Jazz – Page 9 – 7th Level Music

Durand Jones and the Indications release powerful new single and video, “Morning in America,” from upcoming album.

“…its exploration of social and economic challenges (‘It’s morning in America/But I can’t see the dawn’) makes it resonate deeply in the present…” – Billboard, on “Morning In America”

“Is it any wonder that y’all about to blow up!” – Robin Roberts, Good Morning America

“…I can attest that witnessing Jones live is very much akin to how I imagine the early shows of his heroes from the ‘60s and ‘70s – tight as hell, bursting with raw emotion and drenched in sweat.” – Variety

“Durand Jones & The Indications bathe in the glimmering afterglow of early ’70s soul on this stunning track, with occasional nods to heartland folk.” — Bandcamp, on “Don’t You Know”

“From the start, the band’s laid-back, early-’70s groove, when paired with the two impossibly smooth vocalists at the forefront of the project, allowed Jones & The Indications to reach an almost nostalgic, ridiculous level of cool.” — Paste

Durand Jones & The Indications will release their sophomore album, American Love Call, on March 1st via Dead Oceans/Colemine Records. After sharing lead single, “Don’t You Know”, the band returns with the follow-up cut: the poignant, politically charged album opener, “Morning In America”. “It’s a fraught moment in our history. ‘Morning in America’ is a song for this moment,” says the band. Penned by drummer Aaron Frazer, the band has this to say regarding the track:

“The lyrics speak to how many of us feel every day in this time of political and environmental uncertainty— flitting between anger, despair, anxiety but ever returning to a sliver of hope that there’s still a path forward.

“We so often divide ourselves by our differences. Acknowledging those differences is crucial; listening to those different from us is crucial. But viewed solely through that lens, we are fragmented and few. When we look at the country along economic lines, however, a different picture emerges. Suddenly people of all of colors, in every part of this country, can find themselves on the same side, united by a shared struggle to simply survive in the richest nation to ever exist.

“This song was inspired by The Poor People’s Campaign, a movement started by Martin Luther King Jr. shortly before his assassination. It functions today as a nonpartisan organization that promotes intersectionality and inter-movement unity as a tool of addressing systemic injustices.”

It’s accompanying video, directed by Ellie Foumbi, find’s immense inspiration in the song’s message. “It’s impossible to hear this song and not connect its message to the current political climate in America,” says Foumbi. “It makes you stop and question the ways in which our country has changed and whether we’re as far along as we should be. The themes of inequality, social and economic oppression, and the disparity between the haves and the have-nots jumped out at me. The juxtaposition between past and present, rich and poor, black and white are so prevalent in our society that it only felt right to highlight them in the video.”

Watch Video For “Morning In America” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SANEafqL5io

Helmed by foil vocalists Jones and Frazer, The Indications’ sound of “old-school soul with a new-school honesty” (NPR’s All Things Considered) is rounded out by Blake Rhein (guitarist), Kyle Houpt (bassist), and Steve Okonski (keyboard). The Indications will tour the US extensively this spring in support of American Love Call. A full list of tour dates are below.

Watch Video For “Don’t You Know” – https://youtu.be/A9rDPXoGSDg

Durand Jones & The Indications’ Tour Dates : March 18 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall Tue. March 19 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada Thu. March 21 – Santa Fe, NM @ Tumbleroots Fri. March 22 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom Sat. March 23 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah — SOLD OUT Mon. March 25 – Tustin, CA @ Marty’s On Newport — SOLD OUT Tue. March 26 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom — SOLD OUT Wed. March 27 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom — SOLD OUT Thu. March 28 – Santa Barbara, CA @ SOhO Restaurant & Music Club Fri. March 29 – Oakland, CA @ The New Parish — SOLD OUT Sat. March 30 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent — SOLD OUT Mon. April 1 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom Tue. April 2 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos Thu. April 4 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The State Room Fri. April 5 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater Sat. April 6 – Kansas City, MO @ recordBar Sun. April 7 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room Tue. April 9 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry Wed. April 10 – Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon Thu. April 11 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall Fri. April 12 – Columbus, OH @ A&R Music Bar Sat. April 13 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle Sun. April 14 – North Charleston, SC @ High Water Festival Tue. April 16 – Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel Wed. April 17 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg Fri. April 19 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church Sat. April 20 – Uncasville, CT @ Wolf Den at Mohegan Sun Resort Sun. April 21 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall Mon. April 22 – Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar Wed. April 24 – Cincinnati, OH @ The Woodward Theater Fri. April 26 – Nashville, TN @ The Basement East Sat. April 27 – Oxford, MS @ Double Decker Arts Festival Sun. April 28 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West Sat. May 11 – Bloomington, IN @ Indiana University w/ Neko Case Sun. Sep. 15 – Telluride, CO @ Blues & Brews Festival

Pre-order American Love Call* – https://ffm.to/americanlovecall

*Dead Oceans exclusive bundle includes the album on limited transparent orange vinyl, limited edition transparent purple “Morning in America b/w Cruisin’ to the Park” Colemine Records white label promo 7”, a 7” adapter and poster.

