Header image: Zack Lober and NOFILL3R: Jasper Blom, Zack Lober, Suzan Veneman, Sun-Mi Hong. Courtesy of Govert Driessen.
I have been lucky to have been turned onto a number of wonderful new releases lately. All of them combine excellent sound with superb music.
In listening to these, and a number of others I’m not covering here, I am reminded that we are living, I think, in another golden age of music recording and reproduction. Really, sometimes I sit back and listen to my system and am truly amazed at what it sounds like, and what can be done with today’s recording and high-end audio playback technology.
Multichannel Audio
Jane Ira Bloom: Songs in Space (Anderson Audio)
I have to thank Copper’s John Seetoo for turning me on to saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom, who has never played a note I don’t like. I’m not surprised that she won the 2024 Downbeat critics poll for soprano sax. Her playing and sound are captivating. What a beautiful tone she gets!
Here, she performs a number of originals with space-themed titles like “Better Starlight” and “Escape Velocity,” and two standards, “I Could Have Danced All Night” and “My Foolish Heart.” (I didn’t know she has an asteroid named after her!) The music is specifically mixed for surround sound in 5.1.4 immersive audio, though it also sounds terrific in high-definition stereo. In fact, if I hadn’t heard the surround mixes at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, where producers/engineers Jim Anderson and Ulrike Schwarz invited me to have a listen, I’d live happily ever after with the sublime sonics and spatiality of the stereo version. But I did hear the immersive mixes, and wow, forgive me for the weak pun but Sounds in Space is absolutely out of this world in multichannel.
Jane Ira Bloom. Courtesy of Ken Hunt.
Anderson and Schwarz haven’t overdone the surround sound, instead placing you in a palpable space where each musician – Bloom, Dominic Fallacaro (piano), Maek Helias (bass), and Bobby Previte (drums and percussion), has room to breathe, in duo, trio and quartet settings. It’s a warm, enveloping ambience, with beautiful reverb, and each musician has a distinct identity. Anderson and Schwarz are not rigid in the placement of the instruments, depending on the number of musicians playing, and Bloom even moves around the soundfield deliberately in spots. What I thought was some kind of effect is actually Bloom spinning around as she’s playing – a knockout moment in surround.
Most of the songs are slow to mid-tempo, allowing the music to evolve – in the song “Beckett,” the space between the notes is as important as the notes themselves. The band does swing on “Riding My Planet” and “Space Rangers,” yet maintains a gentle feeling, in large part to Previte’s masterful drumming. “I Could Have Danced All Night” is a slow and dreamy take on the standard with Bloom and Fallacaro duetting, and her nuanced playing and his gorgeous chord substitutions are captivating. But then again, so is the rest of the album. I could go on and on about the tonality, dynamics, detail and so on, but audiophile cliches do not do this album justice. I’ll just say it’s exceptional and a must-hear.
The Secret Trio: Old Friends (Anderson Audio)
Another recording from Anderson Audio, Old Friends from The Secret Trio is as spellbinding as Songs in Space, in a completely different musical way. The Secret Trio is comprised of clarinetist Ismail Lumanovski, Ara Dinkjian on oud, and Tamer Pinarbasi playing the karun (or qanun), a Middle Eastern string instrument that resembles an autoharp but with strings that are plucked with both hands. Old Friends, the group’s fourth album (now I gotta hear the other three), blends Western and Eastern tonalities, modes, and harmonies. The songs range from traditional folk dances to dances, improvisational showcases, and original compositions.
The music sounds exotic yet timeless. The level of virtuosity is astounding. These musicians have been playing together for a long time, and it shows. They are tight on a level that seems almost humanly impossible, yet here it is for all of us to hear, especially on uptempo songs like the spirited opener “Hicaz Saz Semai,” and “Fincani Tastan,” though the trio executes slower-and medium-tempo songs like “Bülbülüm Altin Kafeste” with equal aplomb.
