Ryan Keberle & Catharsis : Music Is Connection-An Aural Wonder of Textures and Colors

Ryan Keberle & Catharsis: Music Is Connection :Alternate Side Records

The talented trombone player/composer Ryan Keberle has been on my watch list for quite some time, so when he and his group Catharsis releases a new album I make it my business to check out what these musicians are up to. This is the twelfth year that Catharsis has been making music as a group and this latest release Music is Connection is their sixth album. Leader Ryan Keberle is joined by members Peruvian bassist Joege Roeder, drummer Eric Doob who originally hails from Boston, the Chilean guitarist/singer Camile Meza, and since 2018 the multi-reed and brass player Scott Robinson who makes a guest appearance on this album.

The Keberle family was originally from Bloomington, Indiana before his family relocated to Spokane, Washington where Ryan was raised. His father Dan was a professor of classical and jazz trumpet and a Director of the Jazz studies program  for thirty four years at Whitworth University. Ryan's mother taught piano and was a  choir director at their church. With such strong musical genes, Keberle took classical violin and piano lessons before he became inspired by the powerful horn-based sound of the rock/jazz groups of the late nineteen-sixties like Blood Sweat and Tears, Tower of Power, and Chicago. He retained his piano work and took up the trombone as his main instrument while still in his teens. 

Keberle enrolled at Whitworth before transferring to pursue his music at Manhattan School of Music in 1999. There he studied with trombone ace Steve Turre and graduated in 2001. That year he was selected as Artistic Director of the newly formed  youth orchestra for the Jazz Classic Program of the New York Symphony, along with receiving a prestigious excellence award from his alma mater at MSM. In 2001 he did post graduate work as a selected artist to attend Julliard's then new Jazz Program. There he studied with talented trombonist Wycliffe Gordon and composition with David Berger and was one of the first students who graduated from the Julliard Jazz Program. As a student he help support himself playing mostly piano as a professional. As a trombone player, he soon became a sought after session member of many a prestigious orchestra including David Berger's Orchestra, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and the Maria Schneider Orchestra.

Ryan Keberle (photo credit unknown)

As an artist, Keberle has continued to find diverse projects to stimulate his expressive psyche. Besides forming Catharsis in 2012, he also formed a chamber jazz ensemble Reverso with French pianist  Frank Woeste and French cellist Vincent Courtois and either Greg Hutchinson or Jeff Ballard on drums. Reverso has since released five gorgeous, often classically inspired albums that have received rightful  acclaim. Because of his love of Brazilian music, especially the Música Popular Brasileira, Keberle took a sabbatical in Brazil in 2017 to immerse himself in the style, culture and nuances of this vibrant music. That year he formed and recorded with his Colletiv da Brasil group and released two well received albums Sonhos da Esquina and Considerando.

Catharsis is perhaps the most exploratory of the trombonist's groups and Music is Connection is another theme based album that continues Kerberle and partner's  expansive vision. There is something special about the tapestries these talented and intuitive musicians create with the trombone, keyboard and voice sounds of Keberle, the guitar and voice inventiveness of Meza, the elastic and probing bass of Roeder, the expressive trumpet of now departed Michael Rodriguez, and the propulsive percussive drive that Doob skillfully supplies. These guys have a cellular connection that is nothing short of marvelous. The addition of guest multi-reedist Scott Robinson just adds another layer of colors and textures available to this very exciting group sound.

Whether they are exploring the connections between music and our feelings with their original piano-less, two-horn format on Music is Emotion, or are challenging our comfort level with their hopeful, politically oriented ideas and lush  orchestrations on Find the Light, Shine a Light  Catharsis is operating on a level of creativity that few groups reach.  

Camile Meza, Ryan Keberle and Scott Robinson (photo credit unknown)

Music is Emotion opens with Keberle's  "Throwback Moves" a reimagined song originally heard on the groups take from the 2013 debut album. Here we find a  penetrating electric guitar solo by Meza, synchronized bass and powerful drum work by Roeder and Doob and some entrancing synchronous playing of Meza's marvelous voice and Keberle's in step keyboards. There is a feeling of music as portal into dance in the way these guys play with such foot moving vibrancy and drive. 

