In On the Corner

André Gonçalves, Ingrid Laubrock, and The End

Title: Instrumentals

Release Date: 10/20/20

Personnel: André Goncalves – compositions and sounds

Impression: Instrumentals showcases Gonçalves as a kind of enlightened musical sand-artist who fashions arresting works out of malleable and eroding sound elements, and it is striking for both it’s sublime simplicity and the meticulous attention to detail AG has given.

More Info: André Gonçalves website and ShhPuma Records

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Buy Here: Bandcamp and ShhPuma Store

Artist: Ingrid Laubrock

Title: Dreamt Twice, Twice Dreamt

Label: Intakt Records

Release Date: 11/20/20

Personnel: Intakt; 11/20; Disc 1: EOS Chamber Orchestra w/ Soloists: Sam Pluta – Electronics: Cory Smythe – Piano, Quarter-Tone Keyboard; Robert Landfermann – Double Bass; Tom Rainey – Drums; Ingrid Laubrock – Tenor and Soprano Saxophones; Disc 2: Ingrid Laubrock – Tenor and Soprano Saxophones; Cory Smythe – Piano and Quarter-Tone Keyboard; Sam Pluta – Electronics + Zeena Parkins – Electric Harp; Adam Matlock – Accordion; Josh Modney – Violin

Impression: Laubrock utilizes both chamber-orchestral and smaller ensemble arrangements of a new set of positively revelatory pieces to navigate the cloudy world of oneiric logic through music, not unlike how Freud did using psychoanalysis…though the reward for undivided attention to her method far outweighs anything he could have offered.

More Info: Ingrid Laubrock website and Intakt Records

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Buy Here: Bandcamp and Intakt Records Store

Artist: The End

Title: Allt Är Intet

Label: RareNoise Records

Release Date: 11/13/20

Personnel: Sofia Jernberg – Voice; Kjetil Møster – Tenor Sax, Clarinet, Electronics; Mats Gustafsson – Baritone Sax, Flute, Live Electronics; Anders Hana – Baritone Guitar, Langeleik (Norwegian Zither); Børge Fjordheim – Drums

Impression: One of the fiercest and most pummeling collections of music this year also happens to contain some of the most poignant musical moments in recent memory due in no small part to the expressive proficiency of Sofia Jernberg.

More Info: Mats Gustafsson website and RareNoise Records

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Buy Here: Bandcamp and RareNoise Records Store

Charles Mingus, Susan Alcorn Quintet, and The Nels Cline Singers

Artist: Charles Mingus

Title: @ Bremen 1964 & 1975

Label: Sunnyside Records

Release Date: 11/13/20

Personnel: Charles Mingus – bass; Johnny Coles – trumpet (1-6); Eric Dolphy – alto saxophone, flute, bass clarinet (1-6); Clifford Jordan – tenor saxophone (1-6); Jaki Byard – piano (1-6); Dannie Richmond – drums; Jack Walrath – trumpet (7-15); George Adams – tenor saxophone, vocals (7-15); Don Pullen – piano (7-15)

Impression: This bounteous collection features the greatest ensemble in all of music (’64 Mingus Euro tour group) at the height of its powers as well as the little-documented Mingus ’75 group who had recently wrapped up the Changes One and Changes Two recording sessions, and there is little to be done to quiet my rapturous applause to Sunnyside Records for releasing it.

More Info: Sunnyside Records

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Buy Here: Bandcamp

Artist: Susan Alcorn Quintet

Title: Pedernal

Label: Relative Pitch Records

Release Date: 11/13/20

Personnel: Susan Alcorn – pedal steel guitar; Mark Feldman – violin; Michael Formanek – bass; Mary Halvorson – guitar; Ryan Sawyer – drums

Impression: This singular set of music tenderly invites you in and suggests that you take a seat and to breathe in deeply and receive this stirring gift, and to then be rewarded anew by subsequent adherence to these simple directions.

More Info: Relative Pitch Records

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Buy Here: Bandcamp

Artist: The Nels Cline Singers

Title: Share The Wealth

Label: Blue Note Records

Release Date: 11/13/20

Personnel: Nels Cline – guitars; Scott Amendola – drums, percussion; Skerik – tenor saxophone; trevor Dunn – bass; Brian Marsella – Fender Rhodes, acoustic piano, Hammond C3, Farfisa, melodica, analog synths, toy piano; Cyro Baptista – percussion universe vox

Impression: Composerly Nels is peak-Nels and considerable and compelling territory is deftly covered here with a distinctive aesthetic, making StW his magnum opus to this point in time.

More Info: Nels Cline website and Blue Note Records

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and

Buy Here: Blue Note Store

The Warriors of the Wonderful Sound, Stephan Thelen, and Ennio Morricone

Artist: The Warriors of the Wonderful Sound

Title: Soundpath

Label: Clean Feed Records

Release Date: 10/30/20

Personnel: Marty Ehrlich – conductor/alto saxophone; Bobby Zankel – alto saxophone; Julian Pressley – alto saxophone; Robert DeBellis – tenor and soprano saxophone; Hafez Modirzadeh – tenor saxophone; Mark Allen – baritone saxophone; Dave Ballou – trumpet; Dwayne Eubanks – trumpet; Graham Haynes – cornet; Josh Evans – trumpet; Steve Swell – trombone; Michael Dessen – trombone; Alfred Patterson – trombone; Jose Davilla – bass trombone; Michael Formanek – bass; Tom Lawton – piano; Chad Taylor – drums

Impression: Soundpath is a Muhal Richard Abrams-penned, Bobby Zankle-comissioned piece consisting of a number of majestic vignettes for big band that premiered in 2012, was recorded in 2018, and is presented now for the first time so that we might all listen in awe at MRA’s total compositional mastery as executed by a like minded and boffo ensemble.