The Secret Trio: Ara Dinkjian, Tamer Pinarbasi and Ismail Lumanovski.
The 5.1 surround sound is rich, enveloping, and extraordinarily dynamic, with a tonal balance that, to these old ears and like the Songs In Space album, sounds pretty much perfect. Old Friends was recorded in DXD 352.8 kHz/32-bit using a Horus/Pyramix recording system. Ara Dinkjian is on the left, with Lumanovski in the middle and Pinarbasi on the right, and though it sound outstanding in stereo, the immersive mix really makes you feel like the performers are right there. There are no gimmicky multichannel panning effects – the immersive mix really serves the sense of spatial realism.
The combination of the plucked percussiveness of the oud and karun (one higher-pitched, the other covering lower and midrange notes), and the plaintive quality of the clarinet works to create a surprisingly wide and full sound. Reproduction of the transient attacks of the plucked strings is critical, and it’s well-captured here. A musical and sonic treat. I need to see these guys live!
Anette Askvik: Liberty (Birdrecords)
Smooth, warm, inviting – that’s the music and the exceptional sound of Liberty by Anette Askvik, though it’s no mere easy listening album. Askvik, who sings in English, has an edge to her lyrics, which sound beguiling, reminding me of singers like Kate Bush, Björk, and Jane Siberry, but the sweet surface belies some harder-edged observations, like the title track: “Dreams are breaking like glass/but faith is hard like stone,” and lyrics about failed love. Yet there’s an undercurrent of optimism and self-reliance in these songs and the way she sings them. All were written by Askvik.
The instrumentation is sparse, but lush, with the usual guitar-bass-drums along with strings, a sax, and some particularly lovely acoustic and Rhodes piano. The album was produced and mixed by Oystein Sevag, with the immersive audio mix done by Gaute Nistov, and immersive mastering by Morten Lindberg. Recorded and mixed in 24-bit/48 kHz, the two-disc CD/Blu-ray set offers Pure Audio, 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 7.1.4 Auro-3D formats. (I was able to listen in Dolby 5.1 and DTS-HD 5.1 – space limitations preclude me from setting up a full Atmos system in my home.)
But the more I listen to releases like Liberty, and other peoples’ Atmos systems, the more I want one. It’s not just a gimmick, especially when you hear mixes as well-done as these. The days of absurd surround sound mixes seem to be over (not that I get to hear everything that’s out there). Askvik’s voice is up front, framed by the instruments, with a wonderful spacious sonic environment. All the instruments are skillfully placed, making artistic use of the immersive audio format. On the title track, the sax, electric piano and, well, everything, draw you in and set the tone for the rest of the album. I found the cello and piano playing on songs like the title track and “Blue Light” to be particularly gorgeous. I don’t want to really dissect the laundry-list qualities of the sound, since it’s so flowing and natural that I just wanted to bask in the music. So I did.
Good Ole Stereo
Zack Lober: So We Could Live (Zennez Records)
This is modern jazz at its finest – meaning those of you with more traditional tastes may find some of it a little abstract. For me, it’s adventurous, and it grows on you. Bassist and bandleader Zack Lober is accompanied in the band NO FILL3R by Jasper Blom on tenor sax, Suzan Veneman on trumpet and Sun-Mi Hong playing drums. Note that there’s no piano or guitar in the group to provide the usual chordal background, which makes the sound of the album sparser than most jazz outings, and really highlights the musicians, who are incredible.
So We Could Live was recorded live in a large room at Wisseloord Studios in Hilversum, The Netherlands by Alessandro Mazzieri, mixed by Micha de Kanter and mastered by Peter Brussee. It was produced by Ben van Gelder (no relation to Blue Note engineer Rudy van Gelder). Let me not mince words: the sound is of demonstration quality. I’m sure the fact that it was recorded live – just like the old days! – is a big contributor to this.