"Sound Energy" is slow ballad that combines electric guitar accents with keyboard lines before Keberle's trombone enters the mix. Meza's voice as an instrument is a true gift and her communicative interaction with Keberle's voice or keyboard or trombone are telepathic. 

Meza brings her version of Chilean composer/singer/poet/teacher Victor Jara's "Lo Unico Que Tengo." She originally recorded this love song- in English "The Only Thing I Have"-on her 2013 album titled Prisma. On this version, besides her transcendent voice, we hear just how simpatico her voice and Keberle's trombone can be, beautifully complimenting each other's musical ideas in a aural conversation of intimacy and emotion.

Jorge Roeder brings an excitable, off to the races composition "Hammersparks" and the sparks are indeed flying. As Keberle wrote, Roeder provides an "insane bass line" that few can handle, but the Peruvian seems to shine. Doob has his hands full with this one, but he executes the maddening pace with propulsion and grace. Guitar and trombone trade bends and slurs and then meld lines with grace and style. 

"Key Adjustment" is another reprised Keberle composition from the debut album. The musician likes to revisit and reimagine his songs with different musical orchestrations and altered rhythms. Opening with a bass pedal point line, the guitar enters with a cascading of finger picked notes. The bass switches to a probing line that is accompanied by Doob's cadenced drum work. Keberle orchestrates the music with his large palette of sounds and textures. The guitar, the voices, trombone, bass, drums and keyboards all are all utilized with tremendous effect. 

Milton Nascimento's "Vera Cruz" is a bewitching composition that answers Keberle's endearment to Brazilian music. Meza's voice seems to have the flexibility, range and control that makes it a secret weapon, like Nascimento's falsetto, only with more warmth. Keberle offers a warm, melodic trombone solo.

"Sonic Living" is a musical commentary about how the new generation, through the impact of cell phones, musical videos and social media have lost the art of listening to music that is unattached to the images.  Careful uncluttered music listening today gets short shrift, scant attention, and Keberle is especially concerned as an educator how this trend can seriously effect negatively aspiring musicians. 

"Cycle" was a short song orchestrated by drummer Eric Doob. Through the use of overdubbing and post production electronic effects, the drummer creates a layered piece. Over a repeating piano riff, he adds multiple sounds and instrumentation- trombone, voices, drone electronics, bass and synthesizer swell, all melding into a choir-like chant.

Keberle's "Arbor Vitae" is the only piece on the album that adds the memorable sound of guest saxophonist Scott Robinson. His Getzian take on this samba-like composition is perfectly matched to the vibe of this song. His breezily fluid solo tenor work is  inventive, light and always a joy. Meza's voice inflections are light as a feather and Keberle and Robinson revel in their intuitive interplay. 

The last two pieces are "Shine Intro" a two minute guitar, trombone and cymbal  lead into the final composition "Shine" which is music inspired by the late French composer, the short-lived Lili Boulanger, who died at the age of twenty-four despite her rising star as a composing star that was being mentored by Ravel and Faure. The music features a ascending theme that brings in the ripping electric guitar work of Meza, the boisterous explosion of Keberle's trombone, the pulsing bass of Roeder and the percolating drums of Doob.

Music Is Emotion is an artful album that deftly uses sonic colors and textures, smart orchestrations, and excellent musicians to communicate that emotion can truly be found in beautiful music.

The Tomasz Stanko Quartet from a 2004 Concert in Munich, Germany: "September Night"

Tomasz Stanko Quartet: September Night: ECM Recorded Sept 2004

The Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko created his own approach to the sound of his instrument. Inspired by the Polish modern pianist and film scorer Krzysztof Komeda, the saxophonist Ornette Coleman and the American trumpeter Miles Davis' sparse approach to the trumpet. The more is less style allowed Stanko to add elements of drama, Slavic melancholy, sadness and a metaphysical, free-style sense of pain into his expressive music. He had a distinctive tone. There was never any doubt of who you were hearing when you listened to Tomasz Stanko. His music had an identity,  a tattoo-like imprimatur all his own. 

