Music Week (6:3)

A few select reviews from week 3 of month 6 (June).

When I decided to go ahead with the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Mid-Year Poll, I knew that I was going to have very little time left for anything else, at least until mid-July. Still, anticipation isn’t quite the same thing as experience. I sent the first batch of invitations out a week ago. I struggled to do that then, and have been overwhelmed ever since. Which is not to say deluged: I’ve only gotten 16 ballots back. I fear that once again the mail isn’t getting through, and then there’s the perennial “nobody has time for much of anything these days.” Mid-Year turnouts for the last two years have been 57% and 64% the previous EOY poll, so about like America’s “mid-term” votes.

By far the hardest job in running the poll is inviting people to vote. Over the years, I’ve built up a list of about 300 prospective voters, plus another file of another 300 names I still need to check out. If this was a regular job, I’d have months to prepare, but as it is, nothing gets done until it’s already needed, and then we’re playing a crazy game of catch up. I’m also operating blindly, as I have little way of tracing email delivery, and many questions about who is ignoring their invites, and who simply didn’t get one? Once again, I’ve made every form of announcement I can think of, only to be left wondering whether it’s getting through. Or indeed, whether the whole job is worth the aggravation.

I can offer a somewhat qualified yes there. While I only have 16 ballots counted (they are available online), I can report that they’ve identified 142 albums (106 new music + 36 old music; 8.875 per ballot, with the 16th ballot adding a maximum 15 albums). I haven’t run the numbers yet, but usually about 50% of the albums receiving votes are ones I hadn’t heard before. And many of those, like Ragini Trio and Terry Waldo below, turn out to be very good.

When I finally compile this week’s Music Week, I’m going to have a ridiculous number of A- and B+(***) albums (currently: 13 + 12, out of 39 albums rated). Some of these came from Robert Christgau’s June Consumer Guide, only one of which (Pony) I had already heard. I’ve since listened to what I could find: McBryde was the only one I included below, but others I rated A- were those by Florence Dore, Olof Dreijer, and K.A.A.N. Some of the others were poll picks, with only one actual promo.

More records this week than usual, even before I combined two separate reviews, which I did twice. I doubt I’ll make a habit of that, but it felt right here. By the way, I shouldn’t put all the blame for my workload on the poll. I also published a pretty huge Loose Tabs on Saturday. I meant to write about it here, but haven’t found the time or energy. But there is a lot of news and commentary there. And while much of it is transient crap — like the slush fund and the “human cock fights” — there are points I hope to return to eventually.

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Ambrose Akinmusire/Mary Halvorson: Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings (2025 [2026], Nonesuch): Two of the biggest names in jazz these days, the trumpet player with five top-five poll finishes so far, the guitarist with two outright wins, in a duo after landing on the same major label. Minor details prove their talents, in an intimate, low-key encounter that discourages hype. B+(***)
[Bandcamp]

Dave Douglas: Transcend (2025 [2026], Greenleaf Music); and Joe Lovano: Paramount Quartet (2025 [2026], ECM): Two jazz poll stars of the 1990s, trumpet and tenor sax, when they brought free jazz and a bit of folk music into the emerging postbop paradigm. They’ve had intermittent successes since then, including their joint Soundprints group, but less consistently. They’ve both gotten a charge this year, with younger groups: Douglas with James Brandon Lewis (tenor sax), Rafiq Bhatia (guitar), Tomeka Reid (cello), and Ian Chang (drums); Lovano with Julian Lage (guitar), Asante Santi Debriano (bass), and Will Calhoun (drums). Both: B+(***)

Champian Fulton: House Party (2025 [2026], Turtle Bay): Retro-standards singer, started with David Berger’s big band in 2007, plays her own piano, with her “longtime trio” of Hide Tanaka (bass) and Fukushi Tainaka (drums), also saxophonists Klas Lindquist (alto) and Cory Weeds (tenor). She is superb, but the real treat here is the 10:58 sax joust on “Billie’s Bounce,” which for a moment had me wondering whether I was playing “The Chase.” A−
[Bandcamp]

