keep rambling without giving you anything concrete. There are nice moments, e.g. the melodic developments on Joule’s Last Glimpse, the light swing of The Story of You and Me, or the excellent drive of Paul Wiltgen on Shai.

And it is really hard to put my finger on it as there’s really nothing wrong with the album.

I’ll just leave it at that and recommend their 2013 album instead, and wait if the new album grows on me. It has happened before.

Reis/Demuth/Wiltgen Laborie Jazz 2013

My rating: 3 stars (could eventually turn into 4 stars, let’s see) for Places In Between, and 4 stars for Reis/Demuth/Wiltgen.

You can download the former album here (Qobuz).

UPDATE Sep 10, 2017: It seems like Places In Between is now hard to find beyond the Itunes store.

Recommended: Julia Hülsmann Trio – Imprint

The Jazz Piano Trio

I’ve said it before, we really do live in the Golden Age of the Jazz Piano trio (actually, I’ve even started a discussion thread on this prior to starting this blog, see here (http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f15-music-general/are-we-living-golden-age-jazz-piano-trio-18603/)

Women in Jazz?

Are we living in the Golden Age for female Jazz musicians? Probably not yet. Traditionally, in Jazz women were pretty much set to the role of singer. If they could play the piano, even better (e.g. Nina Simone, Diana Krall, or more recently Sarah McKenzie), all fine, but go find a female instrumentalist, and you’ll have a much harder time. Carla Bley, Hiromi, Maria Schneider, and that’s were my list (from memory) ends.

Hold on, there is one more (actually 2-3 more, watch this space for future articles):

Julia Hülsmann

Julia Hülsmann, German, is one of these exceptions (and actually, has studies with Maria Schneider in the past).

Her regular trio is featuring two other excellent musicians, Mark Muellbauer on bass and Heinrich Köbberling on drums.

I discovered her during the release concert of her album Imprint at Moods in Zurich, back in 2011, and this album to this day remains my favorite one of her.

Since then I’ve also seen her play live with Theo Bleckmann music from her latest release of Kurt Weill music (to be reviewed another time) at Nochtspeicher in Hamburg.

Julia Hülsmann Trio: Imprint (ECM 2011)

Julia Hülsmann Trio Imprint ECM 2011

Imprint is her second album on ECM after the equally exciting The End Of Summer.

My favorite tracks are Grand Canyon, with a great rhythmic drive, Zahlen bitte, which starts with a great drum solo by Köbberling, and Ulmenwall. The album is typical ECM house style, very lyrical, and very well recorded.

My rating: 4 stars

You can find it here (Qobuz), and here (HDtracks)

Recommended: Ted Rosenthal Trio – My Funny Valentine – A Review

This album was flagged to me some time ago by fellow music lover Melvin, and I must admit it is really nice.

I’ve been collecting piano trio albums for quite a while now, and this was a great new discovery for me.

Ted Rosenthal Trio: My Funny Valentine (Venus 2008)

NYC based Ted Rosenthal plays here with George Mraz and Al Foster.

This album reminds me a lot of Oscar Peterson, and actually, George Mraz at some point has played with Oscar.

This album is all about relaxed swing, some may think it is a bit too “straight”, but if you like this kind of style (e.g. Oscar Peterson’s Night Train) you should really give it a go.

Beyond Mraz, Al Foster really is the driving force behind this album. This drum legend, who has played with all of the great Jazz names from (Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, etc. etc., it’s nearly easier to list who he hasn’t played with).

Already the starting track is really nice: You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To, a standard I have on more than 10 albums, including Keith Jarrett (it’s on At The Blue Note), this could easily become one of my favorite versions.

Another highlight follows: the title track, My Funny Valentine, a beautiful ballad of nearly 7 minutes.

And you’ll find another great classic near the end of the album: Summertime, in a truly enjoyable version.

Recommended!

My rating: 4 stars

You can find it here (Qobuz, as 16/44 download) and here (Acoustic Sounds, the original SACD)

Brad Mehldau Trio: Blues and Ballads – A Review

Brad Mehldau

I have an ambiguous relationship to Brad Mehldau’s music. On the one hand, I’ve featured him both in my 25 Essential Jazz albums, and My Top 10 Jazz Covers of Pop Songs, which means there is stuff he’s done I really love and would rate 5 star.

I also liked his recent 10 Years Solo Live album which I have yet to review, and had a ticket for one of his recent solo concerts (which unfortunately I couldn’t attend as a gastric flu had knocked me out).

On the other hand, there are albums I just loathe, and give them a solid two stars (really not my cup of tea), e.g. Largo.

Nevertheless, I’ve been following him quite closely, you just never know what you get next.

