- François Houle – In Memoriam. On this new release, the Canadian clarinetist leads a multinational sextet through beautifully arranged pieces. The New Orleans-style front line of clarinet, trumpet, trombone is unusual these days, but perfectly suits the alternately elegiac and rousing tone. Consistently excellent.
- Duke Ellington – Happy Reunion. An undeservedly obscure piece of Ellingtonia: two sessions recorded in Chicago over 1957-58 when Duke was passing through, with different subgroups of the full orchestra. The small-group playing here is relaxed and beautiful, and the sound more open and spacious; it’s too bad there’s only just over half an hour of material. The CD is out of print but not hard to find (I got mine for $1 from the clearance bin at Amoeba Records.)
- Joe Lovano – Trio Fascination. The prolific saxophonist Lovano has tacked between more traditional and more avant-garde styles throughout his career. For me this 1998 album, with jazz elders Dave Holland on bass and Elvin Jones on drums, sits at a very pleasing point on that spectrum: it’s intimate and melodic but also forceful and varied.
- Augustus Pablo – El Rockers. Pablo was given top billing on what is generally considered the best single dub reggae album, King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown, though like most dub it was really a group effort. If you want more of those wondrous spaced-out dub instrumentals, the reissue label Pressure Sounds has put together two compilations of Pablo material from the same period, this one and the earlier In Fine Style. Both are absolutely top-notch.
- Natural Information Society – Since Time Is Gravity. A new record from Joshua Abrams’ minimalism-jazz-trance-world ensemble is always an event; the group has created one of the most distinctive sound worlds in contemporary music. Their latest brings in Chicago saxophone legend Ari Brown and some other ringers to fill out the large and ever-shifting ensemble. The choir of horns creates an even richer mass of shifting sounds, always solidly anchored by Abrams’ guimbri (a North African bass lute). Enchanting.
The Tangled Woof 