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Turning Jewels into Water’s debut album, “Map of Absences,” due March 15th.

Turning Jewels Into Water is a live electronic duo led by Indian-born drummer/producer Ravish Momin along with Haitian electronic percussionist Val Jeanty. They seamlessly blend futuristic turntables, ritual chants, polyrhythmic percussion, live loops and synth melodies along with rhythms inspired by global dance music. Their new album, Map of Absences, will be released March 15th via FPE Records. They share the lead single, “Dark waters rushing in,” with an accompanying video directed by Travis Williams and featuring Flex Dancer Infinite.Brynn and Fire dancer RaNubi.

Watch Turning Jewels Into Water’s “Dark waters rushing in” Video – https://youtu.be/TAKwMvOgri0

This new project with Val Jeanty arose from her participation in a jam session at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, NY while Momin was artist-in-residence there in September of 2017. Their collaboration, rooted in improvisation, evokes the esoteric realms of the creative subconscious. Drawing from the voodoo religion, Val recreates the ancient rhythm and pulse of Haiti through digital beats, while Momin, whose own musical background is rooted in Indian, North African and Middle Eastern traditions, has developed an original blend of electro-acoustic beats, drawing together the improvisational traditions in Jazz and Indian folk music. Together, they employ cutting-edge music-technological tools such as acoustic drums outfitted with Sensory Percussion triggers, Force Sensing Resistor (FSR) drum pads and Smart Fabric MIDI Controllers, but still emphasize the ritual aspects of creating music in the digital realm.

Their unique sounds quickly caught the interest of music curators and in 2018 they performed at the Bang On A Can Marathon (NYC), ZEZ Festival (Croatia), Tarcento Jazz Festival (Italy) and various venues in Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Switzerland and Italy. They closed out the year with a two-day run in Washington, DC where they performed at the Flash of the Spirit Festival at Georgetown University and the Anacostia Arts Center. They released a critically-acclaimed EP on FPE Records entitled Which Way is Home, which featured remixes from rising-stars Slikback and Zilla, both of whom came heartily recommended by the crew that operates the Kampala, Uganda-based Nyege Nyege Tapes record label.

“Our full-length record, Map of Absences, is a reflection on the regressive state of human rights, deepening refugee crises and the worsening impacts of climate change worldwide. Imagine a world where refugees of color are free to cross borders, LGBTIA people are treated fairly and respectfully, and environmental healing technologies are widespread. These ideas are unfortunately absent from our current reality. We say ‘absent’ instead of ‘forgotten’ as the latter implies an instance of memory or a record of those things having existed. Musically, we drew inspiration from artists such as DJ Lag, Nidia, DJ Rashad, Nihiloxica, and Epic B amongst our other varied global influences. For the album artwork we tapped Marissa Malik, a UK-based artist whose work evokes the mystical and empowered mythical beings. For remixes, we returned to Kenyan maverick Slikback (Hakuna Kulala) and also approached PlayPlay (who ran the legendary Party Illegal in Durham, NC for years) and the modular-synth wielding producer Nueve Vidas from Mexico City.”

Turning Jewels Into Water will tour in support of Map of Absences this spring. A list of dates is below with more to be announced soon.

Watch “Dark waters rushing in” Video – https://youtu.be/TAKwMvOgri0

Stream “Dark waters rushing in” – https://open.spotify.com/track/0x5C7SNgT8TjhnHhSHhD7G?si=KirQJ8-jTdyjUwKv8aQ7fw

Pre-order Map of Absences – https://fperecs.bandcamp.com/album/map-of-absences

Turning Jewels Into Water Live: Saturday, March 16 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Warhol Museum Wednesday, March 20 – Boston, MA @ MassArt Friday, March 22 – Brooklyn, NY @ Arete Saturday, March 23 – Williamsburg, MA @ Grange Hall (Collider 5 w/ Noura Mint Seymali)

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Saxophonist Bendik Giske releases “Up” from his debut album due January 25th.