Tomasz Stanko was born on July 11, 1941 in the city of Rzeszów, Poland. He attended the State Higher Music School in Kraków, where he had a classical music education and studied violin, piano and trumpet. Despite his classical training, Stanko was attracted to the expression and freedom of jazz music. Following his muse, he founded a quartet with a fellow secondary school student and received some critical recognition. In 1963 at the age of twenty-one, Stanko was asked to join the quartet of the progressive and influential pianist Krzysztof Komeda. Komeda was renowned for his free approach to piano as well as his formidable film scoring talents. Komeda scored over forty films, including all of Roman Polanski's, from his first in 1958 to the last one being the score to Rosemary's Baby, before the pianist's untimely death due to an accident in 1968. Stanko's four year stint with Komeda was artistically expansive.

In 1973 Stanko became one of the early Polish musicians who embraced the use of electronics and experimented with synthetic sounds in music, but by the nineteen nineties the artist returned to his acoustical format. In 1980 Stanko released a solo album recorded at the Taj Mahal and the Buddhist Karla Caves in India. Besides his Polish musician based groups, in the eighties and beyond Stanko collaborated with a rainbow of jazz luminaries. These included bassists Dave Holland, Arild Andersen, Palle Danielsson, Thomas Morgan and Gary Peacock, multi-reedist John Surman and Tomasz Szukalski, pianists Cecil Taylor, David Virelles and Bobo Stensen, guitarists Terje Rypdal and Jakob Bro, drummers Jon Christensen, Gerald Cleaver and Tony Oxley, in various formations. In all these diverse combinations and as a solo artist it was always the frail humanity, the  and expressive emotion that came through so clearly from Stanko's plaintive horn.

Stanko's perceptive use of romanticism, melancholy, developed melodic patterns and his evocative trumpet tone provide the listener with a uniquely penetrating music that reaches the soul. 

            Tomasz Stanko photo credit John Broughton

Perhaps the most symbiotic group of the bunch was the quartet Stanko formed  in 1993 with then sixteen-year-old drummer Michal Miśkiewicz and his two friends pianist Marcin Wasilewski and bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz. This quartet was first  recorded work on the Stanko album Balladyne from 1994 on GOWI Records. The group became a working band for Stanko over the years and they released three other albums on ECM, Soul of Things (2002), Suspended Night (2004), and Lontano (2006) all studio albums.

The Tomasz Stanko Quartet ( photo credit unknown)

In June of this year, ECM decided to release September Night, a live recording from a Stanko and this quartet concert recorded in September 9, 2004 in Munich.  To any fan of Stanko and his music, it is certainly of interest to get a chance to look back and capture this soulful group in its most fluid situation, in front of a live an appreciative crowd. The album shows just how much this group had matured under the leadership of Stanko. Particularly noted is how much the quartet telepathically functioned with a heightened acuity to each other's ideas and responded accordingly.

The album has seven compositions six of which are by Stanko with only "Kaetano" credited to the group in total. The songs run from five and half minutes in length to almost eleven minutes. The opener "Hermento" starts with a pedal point bass line by Kurkiewicz as Stanko's searching horn enters the fray. Wasilewski's piano creates the barest of melodies upon which Miśkiewicz adds rolling percussive accents. Stanko creates the mood and you just find it enchanting.

"Song for Sarah" opens with Wasilewski's gentle piano lines that almost whisper out the melody. Stanko's horn has a film noir quality to it and the piano and trumpet dance with an elegant dialogue. Stanko goes silent as the trio show their own musical sympatico as a fully whole entity that can create their own beauty.  Stanko's plaintive horn always seems to bring a human voice-like quality to the music.

Kurkiewicz's plucky bass opens "Euforila" with tonally rich exploratory lines before he settles into a quick paced ostinato line that sets the music up for its throbbing pulse. Wasilewski and Miśkiewicz enter the swelling rhythm before Stanko's fluttering trumpet takes flight with repeating lines that raise the tension. Stanko and Wasilewski state a sparse melody before the pianist takes center stage with his own elastic solo that is beautiful and has elements of free jazz to it. Stanko's trumpet returns with his own sense of urgency to his horn as his backing trio create their own cauldron of excitement. Miśkiewicz finishes the composition with a roiling drum solo that leads to the group restating the brief melody at the coda.

