Music Monday: Blakey, Taborn, and Lloyd

It’s been an explosive week for music around here. I’ve been flipping almost randomly across a gaggle of amazing albums: some new, some old, and some in between. And, yeah, I know flipping randomly through albums is not the best way to savor their nuance and listen deeply, but I sometimes like to just enjoy music.

Since it was Art Blakey’s birthday, it had to listen to some of his class ensemble with Lee Morgan and Wayne Shorter. Since I don’t love Moanin’ as much as I’m supposed to (and I’ve posted it before), I’ll post Blakey’s The Freedom Rider (1961) here (even if the long drum solo in the title track always feels like an unnecessary indulgence). It’s just fantastic:

I’m always excited when a jazz or improvised music performer earns a MacArthur Fellowship. This year it was Craig Taborn. I’ll admit that I find his music challenging especially when it drifts toward more classically inspired sounds, but when he swings, I find it especially enjoyable. Lately I’ve been enjoying Flaga: Book of Angels, Vol. 27 with Tyshawn Sorey and Christian McBride which consists of John Zorn compositions (and now features two MacArthur Fellows [Taborn and Sorey]). It’s not like anything I listen to, but still fantastic.

Finally, as readers of this blog know, I’m a Charles Lloyd fan. I don’t find all his recent albums equally entertaining, but there’s always enough to them to warrant more than one listen. His most recent release, Figure in Blue, with Jason Moran on piano and Marvin Sewell on guitar. I don’t know Sewell at all, but the songs where he takes the lead, “Chulahoma” and “Blue for Langston” are smokin’. The rest of the album is solid with plenty of room for Lloyd, Moran, and Sewell to hang out within drums or bass to there to create too many rules. It’ll get a bunch of spins in my house.