Here, please find links to DFSBP's annual rundown of my favorite music of the year, in five parts:
1. Overall top 11, with introductory remarks and disclaimers
2. Jazz top 11
3. Honorable mentions and historical titles, all genres in play
4. Live shows
5. Assorted other shout-outs and a few farewells
Thank you for reading!
PS: As usual the archives of yearly top 10 lists — both all-genre and jazz-only — have been updated with the new entries.
[This is part 5 of 5 of the DFSBP 2023 rundown; find the other parts here.]
A few other assorted shout-outs:
The best pop song I heard this year was Tyla's serene, sensuous "Water" (just listen). That Blink-182 ballad really grew on me as well!
The best music book I read this year was Aidan Levy's encyclopedic yet somehow compulsively readable Saxophone Colossus, with nods to Michael Azerrad's newly annotated version of his definitive Nirvana bio Come as You Are, the latest volume in Jeremy Pelt's invaluable Griot interview-compendium series, illuminating memoirs by Henry Threadgill and Geddy Lee, Ray Padgett's engrossing Bob Dylan sideman tome Pledging My Time, and Alex Pappademas and Joan LeMay's hysterical and profoundly insightful Steely Dan companion Quantum Criminals.
The best music doc I saw this year was The Drum Also Waltzes, Sam Pollard and Ben Shapiro's sensitive, unflinching chronicling of the life and work of Max Roach.
The best music Substack I kept up with this year was Vinnie Sperrazza's Chronicles, clearly the product of a soul-deep devotion to drumming, jazz and the miracle of music, with nods to Jake Malooley's unreasonably entertaining Steely Dan deep dive Expanding Dan, Nate Chinen's 360-degree jazz forum The Gig, and Piotr Orlov and Steve Smith's respective indefatigable NYC-focused resources on music both live and recorded, Dada Strain and Night After Night.
Oh, and I wrote a lot less this year than I would have liked, but I'm really proud of this Tony Williams Lifetime deep dive for Pitchfork (thank you Jeremy D. Larson for the assignment!) and this Bandcamp Daily interview with death-metal visionary and Demilich mastermind Antti Boman.
***
Some other year-end lists/recaps I've enjoyed as I've made my way around the web in recent weeks:
John Delzoppo (also mentioned above but ICYMI!)
Melanie Loves Death Metal
Calder Hannan // Metal Music Theory
Last Rites crew
Rolling Stone crew
Machine Music
Nate Chinen
Giovanni Russonello
Phil Freeman // Ugly Beauty
***
And a moment of remembrance and tribute for a few personal heroes:
Tony Oxley, a beacon of truth and individuality who dreamed up a new universe of percussion.
Wayne Shorter, the eternal explorer, fun-loving enigma and composer nonpareil.
Peter Brötzmann, the unrepentant extremist with a poet's heart.
Robbie Robertson, the guitar-wielding bard who showed America its deep-rooted song.
Richard Davis, the greatest bassist who ever lived.
and...
Lon "Spoth" Hackett, bassist for Sulaco, a long-running Rochester outfit deeply dedicated to its depraved art, a fearless hybrid of noise rock and technical death metal. Following his death in May, they recorded the last two songs they wrote with him and released an excellent two-song single (fittingly titled Spoth) in his honor. Check this one out and explore the back catalog as well.
Chuck Stern, a contemporary and fellow traveler in the New York scene. I didn't know him well, but I shared bills and sat across tables from him on many occasions, and he was both a tirelessly driven creator and an unusually kind person. We will miss you, Chuck. For more on his impact and his output, see these words and this survey by his lifelong friend and collaborator Charlie Looker.
[This is part 3 of 5 of the DFSBP 2023 rundown; find the other parts here.]
