I’m listening to a lot of jazz this week. Probably because there are a lot of releases in that realm. I’m also listening to some surprising classical music releases, an absurd musical and a new track from U2. What? Here’s what’s New in Music: October 16th:
My top pick is:
CLASSICAL: MAHLER: SYMPHONY NO. 6 in A MINOR (Arranged for Piano 4 Hands by Alexander von Zemlinsky) – Inna Faliks / Daniel Schlosberg – Sono Luminus
This appears to be only the second recording of Alexander von Zemlinsky’s 1906 arrangement of Mahler’s symphony nicknamed Tragische. Interestingly, this transcription comes from the same year as the symphony’s premiere.
According to Music Web, Mahler and Zemlinsky played this arrangement together in front of Arnold Schoenberg. How would you have liked to be in that room when it happened?
I love this symphony. I’m equally impressed with both the transcription and with the playing by pianists Faliks and Schlosberg.
These two outstanding musicians manage to do the impossible: provide all the intense drama Mahler wrote into his symphony while preserving the intricacy and fragility that coexist within the music.
The tension they achieve, particularly in the over 29-minute final movement, is palpable. As one of the main themes from the first movement comes back even more prominently in the fourth movement, Faliks and Schlosberg’s playing reaches its emotional peak.
In other words, I was just as moved by this recording as I’ve always been hearing this symphony in person. It doesn’t get better than that.
If this ever gets released on vinyl, I’ll be first in line to buy one.
Here are the other fine releases that are New in Music: October 16th:
CLASSICAL: PROKOFIEV: RARE ORIGINAL SOLO PIANO TRANSCRIPTIONS – Alexey Zuev – Fuga Libera
This is a great week for piano transcriptions. As a life-long fan of Sergei Prokofiev’s music, to hear how he transcribed his work for solo piano is one of the greatest gifts of this week’s releases.
As fascinating as his transcription of his first symphony is (and it is quite good), the revelation here is Prokofiev’s transcription of Chout (Histoire d’un Bouffon qui a roulé sept autres bouffons), Ballet en six tableaux, op. 21. Zuev offers the world premiere recording of the complete version for solo piano.
There are two other world premiere recordings here. The first is Le pas d’acier, Ballet en deux Tableaux, Op. 41 from 1925-26. This is a work dedicated to Serge Diaghilev. It features a lot of the complex writing found in Prokofiev’s piano concertos.
The second is Sinfonietta en la majeur, Op. 5/48.
Zuev is an accomplished pianist who makes this work by Prokofiev seem almost simple – even though I know it isn’t.
I’d tell you more, but I’m going to listen to this album again.
JAZZ: LIVE AT KEYSTONE KORNER – Joey DeFrancesco – Mack Avenue Records
Life is far too fragile. Thankfully, whether by design or not, someone recorded keyboardist/composer DeFrancesco’s gig at Baltimore’s Keystone Korner from August 12-14th in 2022. Eleven days later DeFrancesco suffered a heart attack and died.
This album comes from those dates and features eight originals written by DeFrancesco.
This is the first recording of One More Blues which was, at the time, a new composition. Three tracks were first introduced on his 2019 album In the Key of the Universe. The other four were first heard on his 2021 studio album More Music.
DeFrancesco plays the Hammond B-3 organ, trumpet and tenor saxophone in these live performances. He’s joined by Lucas Brown on guitar (who also jumps on the organ for two tracks) and Anwar Marshall on drums.
As a former organist (never as cool on my family’s Yamaha as DeFrancesco is on the B3), I’ve long followed DeFrancesco. Just like his peers and fans, I was shocked by his sudden passing.
Live at Keystone Korner reminds us that he was doing some of his best work.
JAZZ: AFRIKAN AMERIKAN BOOK OF THE DEAD – Russell Gunn + Blackhawk – Vanglorious Arts
At first I wasn’t sure what to make of this album. The opening track certainly confronts listeners with “They act like they’re mad at us. You’ve got it twisted. We’re mad at you. We waited and nobody came for us.”
It’s a bold start to an album that offers such great music. Trumpeter/composer/producer Gunn has a lot on his mind and he’s not shy about telling you what that is.
Once I settled in for what I wrongly assumed would be an album filled to the brim with similar thoughts, I realized Gunn wanted to get our attention. Once he had that, his album reveals itself to be a thoughtful journey of the self, of history and all of our places in it.
