Downbeast - music blog

Hey there, welcome to Downbeast. Check in for the latest in avant-garde, improvisational jazz music rants, musings, reviews, and more. From Cryptogramophone Records, Downbeast.com is a new music blog concept we hope you enjoy.

We can finally see the horizon on Cryptogramophone's upcoming Summer 2007 releases: Spinning the Circle from pianist/Goatettee David Witham and The Nels Cline Singers Draw Breath from...oh, you know. The drop date for both is JUNE 26th.

With barely two weeks left, we've already pre-released tracks from the new Nels Cline CD -- "Caved-in Heart Blues," "Mixed Message," "Recognize II" and "Confection" -- on Nels' MySpace page and the Crypto homesite. We also decided to get a jump on the reviewers and offer "pre-reviews" of both for your dining and dancing pleasure. [WARNING: Mixed metaphors will be used]

With just fifteen -- no, make that FOURTEEN -- days to go before we double-drop our twin Crypto summer releases The Nels Cline Singers Draw Breath and David Witham's Spinning the Circle, we're offering a little preview of each for your audiophilic interest.

Spinning The Circle, David Witham’s second solo album since 1988’s self-released On-Line, shows the pianist’s versatility with jazz, world beat, and jamband influenced originals—from the breakbeat electronica of "The Neon" to the gentle balladry of "Who Knows." But he brings some heavy-hitters along for the ride. “My associations with the members of this ensemble span the last thirty-some years, basically the course of my musical career thus far,” Witham writes in the liner notes. They include guitarist Nels Cline and drummer Scott Amendola are both on board, as are pedal steel guitarist (and frequent Bill Frisell collaborator) Greg Leisz, bassist Jay Anderson, woodwind player Jon Crosse, and percussionist Luis Conte.

It's been about a month since we dropped the deux Crypto releases The Nels Cline Singers Draw Breath and David Witham's Spinning The Circle. Recently, Nels was profiled by Siddhartha Mitter of the Boston Globe. Check it out here.

After finishing up his May/June mini-tour with George Benson, our rez piano wizard David Witham is currently on tour with the Ernie Watts Quartet. (He has a cool blog about life as a touring artist, which you can check out on his MySpace page.)

Sorry for the long wait between this and last posts. We were just plain lazy and there's no A/C in the "bloggin' office." Kudos to those 'nards over at Pitchfork Media for breaking the news of Nels Cline's chicken pox, which has sidelined our friend for a few Wilco gigs.

That's right, people. Next month we're returning to the Jazz Standard in New Nork, New Nork for a week of West Coast wackiness -- April 23-27, 2008 -- to coincide with the April 22nd release of Early Reflections, Bennie Maupin's follow-up to 2006's monster-of-a-comeback Penumbra, as well as a 10th Anniversary compilation including 2 CDs and a DVD entited Assemblage: 1998-2008 featuring recorded nuggets from the Cryptogramophone catalog as well as unreleased live video footage of Sir Nels Cline's New Monastery band, Mr. Maupin and other label artists.

Pic from last year's triumphant Crypto week at the Jazz Standard: from left, Bobby Bradford, Ben Goldberg, Nels Cline & Devin Hoff
(photo by Richard Termine, courtesy of The New York Times)

Here's the schedule thus far:

Yes, we realize that the word "legendary" -- especially in jazz and blues circles -- is tossed around to the point where it nearly becomes meaningless, but it sure doesn't apply when it comes to multi-reedist/composer/bandleader Bennie Maupin.

The Maestro

For anyone who wants to see the master in action, Mr. Bennie will celebrate the release of his new recording Early Reflections on Cryptogramophone Records, Friday, April 18th at Catalina Bar and Grill in Hollywood, CA. There will be two sets, at 8:00 PM and 10:00PM.

