THE GIG

Consensus Bureau

Yesterday’s Jazz Matters panel on the Best of 2010 was a blast -- it could only have been improved by a stronger turnout and pitchers of draft beer. (Jazz Journalists Association president Howard Mandel, our moderator, voiced his awareness that those two things are probably related.) I could hardly put together a more astute or collegial crew than the one David Adler assembled, with WBGO’s Josh Jackson and Down Beat’s Jim Macnie (and of course, Adler himself). There was plentiful agreement; I’m amused to report that the only real dissent formed around one of my picks. Read on for more about that.

But first, a side note on the comments below my last related post. Mahalo to everyone who contributed picks (and keep it coming)! I’m intrigued by the apparent consensus around Mary Halvorson’s new album, and can’t help but muse about selection bias: beyond this here blog-ville, and the teeming urban centers, how are people feeling about it? Or perhaps the salient question is: who hasn’t heard it that should? On the panel I wondered aloud whether it would even show up in the jazz-mag reader’s polls. It’s certainly in the running for my Top 10, as is the other comment-field-consensus pick, Jason Moran’s Ten. (Speaking of Halvorson and Moran, you saw this, right? Amen.) 

Highway Patrol

 

Brad Mehldau and Jon Brion fit the definition of a mutual admiration society. That much is probably evident in this story, about their new collaboration, Highway Rider. It was certainly evident in the studio last spring, as they were mixing the final tracks of the album.

“There’s nobody else like him,” Mehldau said of Brion then. “Because he’s got those ears on the level of engineering, and detail, and his approach to recording. It’s creative, like a jazz musician.” 

And here’s Brion on Mehldau: “For my money he’s the single most influential jazz musician going. If you want to talk about the ripple effect, I don’t see anybody else out there doing anything that is so permeating in its nature on other people playing the instrument. He has certainly to my ears become the de facto standard-bearer.”

Their previous collaboration, Largo, was striking in its calibration of the spontaneous and the meticulous: a balance crudely formulated as jazz + pop. Its influence has been serious (see yesterday’s post), and its legacy enduring. Considering it in light of Highway Rider, though, you come to the issue of the cover tune. (The new album doesn’t have any.) As it happens, the cover tune is one more point of agreement between Mehldau and Brion. Consider this exchange, which is mostly Brion: 

Little Ditties

 

Busy weekend, punctuated by a lot of televised football, some overdue social outings, and a couple of superbly slippery jazz gigs. At the Jazz Standard on Friday, I caught an early set by Joshua Redman, with Matt Penman on bass and Greg Hutchinson on drums. It began with a medley of Blackbirds, shifting allusions from the Beatles to Miles Davis, and went on to include a couple of pieces from Compass, his most recent CD. (The release party was on Inauguration Day.)

For those newer tunes, Redman had the luxury of a nearly complete Double Trio, thanks to a guest turn by bassist Reuben Rogers. I especially enjoyed how “Little Ditty” progressed from sweet simplicity to heady complexity, with a soprano solo over an impressively fluid 29/8 groove (parsed 6 + 7 + 7 + 5 + 4). I was just as happy to hear “Chill,” which Redman played with Hutch and Rogers, even if it always makes me nostalgic for the 1990s quartet with Brad Mehldau. (Incidentally, Redman did feature some piano during a Thursday set, according to Josh Jackson of WBGO.)

The other serious jazz gig of the weekend was by Henry Threadgill’s Zooid at Roulette on Sunday. Much more on this soon; stay tuned.