Inverted Garden

Tuesday Morning Listen: Manu Katche, Third Round

In Coltrane: The Story of a Sound, Times critic Ben Ratliff writes, "the sound of so many jazz gigs I've heard in the past fifteen years...is usually the sound of albums like Coltrane's Sound or Coltrane Plays the Blues, the quartet just before or in the first stages of a modal-jazz style, just tightening, still before A Love Supreme and that later music that is so personal that to borrow from it would be obvious." I hadn't heard either album when I first read Ratliff's words, but I quickly corrected that and found he was absolutely right. Walk into Smalls or the 55 Bar, the Vanguard or Blue Note, and you'll likely hear a cooking quartet that's playing very much in a mid-career-Coltrane style. Bop like modernism has proved nearly immortal in its "post" phase.

What then to make of ECM Records? The European label is a critical darling in the States, often lauded for its distinctive sound (notes are pristine, you can hear silences) and the creative vision of its chief Manfred Eicher, but to my knowledge, it's never produced an album that's anything like Coltrane's Sound. In fact, it's the rare ECM album that's anything like any music that's being played in New York's jazz clubs. The ECM sound is soft, hyper-lyrical, and subtly textured—Bill Evans without swing. New York's many sounds tend towards propulsion, no matter if it's the Bad Plus, Darius Jones, or Wynton Marsalis.

I thought about ECM's paradoxical position in America (beloved by critics but unlike anything else they praise) while listening to Manu Katché's Third Round, a pleasing wisp of an album that was released last Tuesday by the venerable label. The French drummer Katché is playing the Ottawa and Montreal jazz festivals over the next two days before arriving at the Highline Ballroom on Thursday for a one-nighter in the city. Katché has worked extensively with Peter Gabriel and Sting, so it's not surprising that Third Round has plenty of moments that sound like a mash-up of soft-rock and smooth jazz—death by light grooving—but it doesn't really make sense to analyze the album simply by pointing out that it is not a serious jazz record in the American tradition nor even an accomplished "Euro Jazz" record like the works of Enrico Rava or Tomasz Stanko.

Katché, to his credit, seems to know just what he's doing, telling Ian Patterson at All About Jazz:

I've been playing with pop artists for more than 20 years, so I'm used to their structure. The way I listen to the music and the way I approach it is very much pop—I'm just talking about the structures of my compositions. Even if it's instrumental music like jazz, I'm not a big fan on record of—which is different than on stage—having 150 bars of improvisation. I think that when you listen to a record you just go for a trip, and if the trip is too long you get bored.

Only one of the 11 tracks on Third Round runs more than five minutes and many of them have surprisingly catchy melodies. After a quick browse through the music, I got the impression that Third Round was a compilation of elevator music for a yoga company's headquarters, but it's much deeper than muzak. Textures emulsify into one another on "Springtime Dancing," Katché's drumming smolders on "Out Take Number 9," and "Being Ben" has such a fine hook that I swear I've heard it before. I'm not sure I'll ever want to check out Third Round again, but I can hear the appeal: it's Easy Listening with contours. The drum and bass have shape and snap; Tore Brunborg's sax sounds breathy and immediate, not processed; and there's a consistent craftsmanship to the album that makes it, despite some soporific moments, a lush treat.

The "Keep On Trippin'" video from Third Round:

Tuesday Morning Listen: Jason Moran, "Ten"

Jason Moran has always been a bit of aesthete, from his art-film soundtrack covers to the stylish Danish chair in which he "exclusively performs." His music, however, has rarely felt too precious. His piano attack is informed but primal; and his improvisations can feel almost violent—disembowelments as much as deconstructions.

Ten, Moran's new album (out today on Blue Note), could use a little more of this vigor. It's probably Moran's most elegant album—consummately curated, masterfully realized, and more than a little dull. "Blue Blocks" and "RFK in the Land of Apartheid," the opening tracks, start as wispy sketches, and while Moran adds some shading, he doesn't stray very far from the original compositions. "Study No. 6" and Moran's original "Pas de Deux" would be wonderfully lyrical complements on a different album, but here they add to a growing feeling of suffocation by impeccably esoteric taste. On "Gangsterism Over 10 Years," the latest in Moran's signature "Gangsterism" series, the pianist brings back a heavy groove and pounds the keyboard into a rumble of fast-paced chords that recall his best performances. His take on Bernstein's "Big Stuff" is even better. You can almost hear a Broadway star belting over the strutting melody before Moran fractures time and sends the music careering toward joyful oblivion. Such liberations prove too few. Moran's sound is rich and wild, but on much of Ten, he suppresses his better instincts.

Bonus: Check out Ten, streaming on NPR for a very limited time only.

Tuesday Morning Listen: Henry Threadgill's Zooid

Henry Threadgill’s first album in eight years, This Brings Us To, Vol. 1, was originally scheduled to come out today. So, despite the fact that Pi Recordings decided to start selling the album on October 27, most outlets published their pre-release press last week.

In the early aughts, I heard Threadgill play twice at the Jazz Gallery with his current band Zooid. In a jazz world where many reedmen overflow with notes, Threadgill approaches music-making as a Zen warrior—big on both restraint and fire. For long periods, he’d step back from the stage, listening and swaying as the rest of the band explored his compositions. Then, when he witnessed a slight deficiency or the right opportunity, he’d grab his axe (mostly an alto that night) and start swinging with fury. Threadgill’s solos came in short blasts, but they were sustained enough to strike driving intensity into the center of the band’s precise rollicking.

Unfortunately, I missed Zooid’s latest New York stint (an October 25th date at Roulette) and it sounds like the band won’t be playing another show here for several months at least. That said, I (and I suspect many of you) haven’t missed out on Threadgill entirely. The jazz internets are united in Threadgill celebration!

• Destination: Out! is the best place to learn more about (and hear much of) This Bring Us To, Vol.1. It posted a preview on September 20th that not only includes two full tracks from the six-track album, but also features a quick-hit breakdown of their interview with Threadgill.

  D:O followed up last week, offering three Threadgill-signed copies of This Brings Us To, Vol. 1 to the winners of a blindfold contest and bringing us a few words on the music from Zooid’s guitarist, and the album’s producer, Liberty Ellman.

• Many jazz musicians will travel far and wide for some publicity. Threadgill, due to his age (65) and his demeanor (Zen warrior) seems happy to talk to the press, but only if they come to him. This means that all interviews with Threadgill are conducted around the corner from his home in the East Village at the De Robertis Caffe. Both Nate Chinen (NY Times) and Howard Mandel (writing a profile for Down Beat) mention De Robertis in their Threadgill pieces and WBGO’s Josh Jackson trucked some recording equipment to the cafe to interview the great man. (Contending with street noise and Elton John’s “Rocket Man,” Jackson got Threadgill to speak very close to the microphone making for a wonderful listen given Threadgill's deep, sonorous voice. Visa, if Morgan Freeman ever gets laryngitis, call in this guy.)

On a non-Threadgill note, yesterday saw the most readership (by far) that this blog has ever had. Most of the credit for that goes to the aforementioned Josh Jackson, who re-tweeted my blog post to his followers. Thanks, Josh! (And follow me on Twitter!) You can hear the next episode of the Checkout this afternoon at 5:30 on the wave radio (88.3 FM in the NYC area) or streaming internet radio. Or just download the podcast anytime. Jackson will also be broadcasting Christian McBride & Inside Straight live from the Village Vanguard tomorrow night at 9.