The Bad Plus: 00s Most Important Albums

 Album: The Bad Plus: These Are the Vistas

Composition: An enjoyable and proficient modern jazz album. It doesn’t have the smoothness and welcome familiarity of classic jazz but does not misstep into overly eccentric avant-garde jazz that tries too hard to be different.

Performance: Well executed.

Lyrics: None; the spatially perplexing title not withstanding.

Impact on the music world: I would think that this propelled jazz into a “relevant” space for an audience they was not ready to engage older jazz. A helpful addition.

Timeless or rooted in the decade: I lean toward timelessness for this album. I’m not sure how the landscape of jazz will change in the coming decades but this sounds like a chapter in the book of jazz history.

Arcade Fire, 00s most important recordings

 Arcade Fire: Funeral

Composition: A thoroughly enjoyable progressive rock feel with little hesitation for experimentation and digital effects.

Performance: The vocal performance is offered with a slight affectedness which becomes a trademark for the band. If you lost that voice you would lose the essence of the band. The vocals are slightly reminiscent of Modest Mouse.

Lyrics: Fairly typical rock lyrics with a bit of angst. Nothing to complain about and nothing to sit in awe about.

Impact on the music world: This is a classic sound of 00s rock. I’m not sure if it was the first but it carries the trend.

Timeless or rooted in the decade: I think this will always be an album to which you could listen and think, “this is a good 00s album.”

00s Most Important Albums

Last year I listened through the Rolling Stone 100 best albums of the 90s. Going a different tack this year, I am listening to the 50 most important albums of the 00s as listed by NPR. I will post my thoughts as I listen in alphabetical order. 

Here is the first album:

John Adams: On The Transmigration Of Souls

Adams was commissioned to write a piece commemorating the 1 year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.  

Composition: A haunting and affecting arrangement. a mix of ambient influenced sounds, choral voices, and classical instrumentation.

Performance: Well executed and effectively portrayed the haunting arrangement. 

Lyrics: Names of the dead or messages and memories of the surviors are used throughout the piece to powerfully evoke the feelings around 9/11.

Impact on the world: A fitting musical dedication to the victims of the 9/11 tragedy  

Timeless or rooted in the decade: As a commissioned memorial this is timeless. It is designed to point to an event of the decade but I think it will be known for a long time. 

Among Mountains

Music has a sense of place. The ability to create a landscape and environment. Sometimes recognized. Sometimes foreign and new. It uses sound and rhythm the way wine uses smell and taste to point to a land or country. 

I had the pleasure of enjoying the opening night of the Oregon Symphony’s 2016 season. They commissioned a piece, for their 160th anniversary, from Chris Rogerson. He put together a soaring piece dedicated to the Pacific Northwest: Among Mountains. 

From the first notes I was surrounded by the grandeur of the Pacific Northwest. The strings created a vision of the evergreen forests draped in thick fog. It almost had a cinematic feel to it—as though we had the point of view of an aerial camera flying over the dense Cascade forests in the early morning dew. 

And then the brass… they soared into the music like Mt. Hood flies above the clouds. They were majestic and inspiring. My heart was stirred, picturing the land I love and being all the more reminded of it by such beautiful music. 

I had never heard the piece before but it took me straight to a place I treasure. Music does that. It was no surprise that the crowd erupted in applause and took to their feet. A music hall of spectators were all transported to the same place. They recognized it and they marveled.