Where 2007 was my love-affair year with free jazz, 2008 saw my affections turn to extreme metal in all its varied forms. The sad departure of Transparent Productions meant a dearth of interesting avant-garde jazz in the District, and I replaced concertgoing expeditions to Sangha (RIP) and Twins Jazz with rather different expeditions to places like Jaxx and various smaller venues booking the more underground kinds of metal. My passion for music tracks closely with what I’m seeing in the live setting, so it makes sense that my 2008 list is dominated by the heavy, evil stuff. (My friends—and especially housemates—didn’t appreciate this so much.)

Be it metal, jazz, electronic music, free improvisation, or whatever, I’ve been convinced for a few years now that, industry woes aside, we’re living in a renaissance period with fascinating new music being made at an unprecedented clip. Granted, I have absolutely no empirical basis for this claim, but I present the following 10 recordings as examples of the freshness of today’s music-making scene…

1. One With Filth, Crowpath (Willowtip)
Pundits can quibble over whether or not “avant-garde metal� is really avant-garde in any meaningful sense, but the latest album from Swedish band Crowpath is an undeniably experimental and edgy slab of death metal. Compared to the band’s two earlier releases, it’s downright catchy and accessible, striking a perfect balance between challenging and immediately rewarding, but it’s still impossibly punishing. “Thinking man’s metal� is an overused phrase and too often refers to dry exercises in technicality, but it’s a perfect term for this recording.

Crowpath, “Cleansed In Chlorine”:

2. Doombringer, Nasum (Relapse)
A more than welcome posthumous live release from these grindcore greats. Although Doombringer clocks in at a mere 23 minutes, the 16 tracks here are meatier than most albums twice the length or more. Brutal and unrelenting from start to finish, like getting punched in the face repeatedly, by a guy wearing spiked brass knuckles. You know, if you’re into that kind of thing.

Nasum, “Inhale/Exhale”:

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Some forms of political protest are beneath contempt, and one of them is sporting–sans a shred of irony–a Che Guevara T-shirt. Yet most Che-sporting hipsters don’t know that Guevara opposed art forms that carried the taint of “imperialism”–including jazz and rock music. (Uninformed hipsters? Surprise!) My colleagues at Reason produced an eye-opening video about Paquito D’Rivera, the Cuban jazz clarinetist who immigrated to the U.S. because the Cuban regime was so anti-jazz (those who stayed behind had to hide their LPs or face arbitrary confiscations).

Freddie Hubbard, 70, arguably the most important jazz trumpeter after 1960, suffered heart failure and collapsed last Sunday, December 1 at his home in Sherman Oaks, California. He has since been in the Intensive Care Unit at Sherman Oaks hospital where, as of Friday, he remained in a coma.

“He is being worked on to revive certain organs’ function,” says Ricky Schultz, a jazz marketing executive in Los Angeles. “I’m told there were some encouraging signs but his condition remains critical.”

Hubbard was in the midst of a renaissance of sorts; after an infection damaged his lip in 1992, his playing has been infrequent and uneven, and a series of health and financial problems had further sidelined him. This summer, however, had seen the release of a CD recorded with the New Jazz Composers Octet, On the Real Side, which created renewed attention in the legendary trumpeter (and cover stories in both major jazz magazines, JazzTimes and Down Beat).

Hang in there, Freddie.

Butch Warren in action. Uploaded by YouTube user radiokingz.

Local bass player Butch Warren is not just a tenured townie and a pickup musician, he’s one of the most celebrated bass players in the history of jazz.

Born in the District, Warren starting gigging around town in his teens, playing local establishments like the Howard Theater and Bohemian Caverns. When he moved to New York at 19, his career took off. In a lengthy 2006 feature, the Post’s Marc Fisher wrote:

“His steady, unobtrusive rhythm and classy, unshowy solos made him the perfect studio musician. His playing had just enough of the blues and just enough bop adventure to make him enticing to leading musicians.”

Warren became the Blue Note Records house bassist, recording and performing with some of jazz’s biggest names: Thelonious Monk, Herbie Hancock, Sonny Clark, to name a few.

Not long ago, Warren was living at Springfield Hospital in Sykesville, Md., where he was treated for drug addition and mental illness. Today, at 69, Warren is back on the club circuit. He’s been playing under the Butch Warren Experience at Columbia Station in Adams Morgan for over a year, and he frequents other 18th Street clubs, including Tryst. The next time you see Butch Warren play, he’ll be driving his bass lines on a new bass, thanks to a handful of really nice people, Marc Fisher reports.

“In gratitude for Warren’s transformative art, his fans and friends have raised the money to deliver him a performance-quality bass, and they deserve to start off my annual list of thank-yous … “

Giving back to a D.C. jazz musician who became a signature part of some of the most breakthrough recordings in jazz music is both a celebration of Warren’s incredible prowess and the city that raised him.

Jazz Guru Tom Porter just called. He wants to let Black Plastic Bag and our readers know that his next vinyl sale has been moved from this Saturday to this Sunday. “It’s jazz, jazz, jazz, Brazilian, Latin, Hip Hop, R and B, Funk, and classical,” Porter says. “It’s not the stuff that was out last week. It’s going to be at least 500 new pieces.”

The prices range from $1 and up. Porter’s going to try and keep the prices $5 to $10 max. He’ll have some Blue Note LPs! What artists? “That’s too hard,” Porter says. “I’m just going through my collection and pulling stuff out. It will be something for everybody.”

Location: 1453 Chapin Street (backyard).
Time: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Date: Sunday not Saturday. “I need more time to get ready,” Porter says.

This past weekend, Local Legend Tom Porter held a massive vinyl sale in his backyard. We hyped it.

Some of you complained that you missed out. Today, we are glad to report that Tom Porter is hosting another vinyl sale in his Chapin Street backyard (1435 Chapin Street NW). The sale will be on Saturday. We will have more details on this soon.