24-24 Things Pt. 1

Some 2024 duets, diaphanous dub techno, Malian koras, Angeleno harps, Japanese trumpets, and the feeling of nothing in your pocket

There was a time (I would say “in my early career,” but that doesn’t seem to adequately explain what I’ve done with my adult life) when I relished making a year-end list. I grew up with them and considered myself a student of them, seeing where my tastes aligned with friends and colleagues, what breadcrumb trails and clues to follow towards unknown new aural vistas. I agonized over Pazz & Jop ballots back in the ‘00s, same for those Pitchfork EOY rollouts, but somewhere along the way, that interest waned. There appeared to be a disconnect between music that felt deeply meaningful to me in my life and the music that I otherwise thought important, with no good way to bring the two closer.

Which is a long way to say that ºdespite listening to it thousands of times more than anything else– Chappell Roan won’t appear here, though you can guarantee every subsequent car drive will still have “Good Luck Babe” and “Pink Pony Club” ad nauseam.

But I felt that between writing on the Substack and doing a monthly show at The Lot Radio, then burning a CDR (yep, I still make those) of monthly mixes, then listening some more in the car, I wound up hanging with an album a little bit longer than in years prior. Buying way less music meant really having to spend time with the things I did purchase, and over the course of a year, there was a through-line of sorts. So I went back and re-visited some things and assembled a list of new things I loved, old things I learned about this year, as well as new things I didn’t love per se, but liked plenty. Not numerically ranked, but maybe each part has a shared center of gravity.

Part 1

Ballaké Sissoko & Derek Gripper - Ballaké Sissoko & Derek Gripper
In 1977, the griot Foday Musa Suso emigrated from The Gambia to the United States, setting up in Chicago, where he soon integrated into a wide array of settings. His nimble kora slotted well with the early ethno-jazz group Mandingo Griot Society, but he was just as adept amid the boxy electrofunk productions of Bill Laswell on Watto Sitta. In duet with Herbie Hancock on 1985’s Village Life, the 21 strings of his kora kept up with Hancock’s new-fangled synthesizer, the Yamaha DX-7, a stunning amalgam of the ancient and modern.

While Suso went to the west, fellow griot Djeli Mady Sissoko went east to Mali, funded by the government to be part of Mali’s national orchestra. When he passed in 1981, his son Ballaké Sissoko took his place in the ensemble, going on to high profile releases with fellow kora master, Toumani Diabaté. In the 21st century, Sissoko continues to push at the parameters of where his native instrument might go. In late 2022, Sissoko entered a London studio with South African classical guitarist Derek Gripper for a quick three-hour session. Ballaké Sissoko & Derek Gripper is what emerged. Its closest comparison no doubt would be Diabaté’s own iconic duo with guitarist Ali Farka Touré, as heard on 2005’s In The Heart Of The Moon or 2010’s Ali and Toumani.

But whereas that duo was always mindful to keep their ancestral roots at hand and lay down a foundation for the other to take flight, Sissoko and Gripper put aside such formalities. In Gripper –who has previously transcribed kora music for solo guitar and these days releases Bach cello suites for guitar– Sissoko has a foil who can range widely but also instantly engage. Gripper is able to not only find common ground but then spring off of that into a quest for something more thrilling and not-quite determined. The give-and-take here is so fascinating that I imagine that even their conversation over tea would be equally listenable.

Amina Claudine Myers & Wadada Leo Smith - Central Park's Mosaics Of Reservoir, Lake, Paths And Gardens
I walk through Central Park roughly 3-4 times a week. And while I never quite mapped it out, this long-awaited duo between two august legends still in our midsts did not disappoint. I listened most to “Conservatory Gardens” in springtime, a spacious piece that would get camouflaged by park air ambience. I just attended a tree-lighting at the Harlem Meer and there’s a quality to the winter light in Central Park at sunset now that really makes me want to cue up “Central Park at Sunset” next time I take another winding path through the park.