Stanko's stark trumpet opens up "Elegant Piece" accompanied minimally by probing piano lines and roiling tom work. The music blooms into a beautifully  meandering trumpet stated melody. Stanko adds brief flutters, staggered stabs and piercing high register darts to low toned slurs create a tonal potpourri of aural delight that never losses it's elegance. Wasilewski's piano solo is particularly notable, filled with emotion, facility and harmonic creativity that is accented by uncanny angular sense of time and space. He plays his instrument with confidence and yet  chooses to never use speed or flair over expressiveness and taste. The music runs for over ten minutes and gives the team a real chance to stretch out within the concept of elegance and to demonstrate their individual strengths.

The group composed "Kaetano" and features a Latin-inspired rhythm that features a vibrant bass line by Kurkiewicz, some shimmering cymbal work by Miśkiewicz and a Wasilewski piano solo that bustles with inventiveness and melodicism. It's one of Stanko's most energetic and boisterous trumpet solos of the set. The group seems to be reveling in the vibe that they create.

"Celina" has Stanko stating the theme work with sensitive piano accompaniment and rolling tom work in the background. The trumpeter modulates back and forth establishing mood and tension. At the two minute thirty-four-second mark Kurkiewicz starts another ostinato bass line that builds under its own repetitive groove. Stanko's trumpet is like a clarion, an at times shrill warning  that can revert to an emotional gasp or a melancholic cry. Wasilewski's piano solo flows with a modernist approach that has a propulsion all its own, as the rhythm section maintains the heartbeat on the music. 

The final piece on the album is "Theatrical." The music develops like a theatrical story slowly, carefully building interest and being led into revelation. Stanko effectively utilizes changing rhythmic speeds to orchestrate his musical story. From a sauntering opening, the music is introduced as a simple melody with Stanko's trumpet leading the way. Suddenly, he blares a line that changes the pace abruptly. His trumpet erupts once again introducing another shift with shrieks and slurs slowly building the motion, increasing the pace, until he and his group again change direction. He returns to a slow descending pattern on his horn, a reduction of volume, intensity and pace that deflates, fading away to the disappearing coda.

Sadly, Tomasz Stanko transitioned from this world into the next on July 29, 2018, so we will no longer have this moving artist around to add to his musical canon, but it comforting to know that with retro releases like September Night we can continue to rediscover some previously unreleased music from this master. The trio of Wasilewski, Kurkiewicz, and Miśkiewicz continue on without him as a unit. They continue to grow on their own creative path but they will always be inspired by their association with their impressive mentor.

Is the World on Fire? Saxophonist Isaiah Collier and The Chosen Few Think So

Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few: The World Is On Fire Division 81 Records

The Chicago based saxophonist Isaiah Collier has made a powerful new album that highlights some of the tumultuous racial, social and political issues that this country has faced in the past decade. The album is titled The World is On Fire and was released in October of 2024. Events like the vigilante-like killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, the shooting of sixteen-year-old Ralph Yal in Missouri, the traumatizing killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and the upsetting events at the Capitol on January 6th were not just fodder for Collier and his Chosen Few group to create music. These guys memorialized these events by melding news clips, alarming street sounds and vivid commentaries with their own piercing, emotionally charged and plaintively expressed musical expressions. The music is both potent, brashly provocative and yet offers a feeling of hopefulness that cannot be denied. 

Collier’s tenor, alto and soprano work is attention grabbing. As the free jazz bassist William Parker said of saxophonist’s playing with own group, Collier’s playing is inspiring. There is certainly some lineage that can be clearly traced to some of the spiritual work of both John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, but this comparison is only a starting point for this expressive musician. His core group is comprised of the pianist Julian Davis Reid, the drummer Michael Skekwoaga Ode and the bassist Jeremiah Hunter. The group is supplemented by guest artist Corey Wilkes on trumpet, Ed Wilkerson Jr on alto clarinet, Kenthany Redmond on flute, Mayshell Morris on flute, Cassie Watson Francilla on harp, Oluga Negre on cello and Keila Adira, Manasseh Croft, Jessica Walton and Meghan McNeal on vocals.