He wrote six of the seven tracks on Afrikan Amerikan Book of the Dead. They range from gospel to straight ahead jazz. There’s one cover, Duke Ellington’s East St. Louis Toodle-oo. Gunn’s Cahokia Pyramids leads effortlessly into that track. Voyages of the Pyramid Builders just as smoothly leads out of it.
Blackhawk is a new sextet featuring Kevin Bales on piano; Jeremy “Bean” Clemons on drums; Andre Hayward on trombone; Kendrick Smith on saxophone and Kevin “Raw Dog” Smith on bass.
This music is ALIVE. It is vital. It is fresh. All to say that this is an outstanding record.
JAZZ: ALTO MADNESS – Amy London – Fivecat Records
Fans of vocalese would be well-advised to drop what they’re doing and listen to Amy London’s Alto Madness.
Vocalese is the addition of words to instrumental compositions. The title of this album reflects the songs chosen for this album: seven by Benny Carter, one each by Richie Cole, Jimmy Dorsey, Johnny Hodges and Louis Jordan. All of them played alto saxophone.
London’s vocals are spot-on throughout. Her new vocalese passages on New York Afternoon, How Can You Lose? and You Blew Out the Flame in My Heart effortlessly fit in with the existing vocalese heard on the other tunes. The topicality of her lyrics for How Can You Lose? makes this a very contemporary album.
Alto Madness isn’t a museum piece. This music is alive and tremendously enjoyable.
JAZZ: STATE OF THE ART – Sean Mason Trio – Taylor Christian Records
This album from pianist/composer/producer Sean Mason feels like listening to a tight-knit trio performing live in front of you.
Domo Branch on drums and Felix Moseholm on bass join on this record featuring seven originals written by Mason.
His 2025 album, A Breath of Fresh Air, was my top pick when it was released on October 24th of last year. State of the Art is even better for the freedom all three musicians enjoy.
Does State of the Art as a title mean this is the state of the art of trio playing? I’m not sure any album can live up to that claim. But Mason’s album is a contemporary and fresh approach to trio playing.
They sound like they’re having fun and that is infectious when you listen to this record.
JAZZ: CORNERS – Enrico Rava / Fearless Five / Joe Lovano – ECM
Here’s an artist who seems just as vital at age 87 as he did when he first started making music in the 1970s. Trumpeter/composer Rava is an inspiration for those of us coming up a couple decades behind him and wondering what we will contribute to the world with our remaining time on this earth.
Rava wrote three of the nine tracks (Hitchcock at the Beach is my favorite of those). Saxophonist Joe Lovano wrote two tracks. Sun Rava, written for and about Rava, is a standout for the whole album.
The remaining band members all wrote one song: Francesco Diodati on guitar; Matteo Paggi on trombone, Evita Polidoro on drums and vocals and Francesco Ponticelli on double bass.
Rava’s contributed yet another great set of music. He’s performing three concerts in Italy before the year is over. What’s next? I can’t wait.
JAZZ: ALLOY – Andrew Toombs – Shifting Paradigm Records
Pianist Andrew Toombs has performed with a wide range of groups and in a diverse number of musical styles. This was my introduction to him and he’s using Alloy to present, through nine originals, how all those experiences have created the musician and artist he is today.
If you’re looking for one genre of music to define this album, you’ll be disappointed. Alloy neither wants labels nor needs them. It is precisely the alchemy of disparate genres that makes this album compelling.
Joining Toombs as the core band on Alloy are Makaya McCraven on drums and Junius Paul on bass. Trumpeters Maurice Brown and Marquis Hill make guest appearances on Moodism and The Slot, respectively. Poet J. Ivy performs spoken word on Moodism.
My favorite tracks are Unexpected Party, Untangling and Off to the Races (which lives up to its name.)
MUSICALS: THE TUNEABOMBER – Original Cast Recording – Joy Machine Records
Absurdity has its place in the world of musical theater. Though Bat Boy, for instance, wasn’t fully embraced when it premiered, it has since found an audience.
This musical from Michael Wysong (composer/lyricist) and John Lampe (writer/director) is about Theodore Kaczynski (the Unabomber) trying to convince a parole board that he was a frustrated star who took a bad turn. Poor fella!
Wysong and Lampe perform their songs seriously – which only makes the humor resonate more strongly.
The title track leads to a guest appearance from Harvey Fierstein where Ted finds out whether he’ll get parole. There’s a bigger joke here, but I won’t spoil it.
This is a show that brings prison orange jumpsuit chic to the stage. This absurdly enjoyable recording leads me to believe this must be a fun musical to watch live!
