For the Record: May 31, 2024.
Details about a major live event focusing on Eric Dolphy in NYC this weekend… plus listings for dozens of new (and recent) arrivals and upcoming releases.
For the Record rounds up details about new and pending recordings of interest to the new-music community: contemporary classical music and jazz, electronic and electroacoustic music, and idioms for which no clever genre name has been coined, on CD, vinyl LP, cassette, digital-only formats… you name it.
This list of release dates is culled from press releases, Amazon, Bandcamp, and other internet stores and sources, social-media posts, and online resources such as Discogs. Dates cited typically correspond to initial U.S. release, and are subject to change. (Links to Amazon, used when all else fails, do not imply endorsement.)
These listings are not comprehensive—nor could they be! To submit a forthcoming recording for consideration, email information to nightafternight@icloud.com.
All opinions expressed herein are solely my own, and do not express the views of any employer.
The lead-in.
Friday is the day we talk about new recordings here, and we will. But first, I have to tell you all about an incredible live-music presentation happening this weekend in New York City, which ought to have been included in the live-events round-up I published on Wednesday, only clearly I mislaid my note-to-self. (Piotr Orlov had us all covered, of course.) It’s a really big deal, the kind of thing that at an earlier point in my life I’d have canceled everything to attend start to finish. I’d like to think that some of you might be doing exactly that.
Eric Dolphy: Freedom of Sound
John L. Tishman Auditorium, The New School
63 Fifth Ave., Greenwich Village
Saturday, June 1 at 6pm, Sunday, June 2 at 3pm; $35, two-day pass $60
seedartists.org
Pheeroan akLaff and Seed Artists have assembled a seriously jaw-dropping array of creative-music talent for this two-day celebration of the life and art of woodwind maverick Eric Dolphy, focusing on various aspects of his canon—including a speculative take on “Dolphy’s little-known jam sessions with Cecil Taylor,” which presumably is what altoist Rob Brown and pianist Matthew Shipp will be doing on Saturday night.
That evening also holds the tantalizing prospects of a bass clarinet quartet led by Don Byron; a trio of Nicole Mitchell, Darius Jones, and JD Parran tangling on Dolphy’s three main horns; and a headlining set by Dolphy collaborator Reggie Workman. Sunday’s program includes a string quartet playing Dolphy’s unfinished Love Suite, a quartet led by saxophonist James Brandon Lewis similarly exploring unrealized works, a solo set by Eugene Chadbourne, and a recreation of Geri Allen’s Celebration Ensemble Suite for Eric Dolphy by an exemplary ensemble steered by Angelica Sanchez.
That’s probably less than half of what’s happening during this action-packed weekend, which also includes expert talks and panels. Go here for complete listings and tickets.
Among this week’s new releases, obviously I’m going to tell you that you must hear the second volume of One Way or Another, a glorious catalog-combing project from singer, songwriter, and composer Robin Holcomb. (I wrote at length about Vol. 1 when it was released in October 2022.) Holcomb is a treasure every lover of American music should know about, and this beautiful series proves the beguiling staying power of her art.
I’ve been spending real quality time with Profane Riddles, a new solo album by electric guitarist and composer Nick Didkovsky. For those familiar with Didkovsky from the frenetic complexity of his long-running ensemble Doctor Nerve, the more spacious, ruminative tone he strikes here will be illuminating. That’s not to suggest Profane Riddles is the gentle side of Didkovsky—not when you factor in the serrated black-metal obsessiveness of “My morning star and light-bearer.” The music is all original, apart from one Philip Corner composition, and the album is dedicated to the late composer and guitarist Larry Polansky, who passed away on May 9.
Another rewarding session on repeat lately is Two Ballads from the High Plains, by bassist Kory Reeder and multi-instrumentalists Ryan Seward and Andrew Weathers. I’d been listening to Reeder’s compositions for a long stretch of days while writing a brief article about him for future publication when this turned up, demonstrating his work in a very different setting. Weathers has been someone I’ll drop everything to listen to for some time now; Seward I’ve gotten to know more recently, mostly through his work with Weathers. This new session comprises two long studies in timbre and intonation, stitched together from four improvisations that happened in a single day. It’s a low, slow burn, inviting contemplation and rewarding concentration.
Lastly this week, I’m elated to greet Lips, an archival release devoted to works Daniel Lentz created from 1965 to 1989. Lentz is a major figure in American music, a composer more cited than played or listened to—an imbalance this inviting volume from Unseen Worlds addresses head-on. Here’s hoping it’s the start of a sustained project like those the label has undertaken for “Blue” Gene Tyranny, Dickie Landry, and Carl Stone. If Lentz is an unfamiliar name, this 2021 Tone Glow interview is a great place to start.
There’s also an exquisite trio of new releases on Another Timbre—but I’ll save discussing those for another time.
Since converging deadlines forced me to skip last week’s installment of For the Record, you’ll find last week’s releases listed just under today’s. It was a very bad week to have missed! The mandatory release is Motor Tapes, the new double-CD album of incredibly strong recent pieces by Sarah Hennies on the New World label. (Anyone who’s going to be in New York City on Saturday, June 8, should drop everything and buy a ticket now for one of two afternoon performances of Motor Tapes at the Whitney Museum of American Art, before they’re gone.)
Further strong suggestions from May 24: Gregg Belisle-Chi, Gastr del Sol, Tony Conrad & Jennifer Walshe, Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp, and Yarn/Wire.
New this week.