As anyone with a modem should know by now, Bennie Maupin's "comeback" (one might argue the man never left) came in a one-two punch with the release of the critically lauded Penumbra in 2006 and the re-release of his classic 1974 album The Jewel in the Lotus last year. Early Reflections is a beautiful recording of Maupin's Polish quartet featuring Michal Tokaj on piano (Tomasz Stanko's pianist), and guest vocalist Hania Rybka on two tracks. Joining Maupin, Tokaj and Rybka for this performance will be bassist Darek Oles, drummer Michael Stephans, and percussionist Munyungo Jackson. The ensemble will also be performing in New York City at the Jazz Standard, April 26-27 as a part of Cryptonights at Jazz Standard. Early Reflections will be released April 22nd.

(OK, he didn't announce them personally -- we got a forwarded email. But hey, the guy's busy...)

(Cool photo, Daniel Brielmaier!)

Anyhoo, barely decompressing after Wilco's Spring 2008 tour, Nels Cline will drag his "Singers"
-- bassist Devin Hoff and drummer Scott "Pops" Amendola -- out on the road for a brief early Summer sprint.

6/01 The Dakota (Minneapolis, MN)
6/02 High Noon Saloon (Madison, WI)
6/03 Martyr’s (Chicago, IL)
6/04 The Jazz Kitchen (Indianapolis, IN)
6/05 The Ark (Ann Arbor, MI)
6/06 Paramount Theatre (Charlottesville, VA)
6/08 Suoni per II Popolo Festival (Montreal, Quebec)

Mr. Cline will go into the studio next week ("at an undisclosed location" -- hopefully not the same one Dick Cheney uses) to record his next solo Crypto drop. Tentative title: Coward. (Release date: TBA.) As if this is any surprise, he'll also be playing out in L.A. a few dates next week with Banyan.

Well, CryptoNights 2008 at Jazz Standard NYC has concluded, and as a (not so) independent observer I'd have to say it was a smashing success. Every night was well attended, everyone played great, and the Crypto way was perpetrated in fine fashion. It was wonderful to see old friends in attendance (the family Bendian, Bonnie Wright, Lisle Ellis, et al), and make some new ones as well. The guys who came from Louisville, Nels' wild and interesting pals, they all made me really happy.

While we're still recovering from our recent sojourn to New York, Bennie Maupin's Early Reflections received 4 stars in The Week, which as is its style, offered a compendium of various early reviews:

"For the past 35 years, Bennie Maupin has been a faithful foot soldier of progressive jazz, said Mark Stryker in the Detroit Free Press. His "sinewy" bass clarinet playing helped to define Miles Davis' landmark Bitches Brew and he later worked with Herbie Hancock on the keyboardist's early forays into jazz fusion. Early Reflections finds the multi-instrumentalist in his element, wonderfully expressive and free to delve into the "lush avant-gardism" that makes his palying unique. This album just isn't a chance for Maupin to sum up the different styles he's explored over the years, said Michael West in the Village Voice. It's a continutation to a lifelong devotion to musical experimentation. Playing flute, clarinet or saxophone, and supported here by a relatively unknown Polish quartet, Maupin daringly rejects musical scrictures and imagines an "acoustic post-bop jazz of rich lyricism" that's at once subtle and audacious. "Coaxing wistful phrases from his soprano" sax, Maupin transforms the "eeriness" of "The Jewel and the Lotus" from his 1974 album of the same name into "sweet reverie." He creates a sense of wonderment throughout, pairing short sketch-like compositions with sweeping drifts of euphony. Early Reflections reveals a musical depth "refined by experience and cured through wisdom," said Michael Nastos in Billboard. By putting himself at the helm, Maupin creates the "most introspective" and remarkable recording of a "long and varied" career."

In direct opposite news, Das Wilco made the "Live Reviews" section of the current Spin magazine -- but where on earth was any text mention of the LEAD GUITARIST Nels Courtney Cline? Well, at least the had a small photo of him playing the lap steel...

On our docket is a recent interview conducted by Bass Player magazine with Todd Sickafoose, whose sublime Tiny Resistors was just released this month, along with or Fearless Leader Jeff Gauthier's House of Return.