10 honorable mentions
Other 2023 releases — not cited anywhere in the overall or jazz rundowns — that I think are great and worth your time:
Autopsy, Ashes, Organs, Blood and Crypts (Peaceville)
A flood of death-metal legacy acts released new albums this year, including my perennial faves Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, Incantation and Suffocation, but while I dug all those records and look forward to spending more time with them, from where I'm sitting, the best 2023 album by an iconic death-metal band was this one right here. Colossally heavy and fueled by the still-feral spirit of true lifers Chris Reifert, Danny Coralles and Eric Cutler. Huge kudos to these dudes for keeping the new material flowing in a nostalgia-fixated scene.
Mutoid Man, Mutants (Sargent House)
As I mentioned in the prelude to this year-end survey, I really fell hard for Cave In this year, and that led to a wider exploration of Stephen Brodsky's gifts. Mutoid Man are a truly radical band, in the adolescent, dirt-bikes-and-half-pipes sense. They're fast and hyperactive and relentlessly anthemic, and they just seem to keep getting better at churning out these action-packed hardcore-meets-thrash nuggets.
Calling Hours, Say Less (Revelation)
During the past few years, I've stumbled across a handful of '90s or early-2000s underground-rock records that have really turned my world around. Near or at the top of that list is Farside's The Monroe Doctrine, which sounds something like a post-hardcore Hüsker Dü — just the perfect combination of sophisticated songcraft and basement-show energy. And one of that band's two singer-songwriters, the immensely talented Michael "Popeye" Vogelsang, resurfaced this year on a goddamn great EP that capitalizes on all his familiar gifts. I'd recommend this to anyone who loves not just Farside, but also ALL and any other smart, sophisticated poppy-yet-punky-but-not-exactly-pop-punk rock you could name.
Zulu, A New Tomorrow (Flatspot)
A true vanguard band, Zulu unite the far-flung diaspora of Black music here, from chilled-out R&B to amped-up hardcore, into a glorious whole, sometimes excoriating, sometimes soothing and always riveting.
Krallice, Mass Cathexis 2 — The Kinetic Infinite + Porous Resonance Abyss (self-released)
Speaking of vanguard bands! I'm going to take the liberty of quoting myself here, since I'm not sure I can better capture my feelings re: existing in the same timeline as this crew and their roughly biannual output: "One of the greatest feelings in contemporary music is being blindsided a couple times a year by the frenzied imagination and relentless progression of this band. 'Prolific' is one thing, but this isn’t just about quantity; it’s about raising the bar every single time. A privilege to witness/partake!" Mass Cathexis 2 continues their wild ongoing collab with Neurosis member Dave Edwardson, while The Kinetic Infinite and Porous Resonance Abyss further their journey into the furthest reaches of mind-expanding space-prog.
Andre 3000, New Blue Sun (Epic)
In some ways this one seemed more like a cultural event / discussion topic than an album. The dialogue surrounding it was lively, thought-provoking and at times, as in Harmony Holiday's reading, downright brilliant. And though it might be impossible to fully clear away all the context and focus on this simply as a sonic experience, no one could say that Andre 3000 and his collaborators didn't make every effort to cultivate that sort of sound-bath serenity.
Tamio Shiraishi, Subway Stations in Queens (Otoroku)
Call me crazy but I honestly see a strong parallel between New Blue Sun and this, just in the sense of "a document of one man's almost worshipful devotion to his chosen instrument." In Andre's case, the flute (or, more specifically, an electronic variant thereof); in Tamio Shiraishi's case, the alto saxophone, which he employs in the most personal of ways. For years, the indefatigable avant-jazz fan, documentor, facilitator Kevin Reilly, owner of the prolific and vital Relative Pitch label, has been filming Shiraishi's regular trips down into the NYC subway to play his horn. From what I can tell, this isn't busking, nor is it really practice, nor is it quite performance; it seems more like communion. And the results, pairing Shiraishi's trademark piercing, fluttering squeals, which (I believe) harness a register above the horn's natural range, with the faint sounds of traffic above and the arrivals and departures of trains, are hauntingly gorgeous. The same goes for this verité audio compilation, which seems to me like a sort of ultimate document of that unique desolation that somehow manages to persist within the city's constant commotion.
