6 MONIKA H BAND | Bright |self-released
The opening track — “Organs” — hits you with rock-guitar rhythms, angular dueling vocals, a jazz-vibes solo, and jarring poetry (“I’ve got some friends who are living inside me. Organs and flesh. Bones bones!”). Which is one way of saying that this debut by NEC-to-Brooklyn transplant Monika Heidemann is surprising in every way. When she isn’t writing her own lyrics, she’s setting poetry by Allen Ginsberg or covering Steve Lacy’s settings of Herman Melville and Brion Gysin. The latter, “Somebody Special,” was my personal hit single of the year, with its droning bass, Jeremy Udden’s stunning slow-boil alto solo, and Heidemann’s ardent, comic vocals.
7 MORE VOCAL SAMPLING
Female vocalists could easily have overtaken the list this year. Heidemann’s vocal partner on “Organs” was SOFÍA KOUTSOVITIS. And Koutsovitis sang with Spalding on her own self-released Ojalá, where she set her vocals and pan-American approach (she’s from Buenos Aires, studied in Boston) against her dramatic arrangements for nonet. The intense, Czech-born singer/songwriter/cuatro player MARTA TOPFEROVA sings Spanish like a native; her latest CD, Flor Nocturna (World Village), and show at Scullers were highlights. And CASSANDRA WILSON released her most hip-hop-influenced album, Thunderbird (Blue Note), and sounded as if she were having more fun than she’s had in years. More fun for us, too.
8 JOHN TCHICAI–CHARLIE KOHLHASE–GARRISON FEWELL | Good Night Songs |Boxholder
Here’s the perfect balance of arranged and free material, and a compositional approach to even the free-est of it. Two reeds (Kohlhase and the great Afro-Dutch player Tchicai) and one guitar (Fewell) navigate synchronized entrances and exits as unison themes alternate with collective improv and a cappella arias all around. The writing gives each tune its own character: bebop romps, South American folk tune, misterioso Middle Eastern ballad — and Fewell’s “X-Ray Vision” could be “The Man I Love” as arranged and reharmonized by Mingus. I’m guilty of having missed two shows this year where Kohlhase brought Tchicai to town. Gimme another chance, Charlie?
ROSCOE MITCHELL: A 10-minute alto solo that stopped time. |
9 ROSCOE MITCHELLThe founding member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) spent a few days at New England Conservatory and taught the lessons of ’60s Chicago self-reliance as well as how to improvise like a composer and compose like an improviser. The year also saw the release of the reconstituted AEC’s Non-Cognitive Aspects of the City (ECM) with new members Corey Wilkes (trumpet) and Jaribu Shahid (bass) plus a trio CD with trombonist George Lewis and AACM mentor Muhal Richard Abrams, Streaming (Pi). At an NEC concert Mitchell conducted the students in his own orchestral and small-ensemble pieces and played a 10-minute alto solo that stopped time.10 FATS WALLER | Fats Waller & His Rhythm: If You Got To Ask, You Ain’t Got It! | Bluebird/Legacy
I’m breaking my own rule about keeping reissues and “previously unreleased” dead guys off the list, simply because I must have listened to this three-CD set by the great singer, songwriter, and pianist (1904–1943) more than the work of any other artist this year. (Okay, Heidemann doing Lacy came in a strong second.) I even got to like the pipe-organ tracks.