It’s remarkably dynamic and detailed, with a natural tonal and spatial balance. Blom is to the left, Veneman to the right, Hong spread over the stereo field and Lober up front. If you want to play a recording that makes your system sound real, because all the instruments are incredibly lifelike, from the body and almost spooky presence of the trumpet and sax to the many textures of the drum kit. As you might imagine, leader Lober’s acoustic bass is featured on a number of songs and it’s deep and articulate. You can really feel the people behind the sounds.
The leadoff track, “Joe Type Tune” (a tribute to Joe Henderson) gets things moving with its fast tempo and dexterous soloing by Blom and Veneman. “Behind a Myth” tips its hat to Paul Hindemith and is one of the more abstract pieces on the album, but it gives the musicians a chance to stretch out. I have to single out drummer Sun-Mi Hong. She has a very distinct syncopated start-and-stop style that simultaneously drives the band and provides rhythmic punctuation. It’s a drumming style I’ve never heard before and is absolutely perfect for the music, coloring the songs with cymbal accents, drum fills and great low tom-tom impact on songs like “The Loose End” and “Landscape.”
“Dad”/”Besame Mucho” is a solo showcase for Lober, and if this isn’t a demonstration track for acoustic bass, I don’t know what is. Aside from the amazing sound of his instrument, Lober’s playing is really something else here, filled with double stops and arpeggios and twists and turns, a real tour de force. “Feathered Head” is an uptempo close-to-classic-jazz tune that gives the musicians a chance to stretch out – trumpeter Suzan Veneman and saxophonist Jasper Blom are really exciting players to listen to. The album ends with the title track, which is a slow ballad with a pretty harmonized melody and drawn-out notes, and more utterly stunning drumming by Sun-Mi Hong.
Eddie Daniels: To Milton With Love (Resonance Records)
Milton Nascimento is a legendary figure in Brazilian music. The singer, songwriter and musician first made his mark in the 1960s, recorded his first album, Courage, for CTI Records in 1969, and is alive today, though retired from performing. Along the way he earned five Grammys and 12 Brazilian Music Awards. To Milton With Love recasts the songs from Courage, with the addition of one original written for the album, and it is a magnificent tribute by clarinet/reed player Eddie Daniels and a cast of superb, and I mean superb, musicians. (Daniels has previously recorded two other tribute albums of the Brazilian music of Egberto Gismondi and Ivan Lins.)
Produced by Resonance Records founder George Klabin, the album features Daniels on clarinet, tenor and soprano saxes, and flute, along with Josh Nelson (piano), Kevin Axt (bass), Ray Brinker (drums), Anthony Wilson (guitar; audiophiles will be familiar with him from his work with Diana Krall), and the Lyris String Quartet, who add beautiful color to the rich orchestrations by Nelson and Kumo Schmid. It was recorded at Resonance’s studios and mastered by Matthew Luthans at The Mastering Lab in Salina, Kansas.
Eddie Daniels. Courtesy of Paul Gitelson.
Adapting vocal music to instrumental treatment seems like an audacious proposition, but it works brilliantly here, especially considering the musical excellence of the material. The arrangements are lush, deeply textured, and filled with captivating melodies and improvised solos. The sound has a natural balance, illuminated and transparent (though certainly not bright), and a mix that lets every instrument shine. The sound of Daniels’ clarinet is startlingly lifelike – at points I was laughing with delight at its in-the-room quality. It’s like you can hear into the bell and the body of the instrument.
Every song is a musical treat, from the inviting opener, “Travessia,” to the lovely string quartet intros on “Tres Pontas” and “Courage” and the ensemble playing on the melodies of “Catavento.” The players are all top-notch, as evidenced by everything from the adventurousness of Anthony Wilson’s guitar playing to the seemingly boundless improvisational ideas of Daniels and pianist John Nelson. he rhythm section in Brazilian music is crucial, and drummer Ray Brinker has exceptional rhythmic drive, while Kevin Axt’s adept bass playing is imaginative and propulsive, especially on songs like “Rio Vermelho” and “Catavento.” The performances are super-tight – the music just flows. A delight.
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