Sunwatchers, Music Is Victory Over Time (Trouble in Mind)
Consciousness-raising punk-jazz, alternately blaring and meditative, that occasionally arrives at similar zones to the aforementioned Mendoza Hoff triumph but via a totally different path. Imagine the 1966 Albert Ayler band multiplied by early-aughts DIY shred heroes Ecstatic Sunshine, and that puts you somewhere in the ballpark of this joyful noise. I really need to see this band live, stat. (For more in this fruitful musical interzone, check out "Second Freedom: Every God Needs a Witness," the latest offering from New Freedom Sound, Jawbox drummer Zach Barocas' fascinating and aptly named minimalism-meets-avant-jazz-meets-ecstatic-chant ensemble.)
Imelda Marcos, Agita (self-released)
Can't remember how or where I stumbled across this four-song EP from Chicago outfit Imelda Marcos (formerly featuring a vocalist; now an instrumental two-piece), but it drew me in instantly. Burly noise-prog — emphasis on the noise — that combines the live-wire charge and DIY virtuosity of the great early-to-mid-2000s avant-rock duos (Hella definitely come to mind) with the massive asymmetrical groove of Meshuggah and sprinkles of Battles-y sleekness. Abrasive as hell yet also unabashedly fun and compulsively body-moving. I imagine that this music absolutely detonates in the live setting, and I hope to witness that go down someday, but in the meantime, this is a ripping and brutally effective release.
And lastly, Significance, the latest effort by my ever-brilliant/-prolific friend Nick Podgurski's shapeshifting Feast of the Epiphany project. Rich, moving, layered art pop, centered on Nick's exacting yet highly emotive croon — in a way some of the most conventional music he's ever made, but still embodying that otherworldly, unclassifiable quality that marks all his work. Truly a must-hear. (And many thanks to my friend John D. for reminding me about this one, which got lost in the year-end shuffle — his year-end recap and playlist are always worth perusing!)
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historical top 10 (+1)
Here
are 10 historical titles (either reissues or newly issued material from
the vault) I loved this year, in no particular order, plus one additional plug:
Abdul Wadud, By Myself (Gotta Groove)
This,
for me, is really one of the greatest albums, full stop. And this
reissue is a godsend. It was an enormous honor and pleasure to provide some context for the Times.
Fred Anderson, The Milwaukee Tapes, Vol. 2 (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
Despite having been something of a Fred Anderson completist in the past, the first volume of The Milwaukee Tapes,
issued way back in 2000, flew under my radar. Thankful to have another
crack at this body of work via a very welcome sequel, because this
band, with trumpeter Billy Brimfield, bassist Larry Hayrod and drummer
Hank (later to be known as Hamid) Drake, is just pure delight. A
must-hear for any Fred fan.
Barry Altschul, David Izenzon and Perry Robinson, Stop Time: Live at Prince Street, 1978 (NoBusiness)
For
all I know, this trio only existed for one night in October 1978, but
man, do they sound great. Altschul is in his most swinging mode here,
and Robinson, always an up-for-anything improviser, sounds totally in
the zone riding the groove provided by the drummer and the brilliant,
underdocumented bassist Izenzon. This is another one, like the Leap Day Trio
disc in the jazz top 10 above, that really embodies that eternal freebop groove. Glorious
fly-on-the-wall sonics on this one too — grateful that NoBusiness saw
fit to put it out.
Milford Graves with Arthur Doyle and Hugh Glover, Children of the Forest (Black Editions)
The
Milford Graves archives are starting to bear fruit via Black Editions
and we are oh, so, lucky. This stuff, roughly contemporaneous to the
celebrated Bäbi, is absolutely searing, documenting the late genius Milford Graves
both solo and alongside truly simpatico saxophone and
multi-instrumental extremists Arthur Doyle and Hugh Glover. Graves was
one of one, surely one of the most mind-blowing and spirit-lifting
percussionists the world has known, and this material captures him at
peak strength. Hear and be healed.
