Music Monday: Getting Back to Work

As much as I enjoyed working in Cyprus, I was ready to get home and start the slow grind toward the start of the fall semester. This involves both thinking carefully about my classes (including two new preps next year) as well as trying to clear the deck of projects that have awkwardly lingered for longer than they should.

First thing is first, though, and that’s selecting some music to get me through the so-called “frog days” of summer. Fortunately, there’s some great stuff in my play list right now. 

First, I’ve been absolutely loving the album Sparks from Eri Yamamoto, Chad Fowler, William Parker, and Steve Hirsh. Yamamoto’s playing is simply extraordinary and alternates between setting the pace and supporting Chad Fowler’s probing and sometime explosive alto sax. Fowler has been something of a revelation to me. I listened to him a good bit earlier in the summer on his two-man album with Matthew Shipp. As with that outing Sparks demands attention, but it worth it.

For mellower moments, I’ve just started exploring Charles Lloyd’s latest work with Bill Frisell and Thomas Morgan called Chapel. Apparently, this will be the first of “a trio of albums” that’ll come out over the next few months (including a date with tabla player Zakir Hussain). If Lloyd’s work can have a kind of inviting or even popular character to it, this album is otherwise. It’s deep and at times challenging and while it won’t bark for your attention, it’ll draw you in and as the title suggests invite you into its contemplative space.

Finally, I’d be remiss not to mention that June 25th was the 61st anniversary of the recording of one of the greatest live music dates in history: Bill Evans Live at the Village Vanguard. The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings are simply amazing. They not only give a listener the feeling of being at famous music venue in 1961, but also communicated how Evans worked as a performer, developed his sets, and offered different takes on the same songs over the course of an engagement. More than any of that, though, the music is just amazing. The connection between Evans, Scott LaFaro, and Paul Motian is so deep as to sound instinctive and even those moments where a listener might wonder whether they’ve stumbled just a bit quickly dissipate into new (and original) situations. If you like the music that I talk about here and haven’t heard these recordings, I can’t recommend them enough.