“…a fervent after-hours sound world, complete with woodwinds, in which euphoria and melancholy collide.” — Pitchfork, on Adjust EP

“Bendik Giske makes dazzling saxophone music.” — Resident Advisor

Norwegian saxophonist, Bendik Giske, will release his debut album, Surrender, on January 25th via Smalltown Supersound. After sharing advance singles “Adjust” and “High”, today Giske is pleased to shared “Up”, a euphoric collage of sound, driven by Giske’s saxophone and rhythmic finger tapping on the instrument’s keys. “Up. A direction. A state of flux. In direction of an elevated state,” says Giske. “I often find my self aware of where I want to be, but uncertain of how to get there. My chosen city of residence offers many remedies, music being just one of them.”

Listen to Bendik Giske’s “Up” — https://soundcloud.com/smalltownsupersound/3-up-1/s-Qh1HM

Surrender takes listeners on a true journey through the wanderlust of nights spent clubbing — using little more than his voice, his instrument of choice, and more than a few well-placed microphones. Recorded in Oslo’s Emanuel Vigeland Mausoleum, Giske and producer Amund Ulvestad conceived of the method in which they placed tiny microphones over the saxophonist’s instrument and body, right down to being able to capture his breathing between notes.

An impressively coherent statement that brims with purpose and energy, Surrender heralds Giske’s arrival as an artist unafraid to think outside the confines of his artistry and pursue the furthest-flung ideas with successful aplomb.

Watch/Listen/Share: “High” stream – https://youtu.be/b3m1a3V-m8U

“Adjust” video – https://youtu.be/j8OyappCpxw

“Adjust” (Total Freedom Remix) – https://bit.ly/2DIMNHr

Bendik Giske Tour Dates: Sun. Jan. 27 – Berlin, DE @ CTM Festival Thu. Feb 7 – Mexico City, MX @ Material Art Fair Sun. Feb. 10 – Mexico City, MX @ Traición Fri. Feb. 15 – Utrecht, NL @ Uncloud Festival Wed. Feb. 27 – Graz, AT @ Elevate Festival Fri. March 1 + Sat. March 2 – Oslo, NO @ byLarm Festival Sat. April 20 – Rotterdam, NL @ Motel Mozaïque

Pre-order Surrender — smarturl.it/sts334-preorder

Purchase Adjust EP — https://bendikgiske.bandcamp.com/album/adjust-ep

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Rewind Review: Vulfpeck – The Beautiful Game (2016)

A friend sent me this album for Christmas last year and mentioned how Vulfpeck‘s bass player, Joe Dart, was “a monster.” He’s right, and the rest of the band are beasts as well. The Beautiful Game is a wild blend of funk and modern jazz played by expert craftsmen.

The album starts with a haunting clarinet solo on “The Sweet Science” – a brief instrumental intro for the wild tunes to come. The handclaps, bright synths, and bouncing beats and vocals of “Animal Spirits” make you feel like you’re in a hip romantic comedy. That monster bass comes out on “Dean Town.” It sounds like a Giorgio Moroder riff from the 1970’s. “Conscious Club” brings in German disco riffs to the band’s funk grooves.

“El Chepe” is almost blues-funk. “1 for 1, DiMaggio” has groovy Hammond B-3 organ and is a wild funk tune about baseball. How can you not love it? “Margery, My First Car” is not only a loving tribute to a car, but also the most psychedelic song on the record. Jack Stratton’s trombone work on “Aunt Leslie” is so good that it practically wallops you upside the head when you notice it. The album ends with “Cory Wong” – a song named after one of the band members who excels at fingerpicking guitar work. It has great organ work on it, too, and it a wild, funky track that’s a great cap to a wild, funky record.

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Review: Qarafa – Tape I

Toronto, Ontario’s Qarafa is a four-piece outfit that somehow combines jazz with psychedelia, low rock, and even drone rock. It’s hard to describe, but it’s beautiful.

Tape I is just two tracks (sides A and B of a cassette, really). Each is about fifteen minutes long and each is its own hypnotic meditation. Alex Howard‘s tenor saxophone on “Side A” immediately hooks your brain, Anthony Abbatangelo‘s bass and synths blow peyote smoke in your face, Tyler Bontje‘s drone guitar keeps you just on edge, and Jason Chow‘s jazz drumming holds you on the Earth so you don’t drift off to Jupiter or somewhere else.

The low rock elements come out hard on “Side B,” which sounds like a long Morphine cut recorded in a Marrakesh speakeasy in the back of a spiritual bookstore run by a old man who might be a wizard and his wife who might be a succubus.

