hot off the press

In August of 2009, drummer Alvin Fielder, the legendary AACM founder, was near death, seemingly at the end of a long and productive life. Indeed he had already died several times, only to be brought back by doctors each time during a grueling seven months of grave illness. After his amazing recuperation, the 76-year-old living treasure travelled to Dallas during the summer of 2010 (and then again in September 2011), specifically to visit trumpeter Dennis González and sons (contrabassist Aaron, and vibraphonist/drummer Stefan) and work on this Yells At Eels project, with several days of rehearsal, recording and relaxation, along with the talented young trombonist Gaika James, joining the González clan on these occasions and providing the perfect sound to round out the quintet. The aptly named Resurrection and Life presents the most inspired moments of these Texan sessions.

Bruce Lee Galanter pinpointed this one as "the best set of the 2010 Vision Fest" and we have to agree that this drumless quartet, first convened by contrabassist Joëlle Léandre as part of a series at The Stone in 2006 (released as The Stone Quartet on DMG/ARC in 2008), offers an impressive four way conversation between Marilyn Crispell (piano), Mat Maneri (viola), Roy Campbell (trumpet, flutes) and Léandre, each dipping into and dropping out of as the moment demands, but with a cohesiveness which undermines any thought of randomness. Here you can find another highlight of the quartet's ability to perform measured free improvisation, with all combinations explored without grandstanding, everyone's ego subsumed to the needs of the music.

Ten years after his first and only solo release Zong Book, baritone saxophonist Daunik Lazro delivers another collection of improvised solo pieces, recorded during the 2010 Europa Jazz Festival and in Paris’ Saint-Merry church a few months later. If Lazro’s creativity and technique are no longer to prove, it’s really the highly personal quality of the sonic landscapes he’s creating that strikes the most when listening to the music on this recording. On Some Other Zongs, Lazro displays a varied palette of multi-phonic sounds and colors, always blending the cerebral with the emotional, reaching the depths of his inner self and bringing music out of it, and this even when revisiting a tune like Joe McPhee’s Le Vieux Carré and sort of paying homage to the blues roots of free music.