The music I most enjoyed in the plague year

 Yes, it was an awful year. I'm glad it's over. Here's some of the music that helped me through it:

JD Allen - Toys/Die Dreaming (Savant) 

Ran Blake & Frank Carlberg - Grey Moon (Red Piano)

Joe Fiedler’s Big Sackbut - Live In Graz (Multiphonics Music)

Bill Frisell - Valentine (Blue Note)

Gato Libre - Koneko (Libra)

Lafayette Gilchrist - Now (Lafayette Gilchrist Music)

Fred Hersch - Songs From Home (Palmetto)

Ray Mantilla - Rebirth (Savant)

Aruán Ortiz with Andrew Cyrille & Mauricio Herrera - Inside Rhythmic Falls (Intakt)

Jason Palmer - The Concert: 12 Musings for Isabella (Giant Step Arts)

Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp - Amalgam (Mahakala Music)

Jorge Roeder - El Suelo Mio (self-released)

Jim Snidero - Project-K (Savant)

Micah Thomas - Tide (self-released)

and, like every year, there was some special music unearthed 

Art Blakey - Just Coolin’ (Blue Note)

Paul Desmond - The Complete 1975 Toronto Recordings (Mosaic)

Hank Mobley - The Complete Blue Note Sessions 1963-1970 (Mosaic)

Sonny Rollins - Rollins In Holland (Resonance)

and heartfelt thanks to the publicists, labels, and musicians 

who persevered in spite of the obstacles

Sonny Rollins: Rollins In Holland

Like many fans of the magisterial tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, I’m particularly enamored of his work in the demanding trio format, as exemplified on classics from the Fifties like Way Out West (Contemporary), Freedom Suite  (Riverside) and A Night At The Village Vanguard (Blue Note). The latest Resonance release of the Sonny Rollins Trio in 1967 is more than worthy of being held in the same respect. The two-CD or three-Lp set Rollins In Holland finds Rollins working with bassist Ruud Jacobs and the marvelous drummer Han Bennink in three different settings over a May weekend. Four tracks recorded at a studio in Hilversum start the program, followed by two pieces performed at the Go-Go Club that night for the nationally televised Jazz met Jacobs show, a program hosted by Ruud Jacobs’ brother Pim, a pianist. An extended version of Three Little Words, recorded two days earlier at a concert in Arnhem, concludes the first disc. Disc two is given over to the balance of the Arnhem concert, where a high-energy Rollins is in an expansive mood bolstered by the impeccable support of Jacobs and Bennink. Rollins was in top form for these performances, in what he describes as “a take-no-prisoners type of music.” While Rollins is generally thought not to be too interested in his past work, in a lengthy interview with producer Zev Feldman, he is unfailingly enthusiastic and informative about these recordings and the playing of Jacobs and Bennink. “It was a great, high point in my life,” he says. The feeling was mutual, as Jacobs, who passed away in 2019, was, throughout his life, very proud of playing with Rollins, and Bennink in an 2018 interview in the booklet says that for him, it was “the ultimate. Still.” That interview is part of the 98-page booklet that accompanies the discs, with a bounty of period photographs, a long essay by Rollins’ biographer Aidan Levy, who also did the interview, and, dear to a tape archivist’s heart, pictures of the tape boxes for these recordings plus the fascinating story about the discovery of the tapes (they were unlabelled!) by Dutch journalist and researcher Frank Jochemsen. In addition to the immense pleasure of soaking up the great jazz that’s spread out over the two discs, the sequencing gives the attentive listener an unusual opportunity to note how Rollins’ playing adapts to the immediate situation. In the studio, he tends to be terse. With an audience, he loosens up just a bit for the TV broadcast. Finally, there’s the concert, where the benefits of spontaneous creation amid supremely sympathetic companions really shine. Absolutely recommended. 

Resonance HCD 2048; Sonny Rollins (ts) Ruud Jacobs (b) Han Bennink (d); Hilversum, the Netherlands, May 5, 1967 (disc 1, tracks 1-4), Loosdrecht, the Netherlands, May 5, 1967 (disc 1, tracks 5 & 6), and Arnhem, the Netherlands, May 3, 1967 (disc 2); Disc 1 (63:26): 1.Blue Room/ 2.Four/ 3.Love Walked In/ 4.Tune Up/ 5.Sonnymoon For Two/ 6.Love Walked In. Disc 2 (66:45): 1.They Can’t Take That Away From Me/Sonnymoon For Two/ 2.On Green Dolphin Street/ There Will Never Be Another You/ 3.Love Walked In/ 4.Four. resonancerecords.org

Bill Evans Trio: Live At Ronnie Scott’s

  It’s always a treat to hear more unearthed music by the massively influential Bill Evans Trio, even if the sound quality is less than stellar. Resonance has previously released four Evans titles. The fifth is the two CD or two LP Live At Ronnie Scott’s, serving up just over an hour and a half of Evans’ short-lived 1968 trio with Eddie Gomez on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums. DeJohnette recorded the gigs himself, and while the sound quality changes from track to track, it’s never very good. The piano lacks much presence, the bass is too loud (sometimes), and the drums sound hollow and far away. It’s too bad, really, since from what you can make out through the bad balance and hiss is that the trio was in very good form during this extended stay (four weeks!) at the premier jazz club in London. The version of Turn Out the Stars is quite nice, and the first disc comes to a rousing finish with a high energy rendition of Someday My Prince Will Come. Disc two sounds marginally better than the first half, featuring a fine Stella By Starlight and a upbeat version of Waltz for Debby. While you’re listening to the music, and perhaps grumbling about the sound, you can at least enjoy the David Stone Martin cover art and the well-illustrated 44-page booklet. In the best Resonance tradition, there are notes by producer Zev Feldman and prolific writer Brian Priestley, who actually attended a night of the run and wrote about it at the time. There are interviews with Eddie Gomez, a conversation between Jack DeJohnette and Chick Corea, and, most surprising, a truly enlightening interview with Chevy Chase, a big Evans fan who met the pianist and became friends with him. Hard to recommend this one, except to die-hard Bill Evans fans. Resonance HCD-2046; Bill Evans (p) Eddie Gomez (b) Jack DeJohnette (d); London, England, July 1968; Disc 1 (50:13): A Sleepin’ Bee/ You’re Gonna Hear From Me/ Yesterdays/ Turn Out the Stars/ My Man’s Gone Now/ Emily/ Spring is Here/ Embraceable You/ For Heaven’s Sake/ Someday My Prince Will Come. Disc 2 (49:37): Quiet Now/ ‘Round Midnight/ Stella By Starlight/ Alfie/ You’re Gonna Hear From Me/ Emily/ Waltz for Debby/ Autumn Leaves/ Nardis. resonancerecords.org