Rabble Without A Cause, January 1: unplayed gems from 2024
I feature music from 2024 that I didn’t play in 2024, including Spinifex, the Borderland Trio and others
I started as the host of Rabble Without A Cause at the end of January of last year. In the 11 months since I’ve tried to play as much new music as possible - but so much good music was released that there is a lot that I was not able to broadcast. This show will highlight some of my favourites of the year that I did not get a chance to play.
The show will start with Hill Collective, from Brighton in the United Kingdom. “Tonal Prophecy” was released in April. On their Bandcamp page they describe their music as "greatly inspired by the idiosyncrasies of Sun Ra, Art Ensemble of Chicago and Ornette Coleman."
We will also hear another large ensemble - The Jazz Passengers - from an album released in May. Recorded shortly before co-founder Curtis Fowlkes’ death in 2023, the album “Big Large” is a tribute to his memory. The Jazz Passengers’ musical style is described on the Bandcamp page for this release as a:
signature blend of avant-garde jazz, 80s funk, world music, and 20th-century classical, coupled with lyrical provocations that range from the wistful and tragic to the vaudevillian and absurd, … a snapshot of the frenetic, syncretic New York of yesteryear: a living memory, a yearning we all have for something just out of reach. The Jazz Passengers embody that same energy - the energy of a scene and style that they helped create, one that has left an indelible mark on the culture of the city they call home.
We will also hear another track from the April release from Alec Goldfarb, “Fire Lapping at the Creek”.
Skipping ahead to July, we will dip into “Wild Peacock in Transit” from the European group SORBD. Their name is the first letter of each musician’s last name:
Edith Steyer – Bb clarinet
Mia Dyberg - alto saxophone
Rieko Okuda – piano
Isabel Rößler – bass
Sofia Borges - drums, percussion
In the show we will also hear from the Amsterdam-based group Spinifex from their November release, “Undrilling the Hole”, and Tomasz Dabrowski and the Individual Beings from their March release on April records, “Better”.
This release from May, features Canadian Kris Davis on piano. We’ll hear one track - but the whole double-album is well worth a listen.
We will end the show with two solo piano pieces - the first from Fred Hersch and his release from April - “Silent, Listening” and the second from Sylvie Courvoisier and her October release, “To Be Other-wise”.
You can listen to the show live in Ottawa at 93.1 on the FM dial or on the internet at CKCUFM.com, at 11 p.m. on January 1st. The show will also be available for on demand streaming.
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