Troy Dostert's Best Releases of 2022

Did 2022 represent a return to "normal" in the jazz world? Perhaps, although it might be more valuable to keep our eyes focused on the shifting trajectories and stylistic heterodoxies that make this music as unpredictable and surprising as ever. Releases from Steve Lehman and Eve Risser were especially noteworthy, involving pan-continental strivings that are always welcome in avant-garde jazz. But so too was the work of chameleonic Tyshawn Sorey, whose eagerness to delve into classic jazz repertoire was one of the more intriguing, and enticing, developments of the year. And then there were the up-and-coming artists such as Zoh Amba, who evoked free-jazz legends of old but in a voice all her own. With an abundance of excellent music and pathbreaking artists committed to creating it, there is indeed much to celebrate, as perpetual innovation and change, fortunately, remain the status quo.

Tyshawn Sorey Trio +1 (With Greg Osby)
The Off-Off-Broadway Guide to Synergism
Pi Recordings

With Mesmerism (Yeros7 Music, 2022), Sorey pursued what at first seemed an unusual departure from his characteristically challenging work, as the percussionist's trio tackled several standards from the jazz canon with sensitivity and obvious affection. The Off-Off-Broadway Guide to Synergism proved this project to be more than just a momentary diversion, as veteran saxophonist Greg Osby was added to the trio for an impressive three-disc release filled largely with jazz workhorses, performed with particular gusto at New York City's Jazz Standard early in 2022. Pianist Aaron Diehl and bassist Russell Hall bring the necessary shape-shifting tendencies that enable them to follow the leader's agile shifts and deflections adroitly. A superb album that highlights another crucial dimension of Sorey's artistry.

Tomas Fujiwara's Triple Double
March
Firehouse 12 Records

A triumphant follow-up to drummer Fujiwara's Triple Double sextet debut in 2017 (Firehouse 12), March once again employs the twin-guitar attack of Mary Halvorson and Brandon Seabrook, the two-horn interplay of Taylor Ho Bynum and Ralph Alessi, and the duo-percussion tandem of Fujiwara and Gerald Cleaver to make music that is invigorating and jarring in its knotty complexity. With a concept perfectly suited to the spirit of protest emerging during the summer of 2020, the album surges with an unbridled intensity, and the group is clearly of one accord, the product of years of fruitful partnership.

James Brandon Lewis Quartet
MSM: Molecular Systematic Music -Live
Intakt Records

Lewis has been on a roll since 2019's An UnRuly Manifesto (Relative Pitch Records), and he shows no signs of letting up here. His Molecular (Intakt) was one of the top releases of 2020, a scintillating recording that highlighted the tenor saxophonist's muscular tunefulness and engaging compositions. On MSM: Molecular Systematic Music -Live, Lewis opened those compositions up, taking advantage of the opportunity to explore longer versions of them so as to maximize their potential for improvisatory creativity. And it's a roaring success, with Lewis in garrulous form, tirelessly pursuing the possibilities of each of his capacious solos. Lewis' regular partners are present, with pianist Aruán Ortiz, bassist Brad Jones and drummer Chad Taylor providing the nonstop churning groove beneath Lewis' seemingly limitless permutations.

Eve Risser Red Desert Orchestra
Eurythmia
Clean Feed

Always crafty and enigmatic, pianist Risser has followed up Les Deux Versants se Regardent, by her White Desert Orchestra (Clean Feed, 2016) with another wondrous big-band album, this time with musicians from both Europe and Africa. The usual trademarks of Risser's unique compositions are present: oblique melodies, fascinating harmonies, and surprising textures. But the addition of African rhythmic and instrumental choices lends another layer of accessibility to Risser's music, and the infectious results are worth revisiting again and again.

