Newvelle Records • Season Four
 s an audiophile, I am
familiar with, and even embrace, the idea of buying the same music over and over again.
When I find an album I love, the promise of hearing it in even better sound makes the
illogic of purchasing some new "special edition" seem sane, if not downright
prudent.
Newvelle Records has a completely different approach to the LPs it releases -- each is a special edition -- even as the notion of better sound is firmly rooted in the label's recordings. This is Newvelle's fourth series of original contemporary jazz, so you may already know that this French label issues its purist recordings only on LP and sells only by subscription. Each of the albums is a substantial object, combining music, photography and text. Each series of six LPs is housed in a handsome, segmented box, increasing the pride of ownership. Earlier series featured recordings from a lineup of jazz notables, each definitely in the approachable category, although this does not mean they are flaccid audiophile fare -- or even close to it. The music is inventive and challenging, but not so much as to be hard to take, especially across the twelve sides of each series. Pianist Elan Mehler has appeared on a few of the recordings, in addition to curating the label's output. He says that each season "coalesces around a recording or two," but Season Four "was really built on the community of musicians that we've been building over the past four years." These include Noah Preminger, who appeared in Season One, and Bill Frisell, who was part of Season Three. Frisell "brought the idea of recording with Greg Tardy to me and he sent me some music of Hank Roberts. I've been listening to all four musicians in Broken Shadows and to Kenny Werner for a long time, and both artists reached out to me with these projects, so that was like a dream come true on my side. Billy Lester is the discovery for me this year, but once I heard his music, I really fell in love with it and had to have him do a project. But when I was putting together the band, it was great to reach out to Matt Wilson, who recorded on Season Three with Steve Cardenas, and Rufus Reid, who had his own album on Season Two." Atmosphere and nuance give Noah Preminger's Preminger Plays Preminger its charm, and as the title proclaims, this is also a tenor saxophonist with compositional chops. His interplay with pianist Jason Moran on "Stay With Me" manages to sound both classic and new, and the two make the musical conversation sound like second nature. Kevin Whitehead reviewed Broken Shadows, which is heavy on numbers by Ornette Coleman and conjures his spirit, and even his wailing tone, with uncanny ease. While an entire album of electric-guitar-and-saxophone duets might seem like margarine on Wonder Bread, it's thrilling when the guitarist is Bill Frisell and the saxophonist is Greg Tardy. There's actually a third instrument here -- silence, which both men use to great effect. I've listened to this album many times, just waiting for the closer, Stephen Foster's "Hard Times." Billy Lester's From Scratch travels familiar musical territory -- the piano trio and a collection of covers including "Darn That Dream" and "Body and Soul." This is another of the albums I've played to death; Lester is an inventive pianist who can swing. For me, the highlight of Kenny Werner's quartet date (with guest vocalist on one cut) Church on Mars is the cover of "Think of One," which begins with a buzz -- literally -- before coming around to a more familiar version of the Monk tune. Finally, from a quartet featuring cellist Hank Roberts, pianist Jacob Sacks and drummer Vinnie Sperraza comes Congeries of Ethereal Phenomena, at once lyrical and then dissonant. Roberts sings on "Back Home in Indiana," and his sweet voice and perfect enunciation remind me (and maybe only me) of Bobby McFerrin.
The same as it ever was is the work of multi-Grammy-winning Marc Urselli, who recorded the sessions at East Side Sound in NYC, and Alex DeTurk of Masterdisk, who handled mastering from 24-bit/88.2kHz digital files. The music has crackling impact and subtle shadings where they're supposed to be, the realistic sound enhancing the joy of hearing the music. All 500 of each title were pressed on colorless vinyl at MPO in France, and they continue to show the attention to detail that has gone into Newvelle's entire catalogue. I am one of those people who reads liner notes and I want to give special praise to them here. They are terse and literate, steeped in the aesthetics of the music-making process -- just what I want to read about such high sonic art. The six LPs comprising Season Five are now
available and feature some choice lineups, including Elan Mehler and Dave Douglas playing
numbers each composed from poems or haikus. That will surely be a highlight, but then
everything from Newvelle is. |
