The Listening Guide
🎶 The listening guide: five albums, released during the past twelve months, chosen around a weekly theme 🎶
This week, we look at ‘chordless’ combos: groups in which the traditional harmony instruments like piano and guitar are absent, leaving rhythm and monophonic lead instruments to fill the entire space. Our five albums come from two fiery saxophone trios in QOW Trio and the collaborative project of Binker Golding, John Edwards and Steve Noble, two quartets in the shape of Lina Allemano Four and Dan Rosenboom’s group, and a larger ensemble still with George Colligan’s Theoretical Planets, with horn players Nicole McCabe, Joe Manis, Nicole Glover and Noah Simpson all contributing.
Theoretical Planets – Long Term Goals
Binker Golding, John Edwards, Steve Noble – Moon Day
Album of the Week
Our NQ Jazz album of the week is vocalist and composer Luciana Morelli’s new album for ears&eyes records, entitled Lo abismal, el agua. Recorded with Daniel Dettwiler at Jazzcampus in Basel, the record features Philipp Hillebrand on clarinet and bass clarinet, Mauricio Silva Orendain on piano, Sebastián de Urquiza on bass and backing vocals, and Paulo Almeida on drums. Morelli’s songs draw inspiration from migration, specifically her move from Argentina to Switzerland, as well as various forms of artefact and literature, dreams and nature. Support the project on Bandcamp and Luciana Morelli’s website.
Classic Album
Released fifty years ago on the Milestone label, Joe Henderson’s Pursuit of Blackness hears the celebrated saxophonist and leader recording partially live before an audience and partially in a studio setting. The line-up varies as a result, with a young Stanley Clarke featuring, but George Cables playing exclusively on electric piano to brilliant effect throughout. The awesome closing track Mind Over Matter—with Pete Yellen’s bass clarinet, the atmospheric percussion and blistering drums from Lenny White—sits nicely alongside the early fusion of Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis. Find the record paired with the brilliant and funky Black is the Colour on streaming services, and find original LP copies on Discogs.