NEW IN MUSIC THIS WEEK: JULY 11th

This is a good week for those who like music that is unforgettable, refuses to let you go and makes you stop everything else you’re doing. This is what’s New In Music This Week: August 11^th.

My top pick for New In Music This Week: July 11^th is:

JAZZ: PAINTER OF THE INVISIBLE – Jaleel Shaw – Changu Records

Nine years after his debut album, Perspective, saxophonist/composer Shaw was named DownBeat Critic’s Poll 2014 Rising Star Alto Saxophonist. Listeners to his first two albums (the second was 2008’s Optimism) knew they were listening to someone special.

Things only continued to get better and they certainly have with the deeply personal and moving Painter of the Invisible. 

Shaw celebrates some of the people and influences in his life that have meant the most to him. They include his grandmother, his cousin Gina, James Baldwin, Casey Benjamin, Ralph Ellison, Tamir Rice, Meghan Stabile and more.

Not only does he write beautifully and expressively about these people and the role they played in his life, but he also intensely explores his own life as a Black man. Shaw says in the press notes, “When I say Painter of the Invisible, it’s about a people who have always been overlooked in some way. That’s part of what this album is about – our experience.”

Shaw is joined by vibraphonist Sasha Berliner; drummer Joe Dyson, pianist Lawrence Fields, guitarist Lage Lund and bassist Ben Street.

Painter of the Invisible packs an emotional wallop. It’s also damn good music.

Here are the other fine albums found in New In Music This Week: July 11^th

JAZZ: AFFIRMATIONS: LIVE AT BLUE NOTE NEW YORK – THEON CROSS – New Soil X Division 81

Jazz tuba. Not the first instrument you think of when it comes to jazz – particularly as a lead instrument. Bill Barber, Howard Johnson and Michael Godard are amongst the best-known tuba musicians. You can easily catapult to the top of any list Theon Cross.

Not only is Cross a superb and inventive musician, I believe him to be a visionary one. From the opening track of Affirmations, you know you’re listening to someone who has a total vision for his art. From the way his music is presented to the music itself (and likely the way it is experienced live in a club), Cross knows his instrument and how to express himself to the fullest.

Like many live albums, the artists often pulls from their studio albums. Affirmations pulls from Cross’s discography: FYAH (2019) and INTRA – I (2021). 

Joining Cross for this concert were saxophonist Isaiah Collier, drummer James Russell Sims and guitarist Nikos Ziarkas. Loops are also involved in this recording – brilliantly I might add.

I only heard this album for the first time yesterday. And for the second time and the third time. That’s how compelling Affirmations is.

JAZZ: EL VIEJO CAMINANTE – Dino Saluzzi/Jacob Young/José Saluzzi – ECM Records

By the time one reaches the age of 90, as bandoneon player Dino Saluzzi has done, you don’t need to impress people with fancy styles, fast playing or loud music. You can sit back, do what you love to do and let the music and your approach to it speak for itself.

El Viejo Caminante speaks volumes for Saluzzi. It’s a mostly quiet and beautiful album that allows Saluzzi, his son José on classical guitar and Jacob Young on acoustic steel-string guitar and electric guitar to make the music their only priority.

You’ll want to make it your only priority once you start with the opening track, La Ciudad de los Aires Buenos. Through 71 minutes and 12 songs, you will enjoy a quiet night in Argentina (even with the inclusion of Someday My Prince Will Come from Snow White) with this gorgeous recording.

You can listen to the title track HERE.

JAZZ: FIRST MEETING: LIVE AT DIZZY’S CLUB – Gonzalo Rubalcaba/Chris Potter/Larry Grenadier/Eric Harland – 5Passion Records

Oh, to have been at Dizzy’s Club in New York City in August of 2022. Jazz has had many a supergroup. This quartet is amongst the finest.

Pianist Rubalcaba, saxophonist Potter, bassist Grenadier and drummer Harland have their own careers, but the alchemy of putting the four of them together yields something extraordinary as First Meeting reveals.

Within the first two minutes of the opening track, Chick Corea’s 500 Miles High, you’re hooked. This is the first of two covers. The second is Dizzy Gillespie’s Con Alma. The other four songs offer compositional contributions from each of the musicians.

One wonders how well an ensemble of jazz stars can come together (and this booking in 2022 did happen quickly), but those lucky enough to be in the club got to witness four artists making music together in the best possible way. It’s all about the music.