Isaiah Collier and The Chosen Few (photo credit unknown)

The opener is a moving modal driven smoker titled “The Time Is Now”, a declaratory musical statement for change that Collier, who wrote the ten compositions on the album, believes needs to not only be stated but realized. “Trials and Tribulations” uses Mississippi Representative Bennie Thompson’s statements of chastising Donald Trump for his implicit support of the unlawful storming of the Capitol on January 6^th and the subsequent chaos that it caused as the fuel for this musical statement. Collier’s saxophone wails with urgency and Reid’s piano flows with consistency as Ode’s drums lends powerful propulsion.

Kenthany Redmond’s pastoral flute work opens “Amerikka The Ugly” which is accentuated by Reid’s sensitive piano and Hunter’s playful arco bass work are all highlights. Collier adds his own sinewy soprano work at the halfway point along with some tasty bass pizzicato by Hunter. Despite the title of this song, the music has a spritely, uplifting feel to it that is hard to deny. Despite the darkness of the idea of ugliness Collier seems to always find the bright light that is still present.

The composition "Ahmaud Arbery" finds the core group expertly amalgamate their own musical strengths in a cohesive powerful statement that embodies emotions as varied as callousness, outrage, sadness, anger, sorrow and eventually hopefulness.

The album has six other equally compelling musical and social messages that bring energy and light to the social awareness stage. The closing  song "We Don't Even Know Where We're Heading" ends this awake call album with a joyous eruption of hopefulness. 

Jazz music has always had its town criers, those who actively rang the bell when portents of danger to society and justice needed to be warned against. Complacency is never enough. Before it was Charles Mingus, Gil-Scott Heron, Max Roach, Gary Bartz and others who at times used their music to make a statement against injustice, unfairness and prejudice. Today Isiah Collier and his Chosen Few are a new, young and important voice that seem to be taking over this mantle and thankfully their music is being embraced.

Jenny Scheinman's: All Species Parade: Appreciating Our Relationship to Nature

Jenny Scheinman: All Species Parade: Royal Potato Family

The master violinist/composer/arranger Jenny Scheinman has released her latest musical gem, All Species Parade, on October 11, 2024 out on Royal Potato Family. For Scheinman fans, its been a long five years since the violinist and her then co-leader  drummer Allison Miller,  released their successful Parlour Game in 2019. But by all accounts the wait has been worth it. The album is a twelve composition, polymorphous, two-cd effort that gets its inspiration from Scheinman's return to her Pacific Northwest's roots in her Humboldt County, California home in 2012 after leaving a prolific career in the New York City area. Scheinman is the product of a folk-inspired, nature-immersive upbringing that has made an indelible tattoo into her musical psyche. Her sound has found its way into collaborations with such diverse artists as Lucinda Williams, Norah Jones, Ani Di Franco, Joni Mitchell ,Lou Reed and the metal band Metallica. 

As a youth in what is still called the "Lost Coast," hundreds of miles north of San Francisco, and in the western most location in the United States, Scheinman studied violin and piano. She attended Oberlin Conservatory and graduated from U.C. in Berklee and Santa Clara. As a young artist who moved to NYC, she found herself joining guitar wizard Bill Frisell on a fourteen show run at the Village Vanguard in 2002. Frisell has since become a frequent collaborator. 

On this release, All Species Parade, Scheinman is joined by a stellar cast of like- minded musicians who together help make her vision into a reality. The group includes guitarist Frisell, the pianist Carmen Staaf, the intuitive roots inspired rhythm section of bassist Tony Scherr and drummer Kenny Wollesen and guest artists guitarist's Julian Lage on three songs and Nels Cline on two others. 

Scheinman's vision for this album was inspired by "...a charged relationship to nature, a feeling of being part of something bigger than ourselves, powerful, fragile and constantly changing..." 

Jenny Scheiman and Bill Frisell (photo credit unknown)

The music is eclectic, fluid and spans across genres. The opener, "Ornette Goes Home" is a bouncy, playful, mixture of down home fiddling and free jazz. Scheinman's violin is vibrant, somewhat off-center and swings as Staaf's piano melds brilliantly with her in emphatic communication. Frisell's intuitive guitar work is on point as Scherr and Wollesen create a liquid rhythmic background that swells with organic feel and vibe. Pure joy.

