Baptiste Castets: Patience (Fresh Sound New Talent 694)
The New Talent imprint of the Spanish Fresh Sound label puts relatively unknown artists in the spotlight and their releases rarely if ever disappoint. Patience is no exception. I was not familiar with drummer Baptiste Castets and his French compatriots. It’s a pleasant surprise. Castets presents seemingly simple melodies, expanded and refined by diverse rhythmic discoveries and excellent solos.
Rue De Paris is a textbook case of Castets’ unassuming approach, a staccato line that is expressively coloured by saxophonist Frédéric Boret, trombonist Sébastien Clado and pianist Edouard Monnin. It positively evokes a stroll through enchanting Montmartre with Le Figaro tucked under one’s arm, watching a girl in a Peugeot park her car the Parisian way: nonchalantly bumping against hostile bumpers. Title track Patience is a similarly attractive melody, marked by Boret’s pristine, exuberant excursions on soprano saxophone.
Repertoire varies between melancholic and mildly turbulent. In the notes, Castets expresses admiration for songwriters Nick Drake and Blake Mills. I detect a touch of Richard Thompson. Either way, Castets’ crystal clearly recorded compositions are quite pleasant to the ear.
Naomi Gee Wright: Meteor Trails (Oti-O 009)
Historically, British artists with Indian connections enthusiastically embrace the Indian aesthetic. It is a main ingredient of Meteor Trails, the debut album of Naomi Gee Wright. The minimalist songs of this all-round cellist from London, blending the voice of Brigitte Beraha and tabla of Ben Hazelton, borrow freely from the raga, a concoction of delicately and precisely performed melodies and improvisations.
Wright’s creativity in a self-created setting that doesn’t allow for endless improvising (the essence of Indian classical music is being able to vary extensively and in an individual way the moods of hundreds of ragas of choice) is quite admirable, a skilful alternation between arco and pizzicato. She says upon request: “The Indian strain comes from some visits to India that I made and from playing with an oud player for a few years. I feel very connected to Indian culture and I love the space that Indian classical music and sufi music can create with the use of the drone, tabla rhythms and improvisational elements.”
The timbre of the cello is close to the human voice and Gee Wright’s cello connects sympathetically with Beraha’s snake-charming, wordless lines. Gentle Silence reveals empathy with pop music, Acer reminds vaguely of Irish folk music. Frida and Joni are homages to female artistic giants, as Gee Wright explains: “I adore Frida Kahlo’s paintings. I am quite visually influenced as well as sonically. Also, I named my first car Frida. I was very influenced by Joni Mitchell and her Hejira album and I love her amazing and different guitar tuning.”
Meteor Trails, niche product at heart, may not be for everyone, but its quality is beyond dispute.
Teis Semey: En Masse! (Loumi 42)
Teis Semey is a young Danish guitarist based in Amsterdam. The resemblance with Johnny Rotten is striking; a piece of information that is less trivial than you might think. Nonconformist and rebellious are his middle names. I’ve seen him play solos with feverish energy, sometimes temporarily at a bewildering dead end, but continuously brisk and exciting.
Among words that have been used to describe his approach, anarchy (in the NL, so to speak) is prevalent. That’s totally beside the point. There’s no such thing as chaos in Semey’s music, as one can safely conclude after listening to En Masse, his latest album of uninhibited indie jazz. To improve on his indie xinxing, Semey entertains us with such titles as Atlanta Airport Medium Rawdog and Hippity Hippity Abolish Private Property, an unashamed leftist slogan one rarely encounters in contemporary music. Shouldn’t be long before some sardonic conservative cat comes up with Lawdy, Lawdy, Let’s See How Your Reintroduction Of The Kolkhoz Works Out.
Hippity Hoppity is reminiscent of Nirvana, no less. It rattles like a battered Dodge on cobblestones. Jesse Schilderink’s wildly explosive contributions on tenor sax elevate it to one of the unforgettable tunes of 2024. Schilderink is Godzilla, kicking the Dodge from back road to the bank of the Interstate.
Band mates from the Dutch scene such as South-Korean drummer Sun Mi-Hong are sympathetic to Semey’s vision, which also includes rigorous noise and free form. Intriguingly, these episodes never fall into a rut, courtesy of the band’s contagious energy. Contrary to his punk aesthetic, Semey allows himself an album climax of soft-hued, ethereal melodies, besides a handful of intermittent, short field recordings from countries as Germany and Slovenia.
He probably recorded those on the road. If ever Teis Semey hits your town, don’t hesitate to buy a ticket – satisfaction guaranteed.
2024 favourites
Ulysses Owens Jr.: A New Beat! (new). Rarely if ever does one hear neo-hard bop performed as jubilantly and energetically as on drummer Ulysses Owens Jr.’s first live album. A perfect translation of The Jazz Messengers to the 21st century.
Emily Remler: Cookin’ At The Queens (archive). Live work of the ill-fated guitarist from 1984 and 1988 in Las Vegas is testament to her greatness as heir to the classic bebop guitarists.
Mike LeDonne Groover Quartet: Wonderful! (Cellar Music 032323) (new). The undisputed king of vintage organ-jazz mixes soul jazz with gospel choir, inspired by his mentally and visually impaired daughter Mary.