That isn’t to say that there aren’t amazing solos here. There are. But it is that indefinable thing called chemistry that aligns in such a way to make for 92 minutes of jazz at its finest. That’s what First Meeting offers. I can’t wait to hear what their Second Meeting sounds like!

JAZZ: OPENNESS TRIO – Nate Mercereau/Josh Johnson/Carlos Niño – Blue Note Records

If you want to get a sense of the jazz scene in Los Angeles, Openness Trio is a great place to start (assuming you haven’t already). Mercereau is a guitarist/producer; Johnson is a saxophonist and Niño is a percussionist.

Amongst them they have tons of experience with better known artists, but with Openness Trio that should change. This is an album that makes nature and their response to it totally palpable. Not just palpable, but like we are there with them on a spiritual journey through that nature.

That much of the music was recorded outdoors only adds to this feeling of being away from it all on a quest to find peace and salvation. This music takes you there.

This is called the debut album by this trio of excellent musicians. I hope that is more than just adjective and truly portends more music ahead.

You can listen to the song Openness HERE.

JAZZ: THE POETRY OF JAZZ (LIVE) – Allan Harris – Blue Llama Records

With the opening track of this live album, singer Allan Harris talks about his joy of being around groovy people. We’re happy. We’re in a great mood. Then this ambitious album takes a more serious turn as he invokes Langston Hughes’ 1925 The Weary Blues.

That turn highlights what’s most impressive about The Poetry of Jazz. Harris takes poetry by Hughes, Maya Angelou, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Lord Byron, Robert Frost, Mary Oliver, Shakespeare and combines them with original songs he’s written and songs by such artists as Carol Connors, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Henry Mancini with Johnny Mercer and David Shire.

Harris’ ensemble includes drummer Sylvia Cuenca, pianist John Di Martino, violinist Alan Grubner and bassist Jay White.

The result is equally moving and thought-provoking. Harris has regularly taken big swings and his succeeds here. His smoky baritone makes both the singing and the recitation utterly compelling.

You can watch and listen to Midnight Sun HERE.

JAZZ: POINTS IN TIME – John Yao & His 17 Piece Instrument (JY-17) – See Tao Recordings

We might be having a resurgence of big band music. There’s more of it being released. Given the costs associated with putting large ensembles together, I’m encouraged by the record labels and artists willing to do so.

Case in point is trombonist/composer/arranger John Yao. Points in Time showcases Yao’s writing and arrangements. Over 8 songs and one hour of music, Yao puts on full display why he’s a recently named Guggenheim Fellow. He composed all but Finger Painting, the final track, which was written by Herbie Hancock.

The best way to know how well an arrangement works is, of course, to hear it performed. Major credit must go to the fine ensemble Yao has assembled for Points In Time: saxophonists Tim Armacost, Hashem Assadullahi, Billy Drewes, Carl Maraghi and Rich Perry; trumpeters and flugelhorn players John Lake, Nick Marchione, David Neves and David Smith; trombonists Sam Blakeslee, Matt McDonald, Max Siegel, Nick Vayenas and Yao; bassist Robert Sabin, drummer Andy Watson and pianist Hyuna Park.

OPERA: MISSING- ATOM (Artists of the Opera MISSING)/ Continuum Ensemble/Timothy Long – Bright Shiny Things

This opera by composer Brian Current and librettist Marie Clements had its world premiere in Vancouver in 2017. 

Missing explores the history of Aboriginal women in Canada who went missing or were murdered. The opera is sung in English and Gitxsan (the language of Indigenous people from British Columbia).

At the center of Missing is Ava (Cait Wood), a young woman who has a horrible car accident and while lying on the side of the road she sees the body of a Native girl (Melody Courage). Over the course of the opera (and well after the accident), Ava continues to be haunted by the Native girl. How their paths continue to cross and how it impacts more than just the two of them becomes the centerpiece of this haunting opera. 

Current has written music that finds its way deep into your soul and continues to make its home there during the 78 minutes of music on this recording. 

Conductor Long, the Continuum Ensemble and the entire cast perform Missing beautifully.

That’s all for New In Music This Week: July 11^th.

Enjoy the music!

Enjoy your weekend!

Main Photo: Part of the album art for Painter of the Invisible by Jaleel Shaw (Courtesy Changu Records)