The Runners-Up

This is where I devote a few column inches to the also-rans, as well as one record that I narrowly missed in 2006, but which would almost certainly have appeared near the top of my Jazz/Improv/Etc. list.

First, the list of things that received consideration for the Rock/Pop list, but which eventually missed the cut, included: the Drive-By Truckers; Yo La Tengo; Sonic Youth; Junior Boys; Bob Dylan; Howe Gelb’s country-gospel mash-up; The Thermals’ fundamentalist concept record; any of about a half dozen remixes of JT’s “My Love” (Miss Imperial and I spent a few minutes on New Years Eve discussing the peculiar way in which the quality of said remixes gave us an appreciation for the original which had been absent upon first hearing); and finally, DJ Spooky’s Trojan vault-raiding exploits. There’re probably a few more that I’m not thinking of right now, but that’ll do. And no, Dwayne, still no TV on the Radio.

As for that other record, the one that’s rocking my socks right now and which might’ve nosed into the second spot (thereby displacing #10, Bobby Previte) on my J/I/E list, it’s yet another project featuring the irreplaceable and insanely prolific Ken Vandermark…

Bridge 61, Journal (Atavistic)
Bridge 61 is Vandermark on reeds, Jason Stein on bass clarinet, Nate McBride on basses electric and acoustic, and Tim Daisy (also of Dragons 1976) on drums. By virtue of the presence of Vandermark’s baritone sax, this record rocks harder and lower than any record has a right to. And when that baritone mixes voices with McBride’s dirty electric bass, the result is righteous and sweaty.