This is good, groovy, and trippy. I hope they come out with a full-length album soon.

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Top 30 Albums of 2018: #’s 10 – 6

Here we are at my top 10 albums of the year. Read on to see who made the cut.

#10: Khruangbin – Con Todo El Mundo – I was a bit late to the Khruangbin party, but I’m glad I showed up. This three-piece makes beautiful psychedelic jazz with few vocals. The tones they produce are so clear they’re almost like Tibetan mediation singing bells.

#9: Janelle Monae – Dirty Computer – Ms. Monae is a genius. She can blend hip-hop, R&B, electro, jazz, and rock with such ease that it sounds like she’s cloned herself at least five times and each of those clones studied a different genre to mastery. Knowing her love of androids and science fiction, this wouldn’t surprise me at all if it were true.

#8 – Cookin’ Soul and MF DOOM – DOOM XMAS – I don’t remember how I stumbled upon this album after Christmas Day, but I’m glad I did. It’s a wicked mix of lyrics by MF DOOM and Christmas-inspired beats by Cookin’ Soul. Any DOOM is good DOOM, and this collaboration is among his best.

#7: Throw Down Bones – Two – I stumbled upon this excellent electro / industrial / rave album on Bandcamp and it turned out to be the best electronic music record I heard all year. This will be booming in your favorite club soon if it isn’t already.

#6: Ron Gallo – Stardust Birthday Party – I’ve enjoyed Mr. Gallo’s garage punk music since I saw him open for Screaming Females in a dive bar a couple years ago. Now he’s put out a Zen-punk record that blew my mind and included my top single of the year – “Always Elsewhere.”

The top five will be revealed tomorrow!

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Rewind Review: Ennio Morricone – Psichedelico Jazzistico (2004)

This 2004 collection from Cherry Red Records covers music made by living legend composer Ennio Morricone for films in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. It’s a wild, trippy mix of music for thrillers, erotic comedies, and crime films.

It starts with three tracks from one of the best giallo films ever made, Dario Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. The theme, “Plume di Cristallo,” begins the journey into a dark, shadowy world with creepy, child-like vocals, tinkling crystal bells, and acoustic guitar that’s both warm and chilling at the same time. The lovely, almost waltz-like “Non Rimane Piu Nessano” and the jazz freak-out “Corsa Sui Tetti” (which sounds like a fight inside a dark club) follow.

After that we get two from another Argento film that Morricone scored – Four Flies on Grey Velvet – “Come Un Madrigale” (which reminds one of a winter stroll through a bleak yet beautiful city park) and the film’s main theme – which incorporates both gospel and circus music elements…because Morricone is a bad ass.

Up next are tracks from the film One Night at Dinner – “Sauna” (which is luxurious as you’d hope with sparkling xylophones), “Alla Luce Del Giorno” (with plenty of psychedelic keyboard work, meaningless vocal sounds, and psych-pop guitar), and “Uno Che Grida Amore” (in which you can hear touches of his spaghetti western soundtracks – the piano – and lush strings mixing with jazz drums).

We’re off to the film Forza G with the smooth and lush (Those strings!) “Sospeci Fra Le Nuvole” and the film’s main theme with its sweet jazz drumming. “L’assoluto Naturale” (from She and He) follows with haunting French horn backed with simple acoustic guitar chords to produce a haunting effect. The short, action sequence-ready “Studio Di Colore” (also from She and He) could fit into nearly any bank heist scene.

The main theme to “Indagine Su Un Cittadino Al Di Sopra Di Ogni Sospetto” (Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion) is track on this record most like one from Morricone’s spaghetti westerns with its mouth harp, quirky piano chords, and clockwork percussion. “Terazza” (from the 1977 comedy Il Gatto / The Cat) has poppy lounge organ mixed with sexy, slithering beats and slightly Latin horns. The closer is another track from Il Gatto – “Mariangela e la Seduzione” – which belongs on your next make-out mix tape because it’s practically the sounds of a woman having a long orgasm while lounge jazz plays behind her.

This is a must for film score buffs, fans of Morricone’s work, or psychedelic jazz. Morricone is a true maestro and his influence on music and pop culture is phenomenal.

