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"Mariposita" - Miriam Elhaji, from *Brand New Mexican* (2023)
https://miriamelhajli.bandcamp.com/track/mariposita
I don't know where I found this album but it was an absolute ride, lol, a capture of some lo-fi live musical performances with a dose of performance art thrown in? But amidst noise-making and live banter and random field recordings, it has a number of quite lovely folk-ish tunes like this one. "Mariposita" is the absolute standout, haunting, with everything in its right place. It sounds like an impossible longing, a longing that cannot be resolved -- a longing across all manners of distance. It's also devastatingly simple, with no more than two vocals and two guitars and an impossible-to-forget melody. Its repetitive quality, like a mantra, has had me putting it on repeat quite a few times. Every time I think of it, I want to hear it again, and that turns into again, and again...
"Isfahan" - Duke Ellington, from *Far East Suite* (1967)
https://youtu.be/wXm-6sPDCm0
I hit a Duke patch every few years and apparently my 2024 round is coming up. I have so many thoughts about Duke Ellington, esp. how our justified love for the more obvious rebel-innovators like Miles and Coltrane and Monk and Mingus overshadows and distorts our appreciation for Duke. But honestly, this is just a fun album with a lot of highs and very few lows. This tune could/should be listed among his best ballads -- it hits that swooning, lilting, floating quality that is just everything. It is cleaning up deeply content after a late night with friends, it sings romance, it sparkles like the starry night that suspends all worries, if just for a bit.
"Strings" - Thomas Johansson, Scheen Jazzorkester & Cortex, from *Frameworks* (2024)
https://cleanfeedrecords.bandcamp.com/track/strings
Let's play some mostly unstructured, fragmented music, everyone in the jazz orchestra doing their own thing. Then, at the right time, let's layer a melodic refrain on top, first by a sax, then by a whole brass ensemble. Then rinse and repeat several times - less structure, refrain, less structure, refrain - with some variation in the tune but enough to keep it recognizable. Over time, a koan emerges: Is the melody carrying the free sounds, through both presence and absence? Or is it the other way around? Wait, is that unstructured stuff nearly as unstructured as it seemed --- or did it seem unstructured because we didn't yet know the tune, the order of things? Or if we do it right, maybe the questions stop altogether and we just start humming along. Ok, everyone on board? 3, 2, 1...
-thebigfunk
~ i could still snort you under the table ~
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