2007, Year in Review

As the calendar quickly runs out of days, time again to look back over the year just passed. As for the sheer numbers, I caught nearly 400 films this year, listened to somewhere around 550 new CDs, saw around 200 shows. And now for the bests of the batch:

Top 10 Jazz CDs
My list for the Citypaper with small write-ups for each is here, but the quick list run-down is:
1. Maria Schneider Orchestra - Sky Blue (artistShare)
2. Chris Potter Underground - Follow the Red Line: Live at the Village Vanguard (Sunnyside)
3. Human Feel - Galore (Skirl)
4. Theo Bleckmann/Ben Monder - At Night (Songlines)
5. Nels Cline Singers - Draw Breath (CryptoGramphone)
6. David Torn - Prezens (ECM)
7. Amir ElSaffar - Two Rivers (Pi Recordings)
8. Exploding Star Orchestra - We’re All From Somewhere Else (Thrill Jockey)
9. Michael Brecker - Pilgrimage (Heads Up)
10. David Murray Black Saint Quartet - Sacred Ground (Justin Time)

Top 10 Non-Jazz CDs
This is my list for Citypaper's BOTY rock/pop list, and is pretty unsatisfactory, but it turns out I missed hearing quite a bit outside the jazz world this year. Anyway, here's the list, one of which I'll be writing a little blurb for in next week's CP Top 21 list:

1. Battles - Mirrored (Warp)
2. Tin Hat - The Sad Machinery of Spring (Hannibal)
3. EL-P - I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead (Def Jux)
4. Big Business - Here Come the Waterworks (Hydra Head)
5. Dirty Projectors - Rise Above (Dead Oceans)
6. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - In Glorious Times (The End)
7. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha (Fat Possum)
8. Dalek - Abandoned Language (Ipecac)
9. Pelican - City of Echoes (Hydra Head)
10. Illuminea - Out of Our Mouths (High Two)

Top 10 Films
This is exclusive to the blog, as is the following list of shows. For films, I'm sticking to things that opened in Philly in 2007 for qualifications; hence the Tsai Ming-Liang, which I didn't get to see until this year's Philly Film Fest. And I've seen There Will Be Blood, which would be on the list except it doesn't open here until January, so check back in a year:

1. I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (Tsai Ming-Liang)
2. The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik)
3. I'm Not There (Todd Haynes)
4. No Country For Old Men (Joel & Ethan Coen)
5. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Julian Schnabel)
6. Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg)
7. Zodiac (David Fincher)
8. Paprika (Satoshi Kon)
9. The Host (Bong Joon-Ho)
10. Superbad (Greg Mottola)

Performances of the Year
Screw the 10s. These were all great. In chronological order:
2/9: Chris Potter Underground @ Chris' Jazz Cafe
2/10: Rova::Orkestrova @ Intl House
3/4: Borbetomagus @ Intl House
3/26: ICP Orchestra @ Houston Hall
4/1: PIMA Group: What a Quaint Scene We Were That Night @ CEC
4/24: Buffalo Collision @ Rose Recital Hall
5/5: Gene Coleman & Jack Wright @ The Rotunda
6/10: Big Four @ Rose Recital Hall
6/29: Fred Lonberg Holm's Valentine Trio/Louis Moholo & Marshall Allen @ Intl House
7/21: The Melvins (performing Lysol) @ Slim's, San Francisco
9/13: Ellery Eskelin/Vincent Courtois/Sylvie Courvoisier @ Rose Recital Hall
9/20: Joelle Leandre/Globe Unity Orchestra @ Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial Ctr
9/20: David Murray & Kidd Jordan's All-Stars @ Creole, NYC
10/11: Claudia Quintet @ Philadelphia Art Alliance
11/17: Tiger Okoshi @ Kimmel Center
12/17: Angelica Sanchez Quartet w/ Marc Ducret @ Intl House

With honorable and, yes, very nostalgic mention going to Van Halen, 10/3 at the Wachovia Center. Might as well jump.

Happy new year, I'll try and keep the rest of the month updated but if not, see you in '08.
Shaun

Citypaper, December 20

In this week's CP: my top ten list of the year's best jazz CDs (more best lists to follow shortly in a subsequent post); a feature review of Tamara Jenkins' long-awaited sophomore feature, The Savages, and a short review of Tim Burton's adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd; and a pick for the sax/bass duo of Ivo Perelman and Dominic Duval.

Daily News, December 14

For the weekend's Yo! section, an interview with Philly native and Trane disciple Sonny Fortune; and a pick for bassist Hubert Dupont's Dupont T trio plus altoist Rudresh Mahanthappa, at the Art Museum.

Metro, December 10-17

This week, an interview with John Zak, half the cast of the Walnut Independence Studio on 3's production of "Greater Tuna"; a piece on the Whirling Dervishes of Istanbul, at the Annenberg Center (issue not online); and, just because it's the last piece before the holiday so why bother giving it its own post, a piece on Relache's annual Rittenhouse Square performance of Phil Kline's "Unsilent Night" (credited to Brendan Huffman, but I swear I wrote it).

