{"id":9154,"date":"2018-02-19T00:37:31","date_gmt":"2018-02-19T08:37:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=9154"},"modified":"2018-02-19T23:02:10","modified_gmt":"2018-02-20T07:02:10","slug":"monday-recommendations-three-from-ecm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2018\/02\/monday-recommendations-three-from-ecm\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Recommendation(s): Three From ECM"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andy Sheppard<\/strong>, Romaria<\/a> (ECM)<\/p>\n

\"\"The title tune, written and first recorded by the Brazilian Renato Teixeira, was made still more famous by the singer Elis Regina\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 1977 recording. It has been a beloved standard song in Brazil for four decades. British saxophonist Sheppard and his quartet hew to the spirits if not the letters of Teixeira\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Regina\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s versions. Guitarist Elvind Aarset manipulates electronics to create atmospherics that expand the quartet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s harmonies. If that raises warnings for jazz listeners bothered by digital enhancement, never fear. Aarset\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s contributions do not muddy the sound; they color it in intriguing ways. That is true throughout the album\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eight tracks. Sheppard wrote all of the pieces except for the one by Teixeira.<\/p>\n

Drummer Sebastian Rochford and bassist Michel Benita join Sheppard and Aarset in rhythmic looseness that never lapses into the lack of discipline that can mar this kind of relaxed playing. One can practically sense the four listening to one another. Their concentration is pronounced on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Thirteen,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with the force and crispness of Rochford\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s drumming, near-offbeats in Benita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bass lines and suggestions of eeriness in Aarset\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sensory sounds. As for Sheppard, on soprano and tenor saxophones he is the rhythmically assured and forceful soloist who has made major impressions over the years with Carla Bley on nearly a dozen of her albums and in solo assignments with George Russell and Gil Evans. He is impressive with the depth of his tenor sound and his lyricism in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153With Every Flower That Falls\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153All Becomes Again.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d His composition \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Pop\u00e2\u20ac\u009d does not pop. It floats on Sheppard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tenor solo and the wave action of the unusual rhythm section.<\/p>\n

Nicolas Masson<\/strong> Quartet, Travelers<\/a> (ECM)<\/p>\n

Affected by the adventurousness of experimental modern jazz and by operatic traditions that go as\"\" far back as the 1700s, the Swiss reed artist and composer Nicolas Masson uses his quartet to create soundscapes. With titles as abstract as the music, pieces like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Fuschia,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Philae\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Blurred\u00e2\u20ac\u009d create peaceful moods that are occasionally roiled by interjections of rhythm from drummer Lionel Friedli and bassist Patrice Moret, separately or together. In the kaleidoscope of sound called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Philae\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the quartet is compelling, in no small part because of Masson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s soprano saxophone intensity. On \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Jura,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d at first with only Moret\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s accompaniment, Masson builds a tenor sax feature into a statement swelling into a cloud of sound that subsides only as the piece ends. Pianist Collin Vallon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s keyboard touch and dynamics are vital to the album\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s success.<\/p>\n

Shinya Fukumori<\/strong> Trio, For 2 Akis<\/a> (ECM)<\/p>\n

\"\"It would be interesting to hear Masson and tenor saxophonist Matthieu Bordenave together. Their tonal similarity might either blend into impressionist boredom or draw out competitive instincts. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll probably never know, but if ECM matched them, there could be surprises. Bordenave, the tenor player in Japanese drummer Shinya Fukumori\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trio, is French. The pianist, Walter Lang Junior, is German. There are Asian inflections in pieces like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hoshi Meguri No Uta\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and the modern Japanese standard \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ai San San.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d That music is in contrast to the almost ballad-like reflection of some of the other pieces, notably two by Lang, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153No Goodbye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153When Day Is Done\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (unrelated to the Victor Young song of the same title). Fukumori\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Spectacular,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with his expressive drumming behind Lang\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s piano, is a highlight. The album\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mixture of contemplative and active music of harmonic depth keeps it interesting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andy Sheppard, Romaria (ECM) The title tune, written and first recorded by the Brazilian Renato Teixeira, was made still more famous by the singer Elis Regina\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 1977 recording. It has been a beloved standard song in Brazil for four decades. British saxophonist Sheppard and his quartet hew to the spirits if not the letters of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9155,"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":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-recommendations","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9154","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=9154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}