Blues and Ballads (Nonesuch 2016)

So obviously, the moment the new trio album came out (just some days ago), I started streaming it.

So, are we in two or five star territory here?

Brad Mehldau Trio Blues and Ballads 24 88 Nonesuch 2016

Actually, neither nor.

My first impression here is “quite nice”. And not in the indirect sense that the word nice these days is quite regularly used, I actually kind of like it.

There are some beautiful ballads, several of them 9 or 10 minutes long (something I often appreciate, as it gives the music more time to develop).

Some of my favorite tracks are the two last ones on the album And I Love Her, and My Valentine. These two alone, for my particular taste, make the album worth checking out.

On the other hand, when we go to the first part of the album title, the Blues part, I’m less convinced. There are tracks I personally could easily live without, e.g. Cheryl, where to my ears the trio tries to sound like Monk but doesn’t really succeed.

Another really enjoyable track is the Jon Brion cover Little Person, confirming again that Mehldau plays an important role in bringing the contemporary Pop repertoire into Jazz.

So overall, a slightly mixed bag, but I still like the good tracks of the album enough to recommend the entire thing. Will I buy this (which I do for my personal favorites and to support the artist) or stick to streaming? Time will tell, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up clicking on the buy button eventually.

In any case, give it a try!

My rating: 4 stars (this is one more of the cases where I was hesitating to give 3.5 stars, but I don’t want to stray away from my own rating scale, and the good songs on this album are really worth it).

You can find it here (Qobuz) and here (Nonesuch’s own online store)

Charlie Haden’s Nocturne – Music for the Tropical Summer Nights

For us here in the Northern Hemisphere, summer is finally on it’s way.

The ideal location for this album is outside, in the warm breeze of a tropical evening, sipping a nicely aged Dominican rum, a Pisco Sour, or maybe even just a Gin and Tonic (no Schweppes please though…).

The ideal place would be sitting by a pool, with the sea not too far away. And obviously, the essential part would be sitting there with your favorite other half.

Got the picture? If you’re not there right now, get onto your streaming service of choice and play this album, at least mentally you’ll be there in no time:

Charlie Haden – Nocturne (Verve 2001)

Another way to give you an idea about this beautiful album is a reference to Ray Cooder’s Buena Vista Social Club, that during some points of the late 1990s you simply couldn’t get away from in any bar or restaurant you walked in pretty much anywhere on the planet.

This really overdosed me for the next decade, and I only recently rediscovered the new high-res release of Buena Vista, and now enjoy it again, but in moderate doses.

Charlie Haden Nocturne Verve 2001

However, Nocturne has been with me and on regular rotation since I first discovered it in 2004.

But by now you really get the picture, I assume. Charlie Haden is playing soft latin rhythms, inspired by Cuba and Mexico, and this is really made for the late night.

Charlie Haden

I’ve only seen Haden live once in Paris, but was very fond of him, so his recent passing made me sad. I really don’t know why I haven’t written about him yet, he has done so many beautiful albums, and is one of my favorite bass players. Well, watch this space.

Outstanding Musicians

Charlie has assembled an outstanding team of musicians here. Gonzalo Rubalcaba is a great pianist (saw him once live in solo, great experience), Ignacio Berroa on drums, Pat Metheny (that I’m generally not that fond of, except when he plays with Haden), Federico Britos Ruiz on the violin. Joe Lovano (excellent, he also played when I saw Haden live in Paris at Vincennes Jazz) and David Sanchez keep relatively low profile on this album, but are there when you need them to.

So by now you have a pretty good idea of what to expect. Please, given the title of both the album and several songs (Noche de Ronda, Nocturnal, Moonlight, Nightfall), really listen to this album late at night, that is when it does all it’s magic.

Usually receiving a Grammy isn’t necessarily a safe gauge of quality (I still need to figure out what criteria they use, but they not very often get close to my taste), but in this case, the 2002 Grammy for best latin album was spot on.

My rating: 5 stars

You can find it here (Qobuz) or here (Spotify), or quite overpriced at Amazon.

The Jazz Organ

Michel Petrucciani

Conférence de Presse (Dreyfus 1994)

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Streaming

Thierry Maillard: Il Canto Delle Montagne

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The Jazz Piano Trio

Reis/Demuth/Wiltgen

Places In Between (Double Moon Records 2016)

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The Jazz Piano Trio

Women in Jazz?

Julia Hülsmann Trio: Imprint (ECM 2011)

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Ted Rosenthal Trio: My Funny Valentine (Venus 2008)

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Brad Mehldau

Blues and Ballads (Nonesuch 2016)

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Charlie Haden

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