Archie Shepp, Derailleur: The 1964 Demo (Triple Point)
Who
could have known? A previously unknown-to-me — and to most of the
world? — demo recording teaming epochal saxist Archie Shepp with the
cult-favorite "School Days" band featuring Steve Lacy, Roswell Rudd,
Denis Charles and, here, bassist Arthur Harper, issued by Triple Point,
the always-revelatory free-jazz archival effort headed up by my friend
and mentor Ben Young. This sounds as exciting coming out of the speakers
as it does on paper, and that's saying a lot.
Abilene, Endee Burial (Landland Colportage)
For
me, Hoover were one of the great bands of the past 30 years, and though
it's a shame they were short-lived, it's a blessing that their demise
spawned so much excellent music, from the Crownhate Ruin, whose own elusive, explosive early material saw low-key reissue last year, to the outstanding Regulator Watts
and later Abilene, a slower-burning but still enthralling outfit
fronted by Alex Dunham. This box reissues their entire body of work, and
its mix of dubby, near-abstract drift and incendiary
post-hardcore-meets-postbop (dig the trumpet work by Hoover/Crownhate
bass master Fred Erskine) retains its mystery and steely edge.
Derek Bailey and Paul Motian, Duo in Concert (Frozen Reeds)
Another
"Who knew?" windfall. The feel of the centerpiece concert, recorded in
Groningen, the Netherlands, in 1990, is charmingly choppy, with Motian
having no problem matching Bailey's signature stubborn angularity, and
refreshingly subtle, with neither player seeming to feel much need to
generate climaxes so much as a continuous unhurried flow. (While
we're on the subject of Bailey, don't miss a new Otoroku reissue of The Topography of the Lungs, the guitarist's stupendously ornery 1970 meeting with Evan Parker and Han Bennink.)
John Fahey, Proofs and Refutations (Drag City)
John
Fahey is a musical hero of mine, and I love pretty much every period of
his work. The '90s stuff, marked by outstanding Table of the Elements
releases like Womblife and Georgia Stomps, Atlanta Struts and Other
Contemporary Dance Favorites is especially out there and still underrated, so this compilation of self-recorded material from that era
is most welcome. It's most definitely a mixed bag, featuring both peculiar vocal experiments (some sounding a lot like Fahey's attempt at
throat-singing) and fascinating electroacoustic collages,
pairing that signature Fahey guitar sound with oddball soundscapes
and/or corrosive distortion. A portrait of a endlessly curious and
uncompromising mind.
John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy, Evenings at the Village Gate (Impulse)
The
early (i.e., pre–Jimmy Garrison) Coltrane quartet, plus Eric Dolphy,
live in summer '61, a few months before the band's legendary Vanguard
recordings. It's easy to become a little desensitized to the constant
stream of archival Trane, but any quality time spent with this will quickly remedy that. Elvin's drums are especially present
on this one. Crank up "Impressions" and let it rip.
Masayuki Takayanagi New Direction Unit, Mass Hysterism in Another Situation (Black Editions)
To quote a favorite Mr. Show sketch,
alright, buckle the fuck up... This is simply the greatest noise album
that I personally have ever heard, sounding even more electrifying to me
now than it did back in 2010 when I first enthused about it here. A howling wind tunnel of relentlessly pounding drums and shrieking feedback. As chaotic as the Wadud is serene.
Lastly, the Bill Laswell Bassmatter subscription on Bandcamp is very much worth your time, offering an enormous trove of unreleased archival material from his countless projects (including unheard Last Exit!) and assisting a wildly prolific visionary in a time of need.
[This is part 4 of 5 of the DFSBP 2023 rundown; find the other parts here.]
