#4808, Not Quite Jazz
Listen to music that's not quite "jazz", in work from saxophonists James Brandon Lewis and JD Allen, storyteller/saxophonist Matana Roberts, and work by drummer/composer Allison Miller.
Hear music by saxophonist and composer James Brandon Lewis, from his 2023 album Eye Of I – which is “alive with the messy contrasts of life in the United States circa 2022 – dissonant one minute and graceful/prayerful the next,” and which holds “equal space for expressions of steadfast faith and wild spontaneous skronkage,” (ANTI-). The work features amplified cello, drums and sensory percussion, along with guest cornetist Kirk Knuffke. Also, listen to electronics+jazz trio music from saxophonist JD Allen and his trio, who expertly combine blues-y riffs with electronics and drums. Also, listen to the latest in the Coin Coin series from storyteller, composer, and saxophonist Matana Roberts – from chapter 5 – in the garden.
There’s chamber-jazz in work by drummer/composer/bandleader Allison Miller inspired by five major rivers of the Northeast United States, and the River Keepers who work on their maintenance. One of her tunes evokes a train ride up the Hudson River, and features violinist Jenny Scheinman. Then, hear music for octet from bassist/composer Todd Sickafoose, which features many of the same players as in Miller’s chamber jazz record. From his latest release, Bear Proof, hear “Prospects”, part of a long-form suite which interprets high times and utter ruin in music.
Plus, hear orchestrated and expansive jazz by Darcy James Argue and his Secret Society ensemble from his 2023 double album, Dynamic Maximum Tension. In his inspired way, many of the works on the record came from thinking about figures of a more optimistic time like Buckminster Fuller, Alan Turing, and Mae West, people who might “rekindle my faith in our ability to grab the future and shape it ourselves,” (Nonesuch Journal). - Caryn Havlik
Program #4808, Not Quite Jazz (First aired 10/30/2023)
ARTIST: James Brandon Lewis
WORK: Donny Hathaway: Someday We'll All Be Free [1:24]
RECORDING: Eye of I
SOURCE: ANTI-Records
INFO: https://jblewis.ffm.to/eyeofi
ARTIST: Allison Miller
WORK: Hudson [5:03]
RECORDING: Rivers In Our Veins
SOURCE: Royal Potato Family
INFO: allisonmiller.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: James Brandon Lewis
WORK: Donny Hathaway: Someday We'll All Be Free [5:34]
RECORDING: Eye of I
SOURCE: ANTI-Records
INFO: https://jblewis.ffm.to/eyeofi
ARTIST: JD Allen
WORK: This [6:03]
RECORDING: This
SOURCE: HighNote / Savant Records
INFO: https://li.sten.to/z0td9lxo
ARTIST: Anenon
WORK: Two for C [5:16]
RECORDING: Tongue
SOURCE: Friends of Friends
INFO: https://anenon.bandcamp.com/album/tongue
ARTIST: Matana Roberts
WORK: we said [3:30]
RECORDING: Coin Coin chapter 5 - in the garden…
SOURCE: Constellation Records
INFO: https://lnk.to/cst170
ARTIST: Darcy James Argue's Secret Society
WORK: Ferromagnetic [9:16]
RECORDING: Dynamic Maximum Tension
SOURCE: Nonesuch Records
INFO: https://darcyjamesargue.lnk.to/DynamicMaximumTension
ARTIST: Todd Sickafoose
WORK: Prospects [4:25]
RECORDING: Bear Proof
SOURCE: Secret Hatch Records
INFO: https://toddsickafoose.bandcamp.com/album/bear-proof
