October 20, 2022

Album Review: Brian Harnetty- Words and Silences

October 20, 2022

In recent months the ways in which my approach to life changed during the pandemic have begun to come into focus. Trying to make sense of the days remaining to me as I attempt to develop a better understanding of God outweighs other obligations that once seemed so important.

Encountering The Seven Story Mountain in 2021 played a role in changing my priorities. Thomas Merton’s autobiographical account of his dramatic spiritual transformation inspired me.

Naturally, I was drawn to Words and Silences, an unusual new project overseen by Ohio composer Brian Harnetty. While living on the grounds of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky in 1967, Merton recorded his musings on topics including God, philosophy, music and current events. Here’s a visual representation of the opening track “Sound of an Unperplexed Wren.”

Harnetty sets snippets of Merton’s spoken meditations to wistful chamber music. I initially thought Harnetty’s accompaniment was too genteel. I’ve since come to believe the fragile sounds perfectly reflect the ineluctable sadness of mortality voiced by Merton.

Not all of Words and Silences is heavy. Merton documents a “New Year's Eve party of one” as he spins records by jazz artists including Mary Lou Williams. His humanity- as well as Harnetty’s sympathetic enhancements- gives me courage. At one point Merton wonders “who am I who sit here? It’s very difficult to say.” Amen, brother.

William Brownlee

July 3, 2022

Album Review: Moor Mother- Jazz Codes

William Brownlee

July 3, 2022

On “Easyjet,” a brief skit placed in the middle of 700 Bliss’s 2022 album Nothing to Declare, DJ Haram and Moor Mother mock the spoken word artist’s vitriolic persona: “who wants to hear that sh*t?… Moor Mother’s all like ‘blah blah blah blah blah blah’… is this even music?”

The bit is hilarious in part because Moor Mother is susceptible to accusations of being noisy for the sake of noise. And her rage has occasionally lacked focus. Yet she’s completely on point on the melodic new album Jazz Codes. In reclaiming the notion of jazz as a revolutionary sound of freedom, Moor Mother crafted a vital work of art. Rejecting polite supper club sounds and the associated cultural appropriation of the form, she insists jazz belongs on riot-torn streets.

Two of the best tracks celebrate the religious faith of Mary Lou Williams and memorialize the ill-fated trumpeter Woody Shaw. Yet Jazz Codes isn’t nostalgic. Homages to the likes of John Coltrane, Billie Holiday and Amina Claudine Myers are peppered with references to D’Angelo, Tupac Shakur and Kanye West. Jazz Codes affirms that Moor Mother has grown into an invaluable component of that musical continuum.

Jazz scholar Thomas Stanley makes a statement of purpose on the last selection: “ultimately, perhaps it is good that the people abandoned jazz- replaced it with musical products better suited for capitalism’s designs. Now jazz jumps up like Lazarus if we allow it, to rediscover itself as a living music.” Jazz Codes is capable of accelerating this welcome resurrection.

My enthusiasm comes with a caveat. I made a 300-mile round trip to see Moor Mother perform with Irreversible Entanglements in the midst of the pandemic. The band’s Open the Gates was my second-favorite album of 2021. And I featured Moor Mother’s Black Encyclopedia of the Air in the seventh episode of my In My Headache podcast. Jazz Codes is my presumptive top album of 2022, but less adventurous listeners might wonder if it’s “even music.”