{"id":8074,"date":"2016-12-31T23:16:27","date_gmt":"2017-01-01T07:16:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=8074"},"modified":"2017-01-02T08:48:10","modified_gmt":"2017-01-02T16:48:10","slug":"catching-up-more-or-less-as-2016-fades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2016\/12\/catching-up-more-or-less-as-2016-fades\/","title":{"rendered":"Catching Up, More Or Less…As 2016 Fades"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"As the hours left in 2016 dwindle, we briefly acknowledge a few of the hundreds of albums that have accumulated this year at Rifftides<\/em> world headquarters. Many releases stacked up without reviews. This does not indicate that they are unworthy, only that there are limits to how much music the linear process of listening can accommodate. Science has yet to come up with digital downloading directly into the brain, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll bet someone is working on it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Clare Fischer<\/strong>, Out of the Blue<\/em><\/a> (Clavo Records).<\/p>\n

This album slipped beneath the incoming waves of CDs more than a year ago. I am delighted\"\" that it surfaced. Fischer (1928-2012) was a brilliant pianist, composer and interpreter of music by others. His son Brent put together Out of the Blue<\/em> as he researched his father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s archives. He recruited drummers Peter Erskine and Mike Shapiro to alternate in accompanying piano tracks that Clare Fischer recorded before his death. Overdubbing, Brent plays bass and percussion. Singers Denise Donatelli and John Proulx provide vocalese lines on the title track. Among the delights of this bonus to the elder Fischer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s legacy:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 His unaccompanied medley of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153When You Wish Upon a Star\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Someday My Prince Will Come.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Father and son in a whimsical, rhythmically irresistible version of Johnny Hodges\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Squatty Roo.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 The two in Django Reinhardt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Nuages,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which manages to be both muscular and\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthanks to Erskine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brush work\u00e2\u20ac\u201ddelicate.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 New approaches to two modern Brazilian classics, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Amor Em Paz\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Samba de Orfeu,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d important additions to the Clare Fischer discography.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 An early 1960s piano sketch taped by Fischer per<\/em> that he ultimately transformed into \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Novelho.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The free flow of his improvisation on this is a high point.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Abbey Lincoln<\/strong>, Love Having You Around, Vol. 2<\/em><\/a> (High Note)<\/p>\n

\"\"The late singer (1930-2010) recorded this intimate album during an engagement at San Francisco\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Keystone Corner in the spring of 1980, a decade before the flurry of releases that brought her renewed fame. Lincoln\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s combination of toughness and tenderness was fully engaged in the urgencies of the Stevie Wonder title song, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153When Malindy Sings,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the slavery lament \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Driva Man\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Throw It Away.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Warmheartedness and Billie Holiday inflection guide \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Little Girl Blue.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d She presents her own \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Rainbow\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Throw It Away\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as pieces of a poetic optimism that also informs John Coltrane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Africa,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which has Lincoln\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lyric (\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009dthis land of milk and honey on the river called the Nile\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d). The final track is two minutes of Lincoln singing introductions of pianist Phil Wright, drummer Doug Sides and bassist Art Washington. San Francisco veteran James Leary plays bass on all the other tracks.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Burak Bedikyan<\/strong>, Awakening<\/em><\/a> (Steeplechase LookOut)<\/p>\n

Pianist and composer Bedikyan, a native of Turkey, has established himself among an elite\"\" circle of New York jazz artists. His colleagues on Awakening<\/em> are alto saxophonist Loren Stillman, bassist Ugonna Okegwo and drummer Donald Edwards. Bedikyan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s playing and some of his compositions reflect his roots in bebop, his classical training and his Middle Eastern origins. If \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Memory Of A Fading Dream\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was intended to evoke his heritage, it succeeds in creating an exotic atmosphere that Stillman”\u00a0and Bedikyan expand on in their solos, energized by Edwards\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 strategically and delicately placed cymbal splashes. In his third Steeplechase album, Bedikyan has grown impressively.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jim Hall & Red Mitchell<\/strong>, Valse Hot, Sweet Basil 1978<\/em><\/a> (ArtistShare)<\/p>\n

\"\"Jazz improvisation at its best is a listener\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s art. There are few better illustrations of that truth than Hall playing off the power and sensitivity of Mitchell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bass lines and Mitchell making instant accommodation to Hall\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s often unexpected turns of phrase and harmonic shifts. Highlights: Charlie Parker\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s blues \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Now\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s The Time,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a lengthy exploration of Billie Holiday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153God Bless The Child,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and stunning interpretations of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Stella By Starlight\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and Sonny Rollins\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Valse Hot.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Originally recorded for John Snyder\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ArtistsHouse label, the album captures the guitarist and the bassist at the top of their duo game. Thirty-eight years on, it is as fresh as the day it was issued.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Art Pepper & Warne Marsh<\/strong>, Unreleased Art, Volume 9<\/a> (Widow\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Taste)<\/p>\n

Laurie Pepper continues to release unissued recordings by her late alto saxophonist husband\"\" Art. Her latest installment is from Pepper and tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh in their 1974 engagement at the lamented Los Angeles jazz stronghold Donte\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. On three CDs the saxophonists and a stalwart rhythm exercise their formidable energies and imaginations in standard songs and bebop standbys. In their contrasting approaches,<\/p>\n

Pepper and Marsh were two of the most daring improvisers of the second half of the twentieth century. Pepper got plenty of acclaim and basked in it. Marsh, a borderline recluse, maintained a low profile and kept quiet except when playing. Both do astounding (term used advisedly) up-tempo work on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Donna Lee.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d In \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Rhythm-a-ning,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d they interlock horns like a pair of bull elk in mating season. Ballad relief comes in \u00e2\u20ac\u009dWhat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s New?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Round Midnight;\u00e2\u20ac\u009d both saxophonists are contemplative in comparison with their fast pieces, although Pepper\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s edginess doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite subside. In a blazing \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Cherokee,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d pianist Bill Mays sits in for Mark Levine. John Heard is the bassist throughout, with Lew Malin on drums. One must wonder what Laurie Pepper will come up with next in her continuing Art Pepper retrospective.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the hours left in 2016 dwindle, we briefly acknowledge a few of the hundreds of albums that have accumulated this year at Rifftides world headquarters. Many releases stacked up without reviews. This does not indicate that they are unworthy, only that there are limits to how much music the linear process of listening can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8074","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-main","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}