Bliss Avenue (Ruf Records) by Dana Fuchs had me staring at the cover while I grooved to the music of this badass bitch, especially “Daddy’s Little Girl.” Now I’m going to have to go back to 2011 to hear her sexily-titled Love To Beg. Fuchs co-wrote everything with her guitarist Jon Diamond and it gets pretty damn personal, from a song about her dead brother to one about the loneliness of life on the road. She says of Bliss Avenue, “I really purged my soul in a starker, more naked, way…” The result is a pastiche of Southern rock, bluesy torchers, real honky-tonk country music (not that country radio crap) and funky soul. She was Janis Joplin in the off-Broadway production of Love, Janis. One listen and you can see why.
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Incitare (Fantasy/Concord) by Volto! rocks hard, veers off into sonic outer space only to come careening back down to earth with syncopated surprises worthy of some big-time jazz-rock fusion band. Who are these guys with no singer and who are all the better for it? It’s the debut of drummer Danny Carey (Tool), guitarist John Ziegler (Pigmy Love Circus), bassist Lance Morrison (Don Henley/Alanis Morissette) and keyboardist Jeff Babko (Jimmy Kimmel’s house band). The band wrote, arranged and produced it all, helped along by veteran engineer Evil Joe Barresi (Queens Of The Stone Age/Bad Religion). This is great stuff: unexpected, entertaining, kickin’, pumpin’ and durably muscular. I wish more bands had no singers!
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Let’s get serious. In 1957, Gunther Schuller—composer, conductor, musician, author, historian—coined the term “Third Stream” to connote an adventurous new hybrid of jazz and classical where dissonance played as big a part as rhythm and improvisation reared its creative head within the usually tight, strict confines of classical. Proponents of such include Miles Davis, the Modern Jazz Quartet and Stan Kenton. Now comes Jazz In The New Harmonic (Chesky Records) by the acclaimed pianist/composer David Chesky and he’s got the kind of cast that can take this confluence of conflicting emotions to its next level. Drummer Billy Drummond, tenor saxophonist Javon Jackson, trumpeter Jeremy Pelt and bassist Peter Washington—world-class musicians all—have the chops to augment Chesky’s inventions. The eight tracks—all between 7:12 and 9:34—bespeak a quiet elegance that worms its way within your ear and, indeed, eventually, into your soul. It’s one of the year’s best jazz recordings and one of the most experimental at the same time.
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Speaking of jazz, Guided Tour (Mack Avenue) by The New Gary Burton Quartet is pretty damn thrilling. You never know what you’re going to get with vibraphonist Burton. He could go new age, tango, fusion, bop, swing, worldbeat or funk. His four-mallet technique is legendary. His duet albums with pianist Chick Corea are a must. Here, though, he fronts the kind of band that has the same level of excitement as when Weather Report or Return To Forever first blew us away. Guitarist Julian Lage, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Antonio Sanchez prove the perfect foil for this 70-year-old pioneer who refuses to rest on his considerable past laurels. Like most music revolutionaries, he’s always looking forward and Guided Tour, a group effort in every sense, leans on his younger cohorts to not only play (brilliantly) but share in the composing. This gives it an organic feel of profound proportions as Burton never fails to rise to the occasion and outdo his young turks. It’s a race to the finish line as the chemistry between these four outstanding musicians results in almost a cutting contest of riveting action and non-stop meandering arrangements that demand second, third and fourth listens. Then, rest up, and go back to it and you’ll hear things you haven’t heard before.