If your a fan of cinematic music then look no further than the "Every Bear That Ever There Was" a song that reminds me of Henry Mancini's "Baby Elephant Walk" from the movie Hatari of 1962. Scheinman's violin spells out the melody in a Stuff Smith inspired take, as the piano, bass and drums spell out the cadenced, processional direction. You can't help but feel that as your listening to this one, you might look down and see some bear prints staining your hardwood floor.

"Juroujiji" is a part of a three song suite along with "The Sea Also Rises" and the title composition " All Species Parade." "Jurounjiji", a song dedicated to the  Northern California based native American Wiyot tribe, opens with a plaintive piano line by Staaf and features some gorgeously intuitive acoustic guitar work by Julian Lage over some shimmering cymbal work by Wollesen and pulsing bass by Scherr. Scheinman's sorrowful violin accentuates the somberness of the music as Lage's guitar explorations float in the ether.

"The Sea Also Rises" is at less than two minutes, the shortest of the compositions. It features Staaf's piano meanderings as Wollesen's percussive accents. 

"All the Species Parade" creates a slow, soulful groove that has you bopping your head to the beat with Frisell's twangy guitar sending out electrical waves of accent into the atmosphere. Scheinman's violin strings are plucked and bowed creating a tension and release that encourages your body to respond in like. The sounds weave together in a fusion of colors, feelings and emotions.

"Shutdown Stomp" is a cross between a hoedown and a gypsy jazz jam with Lage's acoustic guitar again entering as a foil to Scheiman's violin and Staaf's honky-tonk piano work. 

"House of Flowers" is a pastoral piece that features Scheinman's evocative violin, Staaf's ostinato piano work, and Nel Cline's delicate electrical guitar explorations. There is an Americana feel to this one. Music that wraps you in a blanket of welcoming sound. Scheinman's violin is most fluid here with a sinewy attack that is most engaging as it interacts with Cline's ethereal electric offerings.

Where there are waves there will always be surf and on the Lost Coast's Cape Medocino so there is surf rock. On "Cape" the group create a surf music groove that rocks out. Wollesen's drums open this one up with a relentless drive as Scheinman's violin, Frisell and Cline's electric guitars, Staaf's piano and organ,  and Scherr's bottom keep this one from letting up.

The north coast is known for its sun bathing sea lions on the rock formations that pock along the Pacific North West shoreline. "With the Sea Lions" Scheinman is paying homage to these majestic creatures in their home habitat. She creates a cosmic composition without adding herself to the mix. Frisell provides his magical, otherworldly guitar wizardry that offers an  peaceful, cloudlike atmosphere that represents how much beauty and tranquility these creatures bring to us who can just stop, observe, respect and enjoy. Wollesen's sympathetic cymbal work is a treat and Staaf's piano accompaniment is majestic and yet subtle. 

The album ends with gorgeous "Nocturne for 2020" which is an elegiac reflection on the turmoil and stress that we as a nation and a planet had to live through during Covid. Scheinman's violin brilliantly expresses sorrow and lamentation with select lines that eek with empathy. Lage's sensitive finger picking and guitar solo is at its best. The music has a distinctive Flamenco inspired feel to it. There is a exquisite support from the entire crew of Staaf, Frisell, Scherr and Wollesen. 

Grégoire Maret and Romain Collin's Homage to Composer/Arranger Ennio Morricone on "Ennio"

Ennio: Grégoire Maret Romain Collin Act 9959-2

Two, European-born musicians, the Swiss born chromatic harmonica master Grégoire Maret and the impressionistic French born pianist Romain Collin, both currently based in New York City,  grew up with listening to and developing a passion for the music of the Italian composer/arranger Ennio Morricone. The product of their exploration into the man's music is a fitting homage, their latest collaboration Ennio on ACT Records and released in April of 2024. I share the appreciation and enthusiasm of these musicians for the music of Mr. Morricone who passed away after a long and productive life in 2020 at the age of ninety-one. The album is a dedication, a respectful and moving remembrance, of Morricone's mastery as a film scorer. The maestro has written the music for over four hundred films, and it is a testimony to how much his music affected these talented and expansive musicians as well as film lovers around the world.