15 great live shows:
For these, where applicable, I'm linking night-of/morning-after commentary/documentation in lieu of fresh commentary, as my memory is not what it used to be! (Note: I've omitted any gigs mentioned in passing in the companion album survey.)
David Murray Quartet with Marta Sanchez, Luke Stewart and Kassa Overall @ Village Vanguard (Jan. 19)
Ron Carter Foursight Quartet with Jimmy Greene, Renee Rosnes and Payton Crossley @ Blue Note (Jan. 24)
Everyone Asked About You @ Numero Twenty fest; Palace Theatre, L.A. (Feb. 20)
Loved catching all the heavy hitters and old faves at this fest, including the outstanding Rex and Karate, who I'd seen in more intimate confines the prior year, the explosive Unwound and the splendidly grooving Ui, but honestly EAAY, a recently reunited quartet from Little Rock, Arkansas, came along and stole the show with their ragged, bittersweet, heart-rendingly emotive sound. This was really magical to witness and I became an instant convert. See them live if at all possible and check out the Numero discography release. (This Washed Up Emo podcast episode is a great companion listen.)
Afterbirth + Thaetas @ Amityville Music Hall (March 3)
A knockout bill of futuristic death metal. Two tremendous live bands that you should catch any chance you get. See also Afterbirth's bizarre, diverse and gloriously unfettered new opus In But Not Of.
Brandee Younger Trio @ Public Records (April 7)
Pure aural luxury.
Sprain @ RecordBar; Kansas City, MO (June 14)
Punishing avant-garde extremity. Major bummer that this band decided to call it quits in 2023, shortly after unveiling their latest severe, unsparing art-rock dispatch The Lamb as Effigy.
Misfits @ Prudential Center (July 8)
One of the great rock songbooks, blown up to arena size. Glenn's pipes are once again in top form after a few iffy years.
Bill Frisell with Greg Tardy, Gerald Clayton and Johnathan Blake @ Vanguard (Aug. 11)
Shakti @ Capitol Theater; Port Chester, NY (Aug. 19)
Joe Lovano's Trio Tapestry with Marilyn Crispell, Carmen Castaldi @ Village Vanguard (Aug 24)
Ex Hex @ Colony; Woodstock, NY (Sept. 5)
Fired-up rock & roll excellence from the legendary Mary Timony & Co.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy @ Tubby's; Kingston, NY (Sept. 29)
A roller-coaster opening to the fifth-anniversary festivities at Tubby's, in which Bonnie's Friday headlining appearance was initially canceled due to inclement weather. Miraculously, he pushed through, landing in NYC and making the journey up north to Kingston, arriving sometime around midnight to offer up a masterful solo acoustic set to an intimate crowd.
On the Might of Princes @ Amityville Music Hall (Sept. 30)
Messa + Maggot Heart @ Le Poisson Rouge (Oct. 17)
Trevor Watts with Jamie Harris @ Tubby's (Oct. 29)
Since moving upstate, I've been reaping the benefits of my friend Clifford Allen's excellent Hudson Valley show curation / scene cultivation via his So, What Do You Think? series. This edition with former Spontaneous Music Ensemble saxist Trevor Watts was especially cool, but I also loved the Gold Sparkle Band / Cisco Bradley edition from September. (And big congrats to Clifford as well on the 2023 publication of his excellent Matthew Shipp study, The Singularity Codex!)
[This is part 2 of 5 of the DFSBP 2023 rundown; find the other parts here.]
jazz top 11
I'm going to get a little creative with the math here, due to the simple fact that I submitted my ballot for the annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll (results of which should be online in early January) before I really got my ears around James Brandon Lewis' Eye of I, cited and discussed in the overall top 10 above. If I had spent more time with that album before the deadline, I would have absolutely made space for it, probably in the #2 spot, but… that is not what transpired, revealing yet again the fundamental arbitrariness of listmaking! So, not wanting to penalize any of the 2023 jazz albums I did initially choose, I'm just going to list 11 albums here and call it a day.