Sélébéyone
Xaybu: The Unseen
Pi Recordings

Anyone interested in following contemporary currents in "avant-rap" is obligated to keep track of Steve Lehman, whose second recording with Sélébéyone is even more adventurous and startling than its self-titled predecessor released in 2016. Refracted beats and unsettling sonic effects, combined with a fierce lyrical urgency, create music that is both challenging and riveting. Possessing a cross-cultural reach that draws as much from Sufi Islam and Senegalese Wolof as avant-garde jazz, Lehman's work exemplifies a global consciousness that seems eminently sensible, and essential, in 2022.

Pat Thomas and XT
"Akisakila"/Attitudes of Preparation (Mountains, Oceans, Trees)
Edition Gamut

An exhilarating and sometimes overwhelming revisiting of one of Cecil Taylor's iconic quartets, pianist Thomas and XT (drummer Paul Abbott and saxophonist Seymour Wright) somehow manage to do justice to the master's inimitable work with Andrew Cyrille, Jimmy Lyons and Sirone. Taylor's Akisakila recording represented a "comeback" for his group in 1973, a precursor to the music documented on The Complete, Legendary, Live Return Concert (Oblivion Records), one of 2022's outstanding reissues. Here that piece is referenced in an irreverent fashion, accompanied by loops and spoken excerpts from Taylor and others interspersed in such a way as to make something wholly distinctive, while remaining within the orbit of Taylor's fiercely independent vision. Thomas and Wright have done this sort of thing before in exploring the music of Ahmed Abdul-Malik, as on Super Majnoon (East Meets West) (Otoroku, 2019), and like that earlier project, this one is just as potent, but even more astonishingly creative.

Ches Smith
Interpret It Well
Pyroclastic Records

Smith's enviable rhythmic skills have enlivened many of his esteemed colleagues' recordings for years, but recently his projects have been getting some well-deserved accolades. 2021's Path of Seven Colors (Pyroclastic) was a marvel, and so too is Interpret it Well, while adding even more mysterious nuances and disarming resonances to the musical alchemy created by Smith and his partners. Violist Mat Maneri, pianist Craig Taborn and guitarist Bill Frisell seem uncannily attuned to Smith's elliptical style, allowing for coherent shapes to somehow emerge serendipitously from within the broad contours of Smith's unique compositions.

Zoh Amba
Bhakti
Mahakala Music

With a fire-breathing intensity reminiscent of Albert Ayler or David S. Ware, tenor saxophonist Amba also possesses remarkable poise and tenacity, required traits for anyone determined to blaze their trail in free jazz. It helps that she has the support of terrific colleagues, in this case, pianist Micah Thomas, who like Amba is still in his twenties, and drummer Tyshawn Sorey (along with guitarist Matt Hollenberg, who joins the group on the final track). Amba brings a scalding ferocity to her playing, but there is a leavening melodicism that also shines through in key moments. In a year that saw Amba release three albums altogether, Bhakti is a hopeful sign of even better things to come for the talented saxophonist.

Myra Melford's Fire and Water Quintet
For the Love of Fire and Water
RogueArt

A veritable supergroup, Melford's Fire and Water Quintet blends the leader's pianistic talents with guitarist Mary Halvorson, saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, cellist Tomeka Reid and drummer Susie Ibarra. The ingenious compositions allow the players' distinctive personalities to emerge forcefully, always in close rapport but leaving plenty of room for detours and digressions. Melford has always walked the line between form and freedom expertly, and her superlative partners are equally adept at it.

The Attic (Rodrigo Amado, Gonçalo Almeida, and Onno Govaert)
Love Ghosts
NoBusiness

A free-jazz album that strikes an expansive range of emotional registers, the third release from Amado's Attic trio is its best. Amado's tenor saxophone is by turns dusky and ferocious, and bassist Almeida and drummer Govaert establish a telepathic rapport with the leader which enables the trio to navigate the music's winding pathways with an intrinsic logic always in view. These four lengthy, satisfying conversations provide a vivid reminder that free improvisation can be simultaneously intense and lyrical.

Comments