Pianist Vijay Iyer, drummer Tony Allen release new discs
So far, this has been a solid year for new jazz releases. There are numerous artists proceeding with a real sense of urgency that is making for genuinely captivating music. These recent discs have been on my radar lately:
Pianist Vijay Iyer has issued numerous rewarding projects in recent years, but “Far From Over” (ECM) may be his most satisfying yet. Utilizing a classic sextet lineup and selecting bandmates at the top of their game, Iyer’s compositions come to dynamic life throughout the hour-long program.
Iyer can solo with the best of them (he smokes on “Down To The Wire”) but here he seems just as interested in providing support for the other performers, blazing saxophonists Steve Lehman and Mark Shim, as well as first-rate trumpeter Graham Haynes, who has undeservedly been away from the limelight in re- cent years. Based on the evidence here, this band is a Jazz Messengers for the 21st century.
The drummer on “Over” is Tyshawn Sorey, and he’s been launching his own authoritative sonic investigations lately. “Verisimilitude” (Pi Recordings) is more spacious and takes more time getting where its going than Iyer’s record, but it’s just as intense.
While Sorey is capable of transcendent bashing, here he’s in listening mode. This trio date with pianist Cory Smythe and bassist Chris Tordini isa case study in improvising artists communicating with and feeling empathy for one another. This isn’t music for tapping your foot or air drumming along to; it’s meditative sound to be savored and absorbed.
Meanwhile, another extraordinary drummer,
Tony Allen, hones in on more classic jazz sounds with “The Source” (Blue Note.) Allen will always be known for his decade plus supporting fellow Nigerian Fela Kuti in the 1960s and ’70s, providing backbone to the Afrobeat sound.
But he’s long shown an admiration for American jazz, and on “The Source” he’s assembled a 10-piece group that revels in straight-ahead sounds while adding superb polyrhythmic touches and an organ that sounds like it came straight off a 1970s African funk album. Allen, who’s now 78, sounds like he could do this for a very long time, and from the opener “Moody Boy” to the global groove of the final track, “Life Is Beautiful,” let’s hope that he does.
Eric Revis has played bass for well-known names like vocalist Betty Carter and Branford Marsalis throughout his career, and he takes the melodic gifts of those artists and pushes himself into edgier territory on “Sing Me Some Cry” (Clean Feed).
There’s a tension between the accessible tunes he’s composed for this session and the vigorous interplay with the musicians in his quartet: pianist Kris Davis, saxophonist
Ken Vandermark and drummer Chad Taylor.
Besides the leader, Davis impresses the most; her solos are at once percussive and moving. But everyone here speaks through their instruments with authority.
The Denver Record Collector’s Fall Expo takes place at the Northglenn Ramada Inn on Sept. 10 . ... Diana Castro’s group appears at El Chapultepec on Sept. 12 . ... Emerging trumpet voice Avishai Cohen takes to the stage at Dazzle for two nights, Sept. 1213 . ... The impossible-topin-down bassist Thundercat plays the Ogden on Sept. 14 . ... Niwot’s Jazz On 2nd Avenue festival presboffo ents headliner Poncho Sanchez & His Latin Jazz Band on Sept. 16. Get details at jazzon2ndave.com.