1. Mendoza Hoff Revels, Echolocation (Aum Fidelity)
2. James Brandon Lewis, Eye of I (Anti-)
3. Christian McBride’s New Jawn, Prime (Mack Avenue)
4. Joe Farnsworth, In What Direction Are You Headed? (Smoke Sessions)
5. John Zorn, Full Fathom Five (Tzadik)
6. Jason Moran, From the Dancehall to the Battlefield (Yes)
7. The Schrimps, Ain’t No Saint (Intakt)
8. Ambrose Akinmusire, Beauty Is Enough (Origami Harvest)
9. Kate Gentile, Find Letter X (Pi)
10. jaimie branch, Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) (International Anthem)
11. Leap Day Trio, Live at the Cafe Bohemia (Giant Step Arts / Little (i) Music)
We'll leave aside the Mendoza Hoff, the JBL and the Zorn since they're dealt with in the overall top 10, as well as the McBride, which I discussed in passing in this New York Times profile of the bass maestro earlier in the year. (Is New Jawn his best band ever? From my vantage point, yes!) Regarding the other picks:
Each year, Joe Farnsworth looks more and more like one of the jazz scene's sturdiest anchors, a true ambassador of goodwill and precious passed-down-from-the-masters, learned-on-the-gig knowledge (check out this great Farnsworth interview by Morgan Enos for more on all of that). What's cool about this album is that it enriches and subtly complicates his typical role of Mr. Straight Ahead. It's a Joe Farnsworth record, so obviously it swings like mad, but the variety of the material and ingenious combination of players (hard to think of another place where you'd hear Immanuel Wilkins, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Julius Rodriguez and Robert Hurst together…) gives it just the right amount of unexpected wrinkles. Check out the backbeat funk of the Harold Mabern–penned title track, the hushed bossa nova vibe of "Terra Nova" or the floating waltz-time feel of his own reading of "Someday We'll All Be Free" (a fascinating point of comparison with the JBL version of the same tune on Eye of I). Throughout, Rosenwinkel and Wilkins make for a thrilling pair, sharing a gift for liquid-toned lyricism.
Every Jason Moran record is an event, and that's especially true of From the Dancehall to the Battlefield. Having seen the piece live this summer — one of the most compelling concerts and/or live happenings of any kind that I witnessed all year — it's hard for me to consider the music apart from the multimedia presentation of this impressionistic evocation of the life and work of pioneering ragtime/proto-jazz bandleader James Reese Europe, complete with costumes, projections and creative staging. But the record itself is a brilliant manifestation of the "from ragtime to no time" ethos that Moran has been steadily fortifying for around 25 years now — classicism, modernism and the future all swirled together. You get the feeling that Moran's mentor Jaki Byard would have been exceedingly proud of a work like this.
I
generally love Jim Black's bandleading efforts, especially Alasnoaxis
and the piano trio he launched more recently. His latest project is a
Berlin-based quartet featuring European players who are all new to me:
Asger Nissen on alto sax, Julius Gawlik on tenor, and Felix Henkelhausen
on bass. Black's familiar sonic fingerprint is here — deliberately
off-kilter funk, playful abstraction, disarmingly plaintive themes — but to my ears,
there's an increased emphasis here on conventional swing (i.e., of the
"ting ting-ta-ting" variety). The results lean at times toward a
nimble, post-Ornette-y sort of freebop, with the two saxes scampering
around the sound field, and it all sounds absolutely great.
