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Music

Top jazz picks

By PHILIP BOOTH
Published December 29, 2005

The year's best new jazz albums:

Sonny Rollins, Without a Song: The 9/11 Concert (Milestone) - The tenor sax titan offers a still-rugged tone and tough improvisations during a purposeful set recorded in Boston just days after Rollins left his Manhattan apartment not far from the World Trade Center.

Wayne Shorter Quartet, Beyond the Sound Barrier (Verve) - The finest working group in jazz - tenor and soprano saxophonist Shorter, pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade - drives hard and stretches wide during performances on three continents between 2002 and 2004.

Dave Douglas, Keystone (Greenleaf) - Jazz, rock, funk, fusion and dub textures successfully mix and mingle on a set of music the trumpeter composed to accompany films by silent-era comedian Fatty Arbuckle. The accompanying DVD features a 1915 Arbuckle film with Douglas's new score.

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, The Sameness of Difference (Hyena) - The up-from-jamband trio turns in its most accomplished work yet, a rangy collection of post-modern jazz that touches on the full range of music - from Charles Mingus to the Flaming Lips - that has influenced keyboardist Brian Haas, bassist Reed Mathis and drummer Jason Smart.

Robert Walter, Super Heavy Organ (Magna Carta) - The jam-oriented organist turns in consistently tasty riffs and hard grooving with the help of saxophonist Tim Green (the Neville Brothers), and a New Orleans rhythm section featuring Astral Project bassist James Singleton variously paired with drummers Johnny Vidacovich (also Astral Project) and Stanton Moore (Galactic).

Also:

Either/Orchestra, Ethiopiques 20: Live in Addis (Buda Musique)

Moutin Reunion Quartet, Something Like Now (Lightyear)

Kurt Rosenwinkel, Deep Song (Verve)

Tierney Sutton, I'm With the Band (Telarc)

Bebo Valdes, Bebo de Cuba (Calle 54)

- PHILIP BOOTH, Times correspondent

[Last modified December 28, 2005, 09:18:06]