Thursday, January 13, 2011

Jazz Alchemist votes for El Intruso 2010 Poll - Part IV

Final part of my votes for El Intruso 2010 Poll:

Bass
1. Barry Guy
2. John Edwards
3. Ingebrigt Haken-Flaten

1-The number of times the ‘Barry Guy New Orchestra” phrase appears in this list should explain why this name appears on the top.
2-The introduction to “Volume” review explains the 2 nd place.
3-For his playing with Joe McPhee on “Blue Chicago Blues” [Not Two] and with Atomic on “Theater Tilters” vol. 1 & 2 [Jazzland].

Drums
1. Paal Nilssen-Love
2. Gerald Cleaver
3. Pierre Favre

1-Paal’s duo with Ken Vandermark “Milwaukee Volume” is arguable their best release so far which says a lot. And don’t forget he’s playing with Atomic.
2-While all musicians are fantastic, Gerald’s drumming on “Searching for Adam” still amazes me.
3-I mentioned the duo concert with Samuel Blaser, Blaser’s was great, Pierre was breathtaking and the sense of melody and his light touch unbelievable – true master at work.

Possibly the most crowded category overall. Mike Pride, Tim Daisy, Frank Rosaly, Pawel Szpura, Tomas Fujiwara, Brian Willson, Michael Zerang and many others deserving a spot.

Other instruments
1. Jason Adasiewicz - vib
2. Per Ake Holmlander - tuba
3. Mattias Stahl - vib

1-Jason Adasiewcz released great “Sun Rooms” [Delmark] – a rare trio with vibraphone, bass and drums. Great sound. And he contributes to the latest Exploding Star Orchestra “Star Have Shapes” (also on Delmark)
2-Per-Ake was simply impressive on stage with Barry Guy New Orchestra and all the small line-ups of the week.
3-Mattias Stahl gives the Angles incredible and original sound that, if anything, reminds me of one of the best jazz record ever – Eric Dolpy’s “Out Lunch” with Bobby Hutcherson.

Female Vocal
1. Sainkho Namtchylak
2. Andre' Pabarciute

These votes are easily explained with the reviews presented on the blog. Sainkho is casting her usual and still effective shamanic spells on “Not Quite Songs” while Andre’ Pabarciute takes You to the centre of the earth on “Varpai”.

Male Vocal

Can’t think of any 2010 record I heard with male vocal present.

Concert Band
1. Phall Fatale
2. Angles

I'm not really sure of the sense of this category. The best concert I attended this year was Barry Guy New Orchestra, with sets by Augusti Fernandez/Mats Gustafsson duo and Gustaffson / Guy / Strid trio coming really close. Since improvised music is really a 'live music' I'd say that any great band is first and foremost a great concert band. And with this kind of experience, sometimes the only way to have it is the concert, and the 'music' somehow is lost when recorded on a cd.

1- I decided to go with the 'fun factor'. Phall Fatale played one of the most exciting music I heard live this year (more on that in the 'newcomer band' section). 
2- Haven't heard the Angles on stage but the "Epileptical West - Live in Coimbra" assures me I would love to (as they find their spot on 'band' section). 
3- Same thing with the energetic and hardrocking music of Liudas Mockunas / Eugenijus Kanevicius / Dalius Naujokaitis trio as presented on their lp release (Liudas can be found also in “newcomer musician” category)

Record Label
1. Not Two
2. Clean Feed
3. NoBusiness

Since it's based in Krakow I am able to track Not Two's activity on a very regular basis, and I am still more impressed with the high quality and large quantities of cds he's producing. (with many cds that can be found here or in the "My Favourites 2010" list, or simply in the reviewed cds section, proving my point)
Clean Feed brings to the world some of the most striking music again and again, with both quantity and quality being there. Angles and Full Throttle Orchestra cds are just a tip of the iceberg.
NoBusiness managed to create an impressive catalogue in very short span of time and they mantain the quality they began with (like the staggering David S. Ware "Live in Vilnius" double lp) slowly increasing the quantity of the discs released. They bring a lot of new names to Your attention, as well as re-release some of the long-gone music (Amalgam, Muntu, Commitments, Atomic) and they keep alive the vinyl fetish among jazz lovers.

Honorable mention goes to Multikulti and Laurence Family, with very modest catalogue (6 cd releases by Multikulti, double-lp by Laurence Family) but "Hera" and "Passion" alone prove the quality of their releases.

Now the whole list is available, I'm waiting to see how the general voting will turn out. Comments section is all Yours!

3 comments:

  1. Great list! A pleasure to read your comments because I too have voted in the poll. My choices soon on my blog, some nice matches.

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  2. Excellent choices, and excellent commentary on the music and musicians. Excellent, not because I agree with just about everything that you have highlighted for the year, but because you have introduced me to some music that I was not aware of. That's very important. Thank you very much.

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  3. Thanks You Cayetano and Thank You Rob. As i wrote couple of times those lists are mainly fun and shouldn't be ever considered conclusive. Glad You've found something new in there. It would be completely boring if the same names would appear everywhere wouldn't it. :) Glad the list serves its purpose which is exactly the one of introducing new music and new names to those who are looking for new experiences.

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