In case you don't recognize the name, it's unlikely that you too haven't been indelibly touched by the man's work. Ennio Morricone's music graced the films of so many great and iconic movies that it's almost hard to comprehend. He worked closely composing and orchestrating for Italian director Sergio Leone, on such films like The Good The Bad and the Ugly( 1966), Fistful of Dollars (1964) and Once Upon a Time in America (1984). He scored Giuseppe Tornatore's "Cinema Paradiso (1988) and Terrence Mallick's Days of Heaven (1968). His only Academy Award for his work, despite receiving seven nominations, came for his score of Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight (2015). Along the way this prolific, in- demand artist worked for notable directors like Bernado Bertolucci, John Huston,  William Friedkin, Roman Polanski, John Carpenter and Brian DePalma amongst others.

Romain Collin and Grégoire Maret (photo credit unknown)

There was something always engaging about Morricone's work in film, he possessed a sixth sense of what it took musically to enhance what was being portrayed on the silver screen. Sergio Leone was so comfortable with Morricone's innate ability to compose what was complimentary to his films, that he reportedly requested Morricone to score Once Upon in Time in America before filming. He did this so that the actors could use the music as an inspiration, acting  their scenes out with the music playing in the background during the actual filming.

Maret, is one of the most sought after musicians on his instrument. The influence of the late Belgian harmonica master Jean "Toots" Thielemans is obvious on Maret's fluid and expressive playing. It is likely that Maret has become Thieleman's heir apparent, arguably the premiere player of this instrument in the world! 

Maret came to New York in 1993 at the age of eighteen to study at The New School after having graduated from Conservatoire de Musique de Geneva in Switzerland. His marvelous facility and inventiveness led him to be sort after as a sideman for such luminaries as Pat Metheny, Cassandra Wilson, David Sanborn and Herbie Hancock. 

Romain Collin is a pianist from Antibes in southern France and studied music in  Europe before coming to study Berklee in Boston in 2004 where he received a degree in Music Synthesis. He studied for his masters at The Herbie Institute of Jazz in 2007 and was  chosen by the school to tour promotionally with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. He has also studied with artists like Larry Goldings, Russell Ferrante, Charlie Haden, Ron Carter and Mulgrew Miller.

Maret and Collin have collaborated previously. Their 2022 album Americana, had the two Francophiles join forces with guitar ace Bill Frisell to create an airy, melodic travelogue through America. It has elements of jazz, blues, folk and gospel woven into a gorgeous tapestry and the album was rightly nominated for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album of 2022. I named it as one of Notes on Jazz's Best Releases of 2022

On Ennio, Maret and Collin have chosen twelve of Morricone's compositions to express their musical appreciation of the master. The opener "Once Upon a Time In America," also known as Deborah's Theme, comes from the 1984 Sergio Leone film of the same name. The music is beautifully played with Collin's delicate piano lines accentuated by Maret's somber and almost mournful wails. 

"For a Few Dollars More: Watch Chimes" from another of Leone's spaghetti westerns, is a one minute fourteen second peek into how brilliantly composed music can evoke a tense filled mood on film. Collin's metronomic keyboard, maybe a Celesta, mimics the chime sounding tune that emanates from a gunslinger's musical pocket watch. The tension is palpable and the anticipation is masterfully sustained with Maret's harmonica adding a soulful element.

"The Good the Bad and the Ugly: Ecstasy of Gold" is a main theme also from Sergio Leone's Dollar Trilogy. The music brings you back visually to Clint Eastwood's, serape clad, gunslinger character. Collin and Maret are joined by bassist Burniss Earl Travis II's and the drummer Marcus Gilmore. Collin's ostinato piano opening is embellished by some booming lines by Travis and percussive accents by Gilmore as Maret's lines soar over the rhythm. Gilmore's cadenced drum work set the stage for Maret's expressive harmonica improvisation. Collin's piano work builds up tension and he and the rhythm section interact with precision likely accentuating the action on the film that the music was written for.

