Monday, June 02, 2014

NEW RELEASES: JASON AJEMIAN / TONY MALABY / ROB MAZUREK / CHAD TAYLOR - A WAY A LAND OF LIFE; SEBASTIEN TELLIER - L'AVENTURA; JASON AJEMIAN - FOLKLORDS

JASON AJEMIAN / TONY MALABY / ROB MAZUREK / CHAD TAYLOR - A WAY A LAND OF LIFE

Jason Ajemian can always be counted on to offer up way more than just the usual set of avant and improvised music – and as with some of his other recent albums, this set shows a range of imagination that just seems to be growing bolder in the past few years! The music is very carefully conceived, but also has the freshness of spontaneous improvisation as well – with a shifting sense of scope and time that makes the record way more than just the usual set of this nature – and instead this rich palette of sounds and ideas that keeps things compelling throughout! Some moments are spare and thoughtful, others snapping with a bit of a swing, and still others have a more aggressive improvised feel – music played by a very well-matched quartet that includes Rob Mazurek on cornet and electronics (Ajemian plays some electronics too), Tony Malaby on tenor, and Chad Taylor on drums. Titles include "Yes We Know", "With A Mythador", "All Nights", "All Ups", and "Living The Sky". (Limited edition of 400 copies.) ~ Dusty Groove

SEBASTIEN TELLIER - L'AVENTURA

Sebastien Tellier goes Brazilian, but not just in an offhand way! Instead, he enlists the help of maestro Arthur Verocai – who helps with the arrangements, and creates the same sort of complicated sound palette you'd find in his own classic recordings – but in a style that's nicely fresh here too, and more fitted to the French language lyrics of Tellier's music! The album's a really wonderful blend of different sounds and different cultures, different ideas and different eras – and it all hangs together with its own organic sense of unity that goes way past any easy tricks or gimmicks, or some simplistic level of cultural pilfering. Sebastien's really won us over with this sweet set – and titles include "L'Amour Carnaval", "Aller Vers Le Soleil", "Love", "Ma Calypso", "Sous Le Rayons Du Soleil", "Ambiance Rio", and the extended "Comment Revoir Oursinet".  ~ Dusty Groove

JASON AJEMIAN - FOLKLORDS

One of the trippiest albums we've heard from Delmark in recent years – a really creative session from bassist Jason Ajemian, and one that links the label's avant jazz work to some of the deeper sides of Chicago's indie scene! Ajemian is free to work without any sense of genre or convention – in a mode that still hits plenty of jazz, with key use of work by Monk, Mingus, and Sun Ra – but which really abstracts things and takes them to a whole new level – opening up cosmic territory that lives up to the album's stated request to "Please Feel Yourselves". Ajemian plays bass and some electronics, in a quartet that also features Owen Stewart Robertson on guitar and electronics, Kid Bliss on alto sax and vibrolux, and Jason Nazary on drums – the last of which are played in a very slow, spacious style. All tracks are long – and titles include "Ask Mr Blunt Now" – which features extrapolations of "Satellites Are Spinning" and "Ask Me Now" – and "Orange Is The Color Of The Sun Then Blue Sky" – which is built upon some key Charles Mingus tunes. Other titles are originals, and include "Punk The Blues", "Material Girls", and "Freedom Is A Trail Of Tears". ~ Dusty Groove


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