Music Monday: Summer Music

It is officially summertime here in North Dakotaland. The temperatures soared to nearly 100° and the last fugitive piles of snow melted leaving on smudges of dirt behind. We’re beyond the last day of classes and my summer tools are piled on the dinning room table.

That means it is also time for summer music. For whatever reason, at the start of summer I almost always play Eddie Gale’s Black Rhythm Happening (1969). If you don’t know this album, you should! It’s brash, complex, and utterly listenable (and this is a quite a feat especially in 1969). Plus Eddie Gale cut his teeth in Sun Ra’s outfit. 

I’ve been charmed by Branford Marsalis’s very recent reimagining of Keith Jarrett’s 1974 album Belonging. In fact, I’ve created a playlist where I’ve interspersed the new Marsalis album with the Jarrett original. Marsalis’s album has a bit more swing than the original from Jarrett’s European quartet, but somehow I feel like Jarrett’s has more soul. Judge for yourself. 

Finally, I’m intrigued by the low key release of Arcade Fire’s new album Pink Elephant. It seems to have attracted a good bit of conflicting opinion ranging from final evidence that Arcade Fire has jumped the shark to part of a through line from Reflektor (2013) and continuing through Everything Now (2016) and We (2020). 

One last note, I’d be remiss if I didn’t note the passing of the singer Andy Bey. I’m particularly fond of his contributions to Horace Silver’s That Healin’ Feelin’ (1970) from his United States of Mind trilogy.

I hope this music gets you going on your summer journey!