More Info: Clean Feed Records

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Buy Here: Clean Feed Records Store and Bandcamp

Artist: Stephan Thelen performed by Al Pari Quartet, and Kronos Quartet

Title: World Dialogue

Label: RareNoise Records

Release Date: 10/30/20

Personnel: KRONOS QUARTET: David Harrington – Violin 1; John Sherba – Violin 2; Hank Dutt – Viola; Sunny Yang – Cello + AL PARI QUARTET: Marta Lucjan – Violin 1; Alicja Miruk-Mirska – Violin 2 ;Magdalena Maier – Viola Elzabieta Rychwalska – Cello

Impression: In all honesty, I came for Kronos and the hypnotizing syncopation Thelen has showcased in his wicked ensemble Sonar, but I am staying for the delicious melodies adorning his signature brand of minimalism, all beautifully performed by both quartets on this recording.

More Info: Stephan Thelen’s Site and Rarenoise Records

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Buy Here: Bandcamp and RareNoise Records

Artist: Ennio Morricone

Title: Morricone Segreto

Label: CAM Sugar Records and Decca Records

Release Date: 11/6/20

Personnel: various

Impression: No one excelled at putting music to film like Morricone and a collection of the less-orchestral, more tripped-out and groovy side of the maestro circa late 60s-early 80s, seven tracks heretofore unissued ’til now, is cause for celebration in a time that is short on celebration of any sort.

More Info: Ennio Morricone’s site

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Buy Here: Decca Records shop

Craig Taborn’s Junk Magic, Mary Halvorson’s Code Girl, and Joshua Van Tassel

Artist: Craig Taborn’s Junk Magic

Title: Compass Confusion

Label: Pyroclastic Records

Release Date: 10/30/20

Personnel: Chris Speed – saxophone; Erik Fratzke – bass; Mat Maneri – viola; David King – drums; Craig Taborn – piano, keyboard and synthesizer

Impression: Compass Confusion detonates at the junction of Partch Parkway and Autechre Avenue forming it’s own superhighway, and then curtly curtsies as the most satisfying listening experience of 2020.

More Info: Craig Taborn’s site , Pyroclastic Records and Compass Confusion page

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Artist: Mary Halvorson’s Code Girl

Title: Artlessly Falling

Label: Firehouse 12 Records

Release Date: 10/30/20

Personnel: Amirtha Kidambi – voice; Maria Grand – tenor saxophone, voice; Adam O’Farrill – trumpet; Mary Halvorson – guitar; Michael Formanek – bass; Tomas Fujiwara – drums, beer cans on track 2; Robert Wyatt – voice on tracks 1, 3, 5

Impression: Just when we were convinced the core of Mary Halvorson’s Code Girl couldn’t be improved upon, along comes the improbable and inspired inclusion of Robert Wyatt on guest vocals, one of so few utter delights of 2020 – though technically recorded in 2019, so maybe 2020 is actually all bad – only November will tell.

More Info: Mary Halvorson’s site and Firehouse 12 Records site

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Artist: Joshua Van Tassel

Title: Dance Music Volume II: More Songs For Slow Motion

Label: Backward Music

Release Date: 09/11/20

Personnel: Joshua Van Tassel – Ondea, Therevox, piano, vibraphone, field recordings, electronics; The Venuti String Quartet: Drew Jurecka – Violin Rebekah Wolkstein – Violin Lydia Muchinsky- Cello Shannon Knights – Viola

Impression: Horrendous acts of hatred and villainy have begotten great beauty: Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps, Picasso’s Guernica, and Basinski‘s The Disintegration Loops are now joined by Van Tassel’s Dance Music Volume II: More Songs For Slow Motion.

More Info: Joshua Van Tassel site

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Nick Dunston, Steph Richards, and WHO Trio

Artist: Nick Dunston

Title: Atlantic Extraction: Live at Threes

Label: Out of Your Head Records

Release Date: 7/24/20

Personnel: Nick Dunston – double bass, compositions; Louna Dekker-Vargas – flute, alto flute, piccolo; Ledah Finck – violin, viola; Tal Yahalom – guitar; Stephen Boegehold – drum set

Impression: As evidenced by the overabundance of inspired ideas/execution/processes on this modestly recorded live date, there is no doubt that Dunston will continue to flourish as a major force in the direction of new music. Additionally, for every sale of this album OOYH Records will donate $1 to the Third Wave Fund, an organization chosen by Dunston.

More Info: Nick Dunston website and Out of Your Heads Records

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Artist: Steph Richards

Title: Supersense

Label: Northern Spy Recs

Release Date: 10/23/20

Personnel: Steph Richards – trumpet, flugelhorn, resonating drums/water; Jason Moran – piano; Stomu Takeishi – bass; Kenny Wollesen – drums, Wollesonics; Andrew Munsey – track 7, Wollesonics; Sean Raspet – scent design

Impression: In the midst of this recording of consummate masters tasked with, among other assignments, interpreting/responding to an array of scents, we are submerged in a truly distinctive environment…one that I anticipate experiencing in full when scratch-and-sniff swatches are mailed out with physical copies of the release in December.

More Info: Steph Richards website and Northern Spy Recs

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Artist: WHO Trio

Title: STRELL The Music of Billy Strayhorn & Duke Ellington

Label: Clean Feed Records

Release Date: 09/04/20

Personnel: Michel Wintsch – piano; Gerry Hemingway – drums, voice; Bänz Oester – bass

Impression: No one has bested Duke Ellington’s mastery of all things musical and no group of musicians in recent memory has done greater justice to the Ellington / Strayhorn’s songbook as a pan-genre blueprint than WHO Trio.

More Info: Gerry Hemingway website and Clean Feed Records

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Buy Here: Bandcamp and Clean Feed Records Store