Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify.
In many ways, Charles Mingus and Gerry Mulligan couldn’t have been more different. One was notoriously fiery and confrontational; the other understated, the epitome of cool. But one thing the two jazz icons did share—beyond their influential shaping of the music’s low end—was their singularity of vision, a wholly unique perspective that in different ways redirected the trajectory of jazz through their own individual conceptions—with complete disregard for the naysayers. With that in mind, both Mulligan and Mingus would no doubt approve of the reimagining that Mark Masters has made of their compositions on “Blue Skylight.” The eleven pieces are vivid acts of recomposition, each vividly rendered and finely tailored to fit the gifted and distinctive players of the Mark Masters Ensemble.
Mandolinist and singer Chris Thiele and pianist Brad Mehldau first performed together in 2011 as part of Mehldau’s residency at London’s Wigmore Hall. The Guardian said of the performance, “Mehldau struck up his signature rocking chord vamp over which lightly struck motifs swell to sensuous extended melodies. Thile kept cajoling him with percussive snaps, flying runs, and chords strummed fast enough to sound as seamless as a purring string section, inducing Mehldau…to bat back the playful provocation with stinging rejoinders.” Longtime admirers of each other’s work, the pair first toured as a duo in 2013. At the end of 2015, they played a two-night stand at New York’s Bowery Ballroom before going into to the studio to record “Chris Thiele & Brad Mehldau,” a new CD featuring a mix of covers and original songs.
Also this week, Steve Khan continues to expand the potential of the guitar in the context of Latin music with the third in a series of discs, “Backlog”.
Pianist Ben Markley with guest trumpeter Terell Stafford showcases the work of pianist and composer Cedar Walton through new arrangements for big band on “Clockwise: the Music of Cedar Walton”.
Trombonist Nick Finzer offers up the third disc with his quintet, “Hear & Now.”