The trio's sound and approach have changed very little over the years. They've occasionally made records that do not use standards as the framework, starting instead from free improvisation -- including two astonishing recent ones, "Always Let Me Go" and "Inside Out," that seem to have been released in direct response to the short shrift given free jazz in Ken Burns' documentary "Jazz" -- but they're not that different in content from the standards records. It may take more energy, or simply a different kind of energy, to pull the music from the air rather than building it up from a familiar melody, but the goal, and the result, remain the same. "The Out-of-Towners" is different from what came before it only in that the trio is sounding progressively fleeter, as Jarrett slowly and methodically excises every hint of lugubriousness from his playing.
I'm no audiophile, but a special mention should be made of the recording quality here. This trio has released many live records over the years, and the sound has always been superb, as it is on all ECM recordings. But this may be the most beautifully recorded live album I've ever heard, with all the immediacy and clarity of sitting onstage with the trio.
"Sweet Pea," Altyrone Deno Brown, from "Eccentric Soul: The Bandit Label"
Numero Group, as readers of this column may recall, is the fledgling reissue label responsible for the Capsoul Records compilations that yielded Johnson, Hawkins, Tatum & Durr's "You Can't Blame Me," a song that generated a good deal of appreciative mail when I posted it earlier this year. Now they've dug up another obscure soul label, the Chicago-based Bandit Records. The label's story sounds like bad fiction: It was owned by Arrow Brown, a "rogue entrepreneur" who wrote and produced all the label's music, directing the operation from his house, which was part commune, part harem. One of the label's artists was Arrow's son, Altyrone Deno Brown, and his debut single "Sweet Pea," recorded in 1973 when the boy was 7 years old, is the crown jewel of this compilation. He has one of those surprisingly low, perpetually hoarse voices that some small children mysteriously have, and he sings with extraordinary intensity -- as well as a good deal of very un-childlike vibrato. It's borderline ridiculous, and very moving.
While there's nothing else quite as astounding as "Sweet Pea" on this disc, there are plenty of other beautiful songs. Arrow Brown was a competent though unexceptional composer, but under his control Bandit Records consistently turned out highly atmospheric tracks, with unpolished but passionate singers, and excellent, sometimes truly bizarre, production -- check out the almost "Pet Sounds"-like opening to "Another Day." Like other Numero Group releases, the CD is lovingly, beautifully packaged, with extensive liner notes. It can be purchased from the label's Web site. Salon Exclusive Free Download: "Sweet Pea"
"E. Is Stable," Menomena, from "I Am the Fun Blame Monster"
There are boatloads of "clever," "quirky" bands out there, and Menomena comes across as one of the "cleverest" and "quirkiest": Their debut record is packaged in the back of a flip book, its title is an anagram of "the first Menomena album," and most of it was recorded and sequenced using a computer program called Deeler, which was designed specifically for that purpose by a member of the band. Their music is full of unexpected juxtapositions and sudden shifts of tempo and mood, but it's all executed so logically, and with such pinpoint accuracy, that the songs never feel as scattered as they should. And the band can work with an impressive economy of means: "E. Is Stable" is built from a guitar loop, a bass line, a heavy drum groove, an occasionally shifting but largely static piano part, and a simple two-phrase vocal melody sung in a tortured emo-ish voice, and with some touching, wistful lyrics: "Your hands used to work miracles/ Skin on skin, I blush/ Your hands used to work miracles/ For me alone." Free Download: "E. Is Stable"
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