One of our finest contemporary trumpeters, performing an improvised solo concert in a Paris cathedral. That's the sales pitch on Beauty Is Enough,
and the record absolutely lives up to whatever lofty expectations that
description might evoke. It's really a joy to hear Ambrose Akinmusire
staking out a particular sonic territory in each of these pieces —
patient and spacious on "Cora Campbell," say, or busy and staccato on
"Achilles," or achingly delicate on "Carvin." — and just feeling it out,
seeing where it takes him. The resonance of the church itself is also a
major asset. This is the kind of album that really makes you wish you
were there during the performance, and it sounds so damn good, it
practically fulfills that wish. (The other 2023 Akinmusire disc, Owl Song, a trio with Bill Frisell and Herlin Riley, is lovely as well!)
At this point, drummer Kate Gentile and pianist Matt Mitchell are effectively their own school of contemporary jazz, challenging listeners and themselves alike with gargantuan helpings of hypercomplex sound assemblage. Gentile's latest, which features Mitchell and reedist Jeremy Viner (both of whom appeared on her strong 2017 effort Mannequins) and bassist Kim Cass, spans three discs and clocks in at more than three hours. As with Gentile and Mitchell's 2021 Snark Horse box set, I'd be lying if I said I'd had time to properly digest all of what's here, but every time I've dipped in, I've been pretty much floored. The second disc is especially up my alley, being clearly informed by Gentile's avowed love of extreme metal. A track like "raze" here is without question one of the most superbly insane things I've heard all year, and is pure wish fulfillment for anyone [raises hand] who's ever wondered what a sonic collision between Tim Berne and Behold… the Arctopus, with a sprinkling of Magma, would sound like. It's fascinating to hear, in the span of a year, the metal/punk/etc. influence making its way into jazz in one way on, say, Echolocation, and in a completely other way here. And that's just one facet of what's afoot on this release, which also includes wild electroacoustic interludes and more, for lack of a better term, chamber-ish tracks that sound like a drum-equipped version of the Giuffre/Bley/Swallow trio 1,000 years in the future. (Note here: If this general musical zone appeals to you, definitely check out Capacious Aeration, Mitchell's recent duo release with reedist Anna Webber. And note to self: I really need to make some time for Gentile's disc with International Contemporary Ensemble, which seems on a quick sampling like the perfect counterpart to Find Letter X.)
"Gonna take over the world / Gonna gonna gonna take over the world," jaimie branch declares forcefully on "take over the world," a track from her third, possibly best and, as well all now know, sadly final album with her signature ensemble Fly or Die. And somehow, even though she's gone, you still believe her, so energizred is the rollicking punk-samba groove that breaks out once the piece gets going. During her roughly five years of peak bandleading activity, branch really seemed to alter the course not just of how jazz sounded but how it was received in the world. This music reached people, and Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) will stand forever as a testament to why, its eccentric but ever-inclusive blend of heady synth drone, texture-rich avant-Latin-/African-jazz, low-down funk, ecstatic dance-rock, homespun folk and more playing out like a standing invite to some sort of utopian carnival. Amid the pain of her loss, we're so lucky to have gotten one more complete statement. (Note: for context I recommend both this heartbreaking memorial piece by branch's sister Kate and this conversation I had with jaimie shortly before her passing, just as she was putting the finishing touches on this record.)
Is there such a thing as a power trio in jazz? If there is, I feel like it might best connote the Rollins-indebted tradition of sax-bass-drum combos, a lineage definitely evoked by Leap Day Trio's excellent Live at Cafe Bohemia. Tenor player Jeff Lederer's avowed love for Ayler gives the record a certain kind of free-jazz lean at times, but basically this is a hard-swinging freebop effort: gritty, earthy, propulsive. Again, as with the Akinmusire, the sounds and textures here — including drummer Matt Wilson's "whoo" exclamations during Lederer's solos and the no-nonsense drive of his rhythmic mesh with rock-solid bassist Mimi Jones — really make you wish you were in the room (i.e., the briefly reopened new incarnation of legendary downtown jazz room the Cafe Bohemia) for this one. I'd love to hear more from this trio and, ideally, to catch them live at some point. This album simply rocks.