Lime Garden: Maybe Not Tonight (2026, So Young): British “wonk pop” band, second album, Chloe Howard the singer, plays guitar (as does Leila Deeley, with Tippi Morgan on bass and Annabel Whittle on drums). First songs are very catchy, and while they’re not all that striking, they never let up. A−
[Bandcamp]

Ashley McBryde: Wild (2026, Warner Nashville): Country singer-songwriter, sixth album since 2018, only has writing credits on 6 (of 11) songs, with the most striking song Randall Clay’s “Rattlesnake Preacher.” But McBryde owns it, establishing her rustic deep south roots, a firm foundation to rock out on. A−

Aja Monet: The Color of Rain (2026, Drink Sum Wtr): Poet, performer, activist, from New York, based in Los Angeles, second album after four books. Promises “all rhythm and no algorithm.” But she lays on some serious politics: “From Palisades to Palestine/ An actress compares the LA oceanfront to Gaza/ Never mentions the Rafah border/ The cutoff of two thousand aid trucks / Neglects to mention body bags, rubble, or the Israeli snipers aimed at children,” and “nothing like disaster to shock a heart into beating” and “HEPA can’t filter this coruption/ Maybe, maybe socialism is on its way.” A−
[Bandcamp]

The Phoenix Trio: Tomorrow Is Today (2025 [2026], Giant Step Arts): Mark Turner (tenor sax), Joe Martin (bass), and Marcus Gilmore (drums). Martin wrote 4 (of 6) songs, with one each for the others. Turner was part of the 1990s mainstream resurgence, which coincided with the revival of major labels like Blue Note and Verve, and to my mind at least was led by a dozen or more major tenor saxophonists. He’s had ups and downs since then, but seems ideally situated with these younger players. A−
[Bandcamp]

Ragini Trio: 3 (2026, W.E.R.F.): Sax trio from Belgium, with Nathan Daems (tenor sax/effects), Marco Bordoscia (double bass/bass guitar), and Lander Gyselinck (drums). Fine print says the group name comes from “years of deep exploration into long-form ragas, South Indian Carnatic traditions, konnakkol, and Western jazz.” And here I thought I was just a sucker for a well-formed, full-throated saxophone trio. A−
[Bandcamp]

Terry Waldo & the Gotham City Band: Treasury Volume 3 (2026, Turtle Bay): Ragtime pianist, b. 1944, mentored by Eubie Blake 1969-83, but also studied with Roland Hanna, Dick Wellstood, and Jaki Byard; called his first band The Fungus Five Plus Two (“our music grows on you”), but best known for Waldo’s Gutbucket Syncopators (1969-81), and now for his Gotham City Band (since 1984). Old songs, recently recorded (I’ve been assured). The first two volumes are treasures indeed. This is, if anything, even more delightful. A−
[Bandcamp]

John Prine: Live at Old Town School of Folk (2010 [2026], Oh Boy); and Live at the Other End Dec. 1975 (1975 [2021], Rhino/Atlantic): Two extended live albums, by the folkie singer-songwriter, who even by the 1975 date, which followed his four Atlantic 1971-75 albums, had enough songs to fill up two hours. While I don’t doubt that the band-supported studio versions are better, the simple guitar setup gives them a nice intimacy, summing up an era. The later set has even more great songs, especially from his two great 1990s albums (The Missing Years and Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings). The guitar and bass backup is also a plus, but his voice is in rough shape — throat cancer did that, and could have done worse — and the patter is hard to pick up, although having seen him live twice (both memorable, one in the late 1980s playing solo at a state fair, the other around this time) I did catch the “happy enchilada song” story. Could be that more volume might have helped, but I keep it pretty low. 2010: B+(**); 1975: A−