May 31, 2024
Arooj Aftab - Night Reign (Verve)
Dickens, Dicker, Wallace - Trespassers (Infrequent Seams)
Nick Didkovsky - Profane Riddles (Punos Music)
Jürg Frey - Outermost Melodies - Ian Antonio (Another Timbre)
Gabriele Gasparotti - Tropismi (cassauna)
Kenneth James Gibson & Paul Carman - Murals for Immersion (cassauna)
Magnus Granberg - Holde Träume, kehret wieder! - Nattens inbrott, Skogen (Another Timbre)
Kathy Hinde - Twittering Machine (TBC Editions)
Robin Holcomb - One Way or Another, Vol. 2 (Westerlies)
Kyosaku (Finn Loxbo, Elsa Bergman, Ryan Packard)- Kyosaku (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
Catherine Lamb - Curva Triangulus - Ensemble Proton (Another Timbre)
Jack Langdon & Anthony Vine - The Generous Law (cassauna)
Daniel Lentz - Lips (Unseen Worlds; recorded 1967-89)
Lisa Mezzacappa/Beth Liseck - The Electronic Lover (Innova)
Akira Kosemura & Lawrence English - Selene (Temporary Residence)
Masahiko Okura/Naoto Yamagishi/Fumi Endo - Masahiko Okura/Naoto Yamagishi/Fumi Endo (Meenna)
Wayne Peet Trio - Live at Oracle Tavern (Killzone)
Reeder/Seward/Weathers - Two Ballads from the High Plains (Editions Glomar)
Mikel Rouse - Language Barrier (ExitMusic)
The Sea Trio (Masahiko Satoh, Otomo Yoshihide, Roger Turner) - Live in Munich and Bonn (Confront)
Elliott Sharp - DGF Overture (Zoar)
Matthew Shipp - Invisible Light, Live Sao Paulo (Now-ezz-thetics; recorded 2016)
The Thing with Joe McPhee - She Knows… (Now-ezz-thetics; originally released 2001)
John Zorn/Jesse Harris - Love Songs Live (Tzadik)
New last week.
May 24, 2024
Gregg Belisle-Chi - Hum (AGS Recordings)
Maria Bertel - Monophonic (Relative Pitch)
Natalia Beylis - Lost - For Annie (Outside Time)
Christer Bothén featuring Bolon Bata - Trancedance (Black Truffle; originally released 1984)
Richard Chartier - On Leaving (Touch)
Tony Conrad & Jennifer Walshe - In the Merry Month of May (Blue Chopsticks)
Melaine Dalibert - Eden/Fall (Ici d'ailleurs)
Luc Ferrari - Complete Works 04 (Maison ONA)
Orlando Jacinto García - la vida que vendrá - loadbang (New Focus)
Gastr del Sol - We Have Dozens of Titles (Drag City)
Aquiles Hadjis/Antonio Mazzei - El Amigo (Ftarri)
Sarah Hennies - Motor Tapes - performances by Ensemble 0, Talea Ensemble/James Baker, and Ensemble Dedalus (New World)
Jeph Jerman - black mesa (Rural Situationism)
Samara Lubelski/Marcia Bassett - Indexical/Rhizome (Relative Pitch)
Magda Mayas’ Filamental - Ritual Mechanics (Relative Pitch)
Lee Noyes/Barry Chabala - The Lightgiver (Ftarri)
Leo Okagawa - Sweet and Poisonous (Hitorri)
Leo Okagawa/Beau Beaumont/Masatake Abe - Utopian Air (Meenna)
Han-earl Park, Yorgos Dimitriadis, and Camila Nebbia - Gonggong 225088 (Waveform Alphabet)
Ivo Perelman/Matthew Shipp - Magical Incantation (Soul City Sounds)
Matthew Rosenblum - We Lived Happily During the War - Jamie Jordan, Talujon Percussion (Cantaloupe Music)
Sofia Salvo - ROTAROTA (Relative Pitch)
Paula Sanchez - Sólo un pasaje (scatterArchive)
Chloë Sobek/Tim Berne - Burning Up (Relative Pitch)
Mazz Swift - The 10000 Things: PRAISE SONGS for the iRiligious (New Amsterdam)
Kenny Warren - Sweet World (Out of Your Head)
Yarn/Wire - Yarn/Wire Currents 9 - compositions by Jessie Cox, Heather Stebbins, and Jordan Dykstra (Yarn/Wire)
Upcoming releases.
June 5
Leilehua Lanzilotti - the sky in our hands, our hands in the sky - performances by Leilehua Lanzilotti, Longleash, and Sō Percussion (Innova)
June 7
Léo Dupleix - Resonant Trees (Black Truffle)
June 11
Vijay Iyer - Trouble; Asunder; Crisis Modes - Jennifer Koh, Boston Modern Orchestra Project/Gil Rose (BMOPsound)
June 21
Giocomo Fiore - Lost Horse Wash Drone (Other Minds)
Elliott Sharp, Sally Gates, Tashi Dorji - Ere Guitar (Intakt)
Stemeseder Lillinger Quartet - Umbra II (Intakt)
June 28
Erik Friedlander - Dirty Boxing (Skipstone)
August 2
Darian Donovan Thomas - A Room With Many Doors: Night (New Amsterdam)
August 16
Frank London - Brass Conspiracy (Tzadik)
August 23
Bryce Dessner - Solos - performances by Anastasia Kobekina, Colin Currie, Katia Labèque, Lavinia Meijer, Nadia Sirota, Pekka Kuusisto, and Bryce Dessner (Sony Classical)
Find many more upcoming releases in For the Record: The Master List.
Photographs by Steve Smith, except where indicated.