Citypaper, December 13

In this week's CP, a review of the better-than-expected Jason Reitman dramedy Juno, and another for the not-quite-as-bad-as-expected-but-still-sure-as-hell-not-good (despite-Mike-Patton-voicing-the-monsters) I Am Legend; my interview with pianist/Wurlitzer player Angelica Sanchez, who just played a pretty phenomenal show with Tony Malaby, Drew Gress, Tom Rainey and Marc Ducret; and a pick for the Norwegian double-bill of Huntsville and Frode Gjerstad, a somewhat underwhelming show in the end.

Daily News, Nov. 30-Dec. 7

The first week of December saw my interview with Toronto saxophonist Jane Bunnett, brining her Cuban-influenced band to the Kimmel; a pick for singer Andy Bey and another for Uri Caine, bringing his Mozart project to the Gershman Y.

Metro, December 3-7

In this week's Metro, an interview with actor/singer/lecturer/raconteur/folk music preservationist/what else ya got?/all-around artist Theodore Bikel; a story on Dave Isay and his StoryCorps oral history project; and a piece on Philly-based "Jewish Sun Ra" band Klingon Klez.

Citypaper, December 6

This week's issue had a review of Ridley Scott's new "This is the last time, I really, really mean it" Blade Runner: The Final Cut; a feature on the Brit morbid-cabaret act The Tiger Lilllies about their "Suicide for Christmas" tour; a pick for Chicago improv supergroup The Engines; a Soundadvice mention for the Dirty Projectors; and an Arts pick for David Kessler's Bambi Gallery installation, "Shadow World", featuring his interviews with under-the-El dwellers in North Philly.

Daily News, November

The end of October had a piece with interview of Chinese-American pipa player Min Xiao-Fen and Japanese-American trumpeter Tiger Okoshi, both of whom hit town in November with projects that fused jazz and traditional Asian music; an interview with pianist Fred Hersch, playing the Painted Bride with his Trio +2; Lisa Thorson's JazzArtSigns, a performance with live painting, sign language, and audio description for full accessibility, as part of the Independence Starts Here fest; and an interview with South Philly guitar legend Pat Martino, playing at Chris' with saxist Eric Alexander.

Metro, November

Not nearly as busy as last month, November's Metros had: interviews with two horror-metal bands to wrap up October - Finnish monster-rockers Lordi and Brit death-metal ghouls Cradle of Filth; a piece on the Amaryllis Theatre Company's production of "Molly Sweeney"; an interview with German cabaret revivalist Max Raabe (which doesn't appear to be online); a piece on the opera-performing puppets of the Salzburg Marionettes; a story about the Martha Graham Dance Company's career-retrospective show coming to Philly; a piece on the feminist-gorillas Guerrilla Girls, which I can't seem to find and may or may not have run; a piece on I-House's Shohei Imamura retrospective; one on the Philly-based Courtyard Dancers, which isn't online; an interview with Senagalese superstar Youssou N'Dour; and a story on the Rosenbach Museum and Library's new Maurice Sendak gallery, kicking off with an exhibition devoted to "Really Rosie", Sendak's musical-TV collaboration with Carole King.

Citypaper, November

Another month - ok, month and a half - another postless stretch. So I'll do another batch of month-long roundups for each paper and we'll see what happens with December. New Year's Resolution to post more often, maybe?

Nov.1: A review of Sidney Lumet's latest, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, and another for the doc My Kid Could Paint That; an Arts pick for "Got the Picture?", a First Person Fest event screening David Kessler's doc If You Break the Skin, You Must Come In, about Philly photog Zoe Strauss, in conjunction with a local youth program. And five CP Choice Awards, for Joseph Gervasi, Dustin Hurt, WRTI's Friday night DJs, Mascher Space Co-op, and Bobby Zankel.

Nov. 8: A film review for the tepid biopic Music Within, and an Arts pick for First Person's screening of Strange Culture, a doc on PATRIOT Act casualty Steven Kurtz.

Nov. 15: A review of John Turturro's train-wreck of a blue-collar musical, Romance and Cigarettes, and another for Justin Lin's Bruce Lee mockumentary Finishing the Game. Plus a Q&A with West Philadelphia Orchestra honcho Gregg Mervine.

Nov. 22: Two film reviews for Thanksgiving weekend: one for Noah Baumbach's latest gathering of miserable intellectuals, Margot at the Wedding; and another for the media-spin doc War Made Easy.

Nov. 29: A review for Rape of Europa, a fascinating doc on the Nazi's hordes of stolen art; and a sidebar review of Daydream Nation, a collection of Swedish animated shorts and music videos; an interview with Steven Bernstein prior to his visit with Sex Mob; and an Arts pick for photographer Michael Grecco, in town to promote his book Naked Ambition, full of up-close-and-personal portraits of porn personalities.