For These Musicians, There Is No Continental Divide

****

VIJAY IYER

“Panoptic Modes”

Red Giant

With each year, jazz increasingly becomes an international music, and pianist Iyer’s release dramatically underscores the point. Leading a one-of-a-kind quartet, Iyer--whose heritage is Indian--orchestrates a heady mix of jazz improvisation, traditional Indian scales and elements of Western classical composition. The result is a music so rhythmically gripping and harmonically provocative that one hardly can wait to hear what outlandish idea these players will hit upon next. On most tracks, Iyer’s vast waves of keyboard sounds inspire alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa, whose heaven-storming, post-Coltrane blasts show more discipline and clarity than ever before. Although Iyer’s bands have tended to ramble in concert, this recording captures the unit at its best, digging deeply into the musical terrain where multiple ethnic styles converge. But even apart from its stylistic breakthroughs, “Panoptic Modes” offers a sensuousness of sound and vividness of performances that will seduce even the casual listener.

***1/2

GORAN IVANOVIC

& FAREED HAQUE

“Macedonian Blues: Laments and Dances”

Proteus

Although the music on this extraordinarily sensitive guitar-duo recording transcends genre, there’s no resisting its mix of American jazz, acoustic blues, flamenco rhythm and Macedonian melody. Only two guitarists on the planet would come up with such a concoction, but Ivanovic and Haque (whose roots run to Yugoslavia and South Asia, respectively) play as if they’re speaking the same musical language. Some listeners might be tempted to consign any recording as genteel as this to background music, but that would mean missing the puckish stop-start rhythms of “Kalajdzisko Oro,” the mystical ambience of “Gajdarsko Oro” and the free-form expressions of “Improv.” Those who have heard the duo in concert probably will conclude that no recording could capture fully the sparks that fly between these two virtuosos. But this disc at least documents the distinctly cross-continental flavor of their restlessly innovative work.

***1/2

LONNIE PLAXICO

“Melange”

Blue Note

Although best known as the bassist for singer Cassandra Wilson, Plaxico has been recording under his own name for years, and this release easily ranks among his best. Hard-hitting and rhythmically aggressive, Plaxico’s ensemble nimbly reflects its leader’s musical ideals, which emphasize compact riffs, up-tempo dance rhythms and relentlessly driving backbeats. But the band would not be nearly so effective if it weren’t for the cohesiveness and urgency of Plaxico’s original compositions, each of which zeroes in on a particular rhythmic motif or melodic hook and develops it in ingenious ways. Although “Melange” lives up to its title, drawing on a range of musical influences (from Latin dance beats to hard-bop improvisation), the recording proves consistently well focused, the music-making practically surging from one track to the next. Moreover, Plaxico presides over uncommonly tight ensemble playing, with bracing sounds from trumpeters Lew Soloff and Jeremy Pelt, reed players Tim Ries and Marcus Strickland, and percussionist Jeffrey Haynes, among others. With “Melange,” Plaxico steps forward as a first-rate bandleader in his own right.

***

ERWIN HELFER

“I’m Not Hungry but I Like to Eat Blues”

The Sirens

Top-notch, historically informed boogie-woogie playing is hard to come by these days, but pianist Helfer eloquently represents the genre on this generally ebullient recording. The unstoppable rhythmic momentum he gathers on Pete Johnson’s “Swanee River Boogie” and the remarkable clarity he achieves on Rufus Perryman’s “Dirty Dozens” represent boogie-woogie pianism at its most finely wrought. Even ardent fans of this music, however, need respite from its perpetually charging rhythms, which is why Helfer wisely inserts contrasting fare.

*

Howard Reich is jazz critic at the Chicago Tribune, a Tribune company.