Thursday, January 19, 2012

Review: Jack DeJohnette- Sound Travels

















Jack DeJohnette will celebrate his seventieth birthday on August 9, 2012, and it seems as if he can get everything he asks for at this stage of his illustrious career. The credits of his new album Sound Travels read like a who's-who of today's top "jazz" artists. The list includes Ambrose Akinmusire, Lionel Loueke, Jason Moran and Esperanza Spaulding. Bobby McFerrin also makes a (very nice) appearance. The only misstep is a jamband track featuring Bruce Hornsby. It's five minutes of pain on an otherwise exceptional album. Here's the EPK.


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I love scrutinizing the annual Pazz and Jop poll. Here's a short list of artists I overlooked in 2011: Matana Roberts! Wussy! Tombs! Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Segal! Random Axe! And I'm chagrined that my top album, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey's Race Riot Suite, isn't among the 1734 titles that received at least one tally. Am I the album's sole champion?

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ZZ Ward's "Better Off Dead" confounds me.

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I feel obligated to spend my time and money on the new Chick Corea/Eddie Gomez/Paul Motian tribute to Bill Evans. Here's the EPK.

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The KC Sound Collective- the act responsible for my favorite performance of 2011- is the subject of a nice introductory video.

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I recently discovered the Freedom Suite, a collaboration between Nnnenna Freelon and The Beast, at Bandcamp. (It's free.)

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Welcome to 2012.

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I'll consider the life of the late Johnny Otis next week at There Stands the Glass.

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Vizzy Zone.

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"We've got the songs- we don't have the money." Here's Molly McGuire's Kickstarter campaign.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Bill - why didn't you put up these good EPK links (DeJohnette, Corea) on your other blog? "Jazz" fans are busy you know! Haha.

Happy In Bag said...

Yeah, I know, Anon. I'm always tempted. But Plastic Sax only works because of its laser-like focus on Kansas City "jazz."

bgo said...

So...are you dissing jambands or Hornsby, or both? I like Bruce.

bgo

Happy In Bag said...

It's mostly about context, BGO. I respect JD's decision to mix things up by collaborating with Hornsby, but when I cue up a JD album I don't want to hear a Derek Trucks/Trey Anastasio/Radiators-style groove.

bgo said...

You know about this one, right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gC89ZWU574

How's that for context?

bgo

Happy In Bag said...

What a discovery, BGO! I'd never heard of this project. And Spotify has both Compost albums. Off to Never Never Land.