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Review: Preacherman – Universal Philosophy: Preacherman Plays T.J. Hustler’s Greatest Hits

Tim Jones, otherwise known as Preacherman, released one album of weird, funky electronic jazz the combined analog synths with New Age philosophy on creation, love, death, life, the energy of the universe, and probably a hundred other topics I’m forgetting. In the 1980’s, Jones added a guest to his one-man band – T.J. Hustler. Mr. Hustler was a ventriloquist’s dummy who would accompany Jones on stage and preach Jones’ universal philosophy or sometimes have deep metaphysical discussions with Jones while he was playing a modified Hammond B-3.

Jones moved out to Oakland many years ago to take care of his mother, a centenarian, and continued to play in small clubs, DJ karaoke nights, and record material for his own pleasure. Thankfully, Luaka Bop Records have put out a collection of some of Jones’ rarest work – Universal Philosophy: Preacherman Plays T.J. Hustler’s Greatest Hits.

The album opens with “That’s Good,” and synths that sound like the opening to a 1980’s sci-fi romance. Preacherman asks why we keep trying to visit every planet in the solar system except Venus since it’s the planet of love. “We’re going the wrong way, y’all,” he warns as the synths build and take on a bit of a Native American flute sound and it almost turns into an Art of Noise track.

“Feel It” is nine minutes of synth grooves blended with cosmic funk. It’s an instant toe-tapper and is probably being remixed by DJ Shadow even as I write this review. It’s also our first introduction to T.J. Hustler, who talks with a gravelly voice that contains hundreds of years of wisdom. “The age of individualism is upon us, y’all….Constructive knowledge is the only thing that will keep us safe…” Hustler says. He was right in the 1980’s and he’s right again in 2018.

“Tell me why in a world so full, why love’s so hard to find?” Preacherman asks on “Tell Me Why,” a bumping electro-disco track with synth bass as sweet as maple syrup. Jones asks why we’re so empty in a world not only full of people, but full of ways to communicate faster than ever before. He also predicts it won’t be long before everything’s wiped away, so we’d better get right with the Creator and each other now.

“Out of This World” is truly that, with Preacherman slapping down bump-and-grind grooves as he pines for a lover from another planet who needs to be “a love sensation…a lot of fun…the right vibration…the only one.” “Age of Individualism” has synth beats that MGMT dream of creating.

On the epic “Up and Down,” T.J. Hustler explains how time is crucial to movement. “We move up and down and around,” Preacherman preaches over his electric beats and keyboards that sound like he pulled them out of a video game. T.J. Hustler explains everything from aging and nutrition to relaxation and letting go of attachments in order to expand one’s consciousness. There’s so much to process in this track that I can’t cover all of it, but you’ll be fascinated with every second of it.

As if that weren’t enough, the closer is the fifteen-minute track “The Wrong Way,” in which Jones preaches about the order of the universe and how the planets’ movement is linked to sex, love, and tantric energy. He also warns against us “fuckin’ up this planet” and how we’re doomed to die by fire if we don’t take care of Mother Earth. He even rants against the system (AKA The Man) that has convinced us that different skin colors mean anything, that progress is usually not what it seems, and how the system is set up to bring us down and we let it happen every day. Preacherman returns to his themes of searching for love, even bringing back some of the lyrics from “That’s Good.”

This album is a mind trip, and one you need to take. It somehow combines synth-funk with Don Juan mysticism and it works.

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Live: Diana Krall – Saenger Theatre – New Orleans, LA – June 24, 2018

Diana Krall‘s performance at the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans had a “no cellphones / cameras” policy, which was refreshing. I resisted the urge to take any photos during the show, although others did and some even used the flash on their phone cameras to do so. Using your camera flash at a show is the new smoking at a show.

Ms. Krall and her slick backing band (upright bass, guitar, fiddle, drums) played a fun mix of love songs and jazz classics that included many cuts from her latest album Turn Up the Quiet. She had fun banter with the crowd, even admitting to screwing up a Fats Waller tune that was harder to play than she realized. She delighted the crowd with a soft instrumental version of “Walkin’ to New Orleans.” They played for close to ninety minutes and the crowd was buzzing afterwards as we stepped out into the warm night.

She’s a jazz powerhouse and still on tour throughout the U.S. Don’t miss her if you get the chance to see her.

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Pitchfork Music Festival artist spotlight: Joshua Abrams and the Natural Information Society

It’s a bit hard to describe Joshua Abrams and the Natural Information Society, but the best word is probably “minimalist.” They play an interesting form of minimalist jazz and low rock that’s centered around Abrams’ love and mastery of a three-stringed African guimbri lute. Their stuff can be both meditative and danceable. I first caught them at Levitation Chicago a while back, and they put on a good show then. It will be interesting to catch them in an outdoor venue this year at the Pitchfork Music Festival.

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