QUICK HITS:
Two new albums this week serve as unique celebrations of two very different artists.
FILM MUSIC: HOWARD SHORE: A PIANO TRIBUTE – Aurélien Pontier – Warner Classics
Not to take anything away from anyone, but this is exactly the kind of crossover album that normally makes my skin crawl. I think of film scores as essential music and hold many of them as some of my favorite works in all of music.
The breadth of Shore’s work is on display in this thoughtful album. This includes, of course, The Lord of the Rings trilogy. For cinephiles it also includes work from films by Martin Scorsese (After Hours, The Departed, Hugo); David Cronenberg (Crash, Eastern Promises, The Fly, M. Butterfly) and David Fincher (The Game and Seven).
Of his special guests, soprano Natalie Dessay and violinist Nemanja Radulovič make the most impressive contributions.
Okay…I liked this tribute to Shore. I admit it!
JAZZ: HIP TO BE SQUARE – Cory Weeds – Cellar Music Group
If that title sounds familiar, let me add the rest of the album’s title: Plays Huey Lewis & The News.
Saxophonist Weeds has created a 13-track album where the first six songs come from the aforementioned Lewis (i.e. The Power of Love, I Want a New Drug and the title track). The other seven tracks feature a couple of originals and some lesser-known tracks -many of them from the Vancouver jazz scene.
I liked this album much more than I anticipated.
LEFT TURNS:
ROCK MUSIC: THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH – U2 – Island Records
This is a single from their upcoming Carnaval de Luz. As a life-long fan of this Irish band, I’m thrilled to hear a couple songs that point to a return to what I’ve always loved most about U2: incredibly thoughtful lyrics wrapped in music that forces you to pay attention.
Does the line “We were once the greatest show on earth” refer to the relationship at the center of the song or a band looking back on their past success? With U2 the answer is probably both.
VINYL REISSUES:
CLASSICAL: EAST MEETS WEST – Anne Akiko Meyers – AVIE
This album from violinist Meyers was first released in 2003. This is the first vinyl release of the album. (It’s technically not available until October 17th timed to National Album Day in the UK).
She performs works by Debussy, Messiaen, Ravel, Takemitsu and Somei Satoh.
Birds in Warped Time II, by Satoh, was the discovery for me when this album was first released. I also love Takemitsu’s Distance De Fée. I feel the same sense of discovery revisiting this album as I did 23 years ago.
Pianist Li Jian is fully Meyers’ equal on this record. Their work together is sublime.
JAZZ: SUNNY SIDE UP – Lou Donaldson – Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series
This hard bop album from alto saxophonist Donaldson was released in 1961. It features a mix of covers (The Man I Love, It’s You or No One and Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise) along with two songs written by Donaldson (The Truth and Goose Grease) plus two contributions from his sidemen.
Joining Donaldson were Al Harewood on drums, Bill Hardman on trumpet, Laymon Jackson on bass, Sam Jones on bass and Horace Parlan on piano.
Is this my favorite Donaldson album? No. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like it. There’s a lot to enjoy here. What is my favorite? Would it be too stereotypical to say Blues Walk?
JAZZ: RITES – Jan Garbarek – ECM Luminessence Audiophile
Upon its release in 1998, saxophonist/composer Garbarek’s double disc release was considered an ambitious swing. The album covers a lot of stylistic ground from world music to spiritual music to straight-forward jazz.
In addition to playing soprano and tenor sax, Garbarek plays synthesizers, percussion and samples music. Some tracks have an orchestra and some of those also use a choir.
Since we have three reissues this week by saxophonists, Garbarek’s is the most atypical for those who like straight-ahead jazz. A song like Where The Rivers Meet sounds like it could have come from a Peter Gabriel album – minus the vocals.
That isn’t meant to be dismissive. Rather, it’s my way of indicating what’s different about this particular album from the other jazz reissues.
JAZZ: SWING, SWANG, SWINGIN’ – Jackie McLean – Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series
Saxophonist McLean recorded this album in 1959. It was released in 1960 and he sounds thrilled to be in the studio. This is a lively recording.
He was joined by Walter Bishop, Jr. on piano; Jimmy Garrison on bass and Art Taylor on drums.
There are so many tracks I love here including What’s New?, Let’s Face the Music and Dance and his original tune 116th and Lenox.
This isn’t background music. This is an album to play from start to finish.
Enjoy the music!
Main Photo: Part of the album art for Aurélien Pontier’s Howard Shore: A Piano Tribute (Courtesy Warner Classics)