The throughline of their vast body of work is Rob Mazurek and Chad Taylor’s commitment to the Chicago Underground project, the origins of which date back to 1998. Sometimes morphing into Chicago Underground Trio, or most recently as Chicago Underground Quartet with guitar player Jeff Parker and saxophonist Josh Johnson on 2020’s jazz-centric Good Days, Mazurek and Taylor inevitably return to each other as simply Chicago Underground Duo with Hyperglyph.
Category: Jazz
Smoke on the Skyline: Bohren & der Club of Gore’s Sunset Mission and the Art of Doom Jazz
Some albums don’t so much arrive as materialise – like a wisp of cigarette smoke caught in a streetlamp’s beam after rain. Bohren & der Club of Gore’s Sunset Mission (2000) is one of them, unfolding at a pace that leaves room for the scent of petrichor to linger in the air. There’s a European lineage here, from the melancholy of Tomasz Stańko’s Polish jazz to the urban fog of Miles Davis’ Ascenseur pour l’échafaud soundtrack. But the pacing belongs to Bohren alone – glacial, immersive, and attentive to the silence between notes. Like David Lynch’s best work, the music makes beauty and menace share the same room; a brushed cymbal could be a velvet curtain’s hush or rain on a car roof while you wait for someone who might never come.
Johnny Hartman :: I Just Dropped by to Say Hello (1964)
It’s near impossible to discuss midcentury crooners without mentioning Johnny Hartman. His tender approach to balladeer vocals epitomizes the post-war era of American jazz singers; his rich baritone is the sonic wallpaper to smoky lounges and amber-hued clubs, where night owls relax on the axis of the wheel of life, “to get the feel of life from jazz and cocktails.”
Smoke :: Everything
In this day and age, very few albums are truly lost. Some just get misplaced. Take Bay area jazz band Smoke’s 1973 album Everything, an album that should be universally acknowledged as a stone-cold classic of groove music and proto-acid jazz and yet seldom gets mentioned. A half-century later, it still sounds fresh. Spacey, funky and ambient in turn, Everything managed to anticipate so much of where twenty-first century jazz has recently wound up.
Kenny Barron :: Lucifer
Word that pianist Kenny Barron’s 1973 debut as leader Sunset to Dawn was getting a welcome reissue this year sent us back to some of his other releases from that period. Most intriguing among them is his ultra-rare, never-reissued 1975 fusion experiment Lucifer, an album that mixes acid funk, sensitive balladeering, synthesizer experiments and queasy psychedelia. Practically impossible to acquire but eminently worth hearing, Barron never sounded as freaky as he does here.
You’re Future’s In Space: Eddie Harris on Atlantic (A Mixtape)
From the late 60s through the mid-70s, Eddie Harris indulged in a string of progressively freakier, beautifully executed records that smeared boundaries, blew minds and sold poorly. This mixtape collects two and a half hours of the most adventurous moments from those heady Atlantic days.
Jimmy Rowles Trio :: Rare-But Well Done (1954)
At a time when the musical acrobatics of hard-bop jazz were in full swing on the East Coast, Rowles showed little interest in the dazzling technical feats or subversion of form that many of his contemporaries were partaking in. Instead, the unfettered Rowles chose to color within the lines, forming elegant arrangements that drift along like blue smoke curling around an after-hours lounge. On his first solo release, Rare, But Well Done (1954), Rowles’ approach is warm and classy, containing the understated sophistication of a well-tailored black suit: no loud colors, garish patterns, or ostentatious branding — just impeccable fit, fine stitching, and classic style.
Charles Tolliver’s Music Inc. :: Live at Slugs’ Vol. 1 & 2
The resurrection of Strata-East is nothing short of monumental, and that’s a fact. While each album on the legendary jazz label is a masterpiece in its own right, there is perhaps no clearer line to the heart of the Strata-East psyche than Charles Tolliver and Music Inc.’s Live at Slugs’ Vol. 1 & 2. Originally issued in 1972 as two separate albums, Live at Slugs’ is finally presented in all its majesty as a proper double album, transferring the full impact of this tour-de-force scorcher that occupies the intersection of heady post-bop, modal elegance, and spiritual fervor.
Nate Mercereau, Josh Johnson, Carlos Niño :: Openness Trio
Openness Trio marks the first major release for the small group of L.A. musicians Nate Mercereau, Josh Johnson and Carlos Niño, as well as a significant milepost for the drifty, electronics-infused style of jazz they favor, appearing on the storied Blue Note label, once a haven of the old guard. Meditative, vibrant and lush, Openness Trio reenvisions the crystalline perfume of West Coast New Age not as daffy escapism but as the transcendental successor to avant-garde spiritual jazz. Equal parts incense and neon, it’s a testament to a place and a sound that sees the geographic and sonic realms as eternally impermanent and always incomplete.
Max Roach :: M’Boom
Max Roach’s deep vision of the drums as a communicator of limitless expression permeates every corner of his pathways. Starting in 1970, his M’Boom percussion ensemble was a collective that brought together an array of African, Latin and all sorts of global rhythms. On this 1979 record, the ensemble explores all sorts of polyrhythms with original compositions from all of the expanded octet, as well as abstractly paying tribute to the likes of Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk.
Bill Evans :: Waltz for Debby (1962)
Waltz For Debby captures the symbiosis of the Bill Evans Trio beautifully — a live documentation of three musicians whose relationship with each other eclipses being bandmates for something far more powerful and cosmic. It’s the kind of confluence that happens once in a lifetime for most musicians, and that’s if they’re lucky. It’s the sound of stars aligning; it’s the sound of capturing lightning in a bottle.
Pharoah Sanders :: Izipho Zam (My Gifts)
From the moment Lonnie Liston Smith’s tantalizing piano chords are joined by the unmistakable vocals of Leon Thomas on “Prince Of Peace” it’s clear that Izipho Zam is going to be a very special recording. Liston Smith is on fire and the yodelling strains of Leon Thomas backed by a host of percussionists elevate the material to the spiritual jazz equivalent of an apex predator. It nearly swallows you whole. While Karma and Thembi get a disproportionate amount of attention in the Pharoah Sanders canon, the alchemical Izipho Zam is right up there with the very best of his work.
Charles Mingus :: In Argentina – The Buenos Aires Concerts
In summer 1977 the Charles Mingus Quintet rolled into South America on tour. It was the second time he’d been there and these shows would be among his last. As such Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts would be essential listening for anyone interested in his music. But thankfully it’s more than just that.
The Circling Sun :: Orbits
New Zealand’s cosmic jazz ensemble The Circling Sun comes forth with Orbits, the sequel to 2023’s Spirits and, like it, deftly serves up Yusef Lateef vibes on a platter. The group has all the irreverence and joy that makes spiritual jazz so compelling versus its more competitive, virtuosity-obsessed co-genres—especially when delivered by a group this numerous (an undectet!), you can almost hear the musicians having fun.
Mal Waldron :: Sweet Love, Bitter
Clouded by the obscurity of the film itself, Sweet Love, Bitter is a poignant example of the brilliance of jazz pianist/composer Mal Waldron. Adapted from 1961 novel Night Song (loosely inspired by the life and final years of the legendary Charlie Parker), Waldron’s soulful soundtrack is the perfect accompaniment to the gritty, somber themes and even lucid dream montages. After decades of languishing in obscurity, Sweet Love, Bitter proves to be a provocative, multi-faceted display of jazz culture.