The album is predominantly cinema generated music. "Suoni oer Dino" or Sounds for Dino offers a train inspired drum line by Gilmore and throbbing bass line by Travis, as Maret wails simulating the approaching train engine whistle. The sentimental intro to "Once Upon a Time in the West" is a mere 54 seconds and leads into the rousing theme to the movie which finds Collin playing a melodically  inspired barroom honky-tonk. The moving theme to "Cinema Paradiso" has Collin and Maret trading melodic lines, transporting the listener back into a simpler time that is presented in Guiseppi Tornatore's film.

Morricone, outside of his film work, also wrote prodigiously for pop music (Paul Anka, Céline Dion and Astrud Gilberto have sung his songs), countless television scores, fifteen piano concertos, over thirty symphonic pieces, an opera (Andrea Bocelli sang one of his songs) and even the music for a mass.

On Morricone's "Se Telefonando", ("If She Calls") is a 1966 pop song about unrequited love and was sung by the Italian pop vocalist Mina.  Here, Maret and Collin are again joined by the empathetic rhythm section of Travis and Gilmore and with a tasty slide guitar intro by Marvin Sewell. The sensuous, smoky contralto of Cassandra Wilson opens the song and she is joined by the distinctive voice of Gregory Porter. Maret's harmonica adds his own accents as Collin's piano leads the group through the memorable melody. Just beautiful.

"Chi Mai" was a song written in 1971 and used in the film Le Professionnel by director Georges Lautner in 1981 starring Jean-Paul Belmondo. Collins piano work is soulful on the opening. Maret's harmonica provides an eerie sensitivity that just hangs in the air like a desperate sigh. 

"The Sicilian Clan" is an French-Italian gangster movie directed by Henri Verneuil and released in 1969 with music by Morricone. Here the music evokes a hip, late sixties period sound with Collin on electric piano, Gilmore on drums and Travis on bass. The melody has an electronic lounge-like feel to it and Maret's eloquent harmonica adds his own sense to the musical palette.

"Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man" was a movie by Bernardo Bertolucci and released in 1981. Morricone's music is beautifully rendered by Collin's emotive piano work  Maret's harmonica often evokes a pleading human voice. The two respond to each other's musical expressions like two threads finely woven into the same tapestry, separate but somehow strengthened by each others presence. 

It is so appropriate that these two serious Morricone fans would end their homage album with one of the maestro's most iconic songs from his film work. "The Man with a Harmonica"  was a eerie song that that was played throughout the film adding tension, anticipation and suspense. In the Leone movie "Once Upon a Time in the West" (1969), a reticent but deadly gunslinger played by Charles Bronson is often heard playing his diatonic harmonica rather than speaking. The harmonica part was hauntingly played on a chromatic harmonica by Francesco "Cheeco" Rizzoli on the original movie soundtrack. It was Morricone's simple use of the droning instrument's voice-like qualities in an experimentally daring way that changed the way movie music would be used going forward. Maret is a master and evokes the same agitation and pressure building tension as Collin's piano and electronics add to the other worldly feel and the escalating danger that is featured in the movie. As with first encountering the original film and sound, this music it is hard to forget.

In a 2020 retrospective on film Mark Lager said in a Cine Action article that Morricone's music has "...melodic splendor" and "revolutionary textures."  Others have praised Morricone's experimental daring and he is often considered one of the most influential and copied composers in film scoring of all time. Clearly Grégoire Maret and Romain Collin are two musicians who agree with the iconic importance of Morricone's body of work. With their own love of melodic beauty, textural manipulation and musical daring they have taken the maestro's music and made it their own vehicle of expression and a fitting homage to their hero's legacy.

Art Hirahara: "Good Company" Creates Beauty in an Unconventional Way

 

Art Hirahara: Good Company: PosiTone 

Art Hirahara is making his mark as a rising star on the piano. This Bay Area raised musician attended Oberlin Conservatory of Music and received his degree in Electronic and Computer Music. He continued his education at the California Institute of Arts where he was mentored by the late bassist Charlie Haden, the pianist David Roitstein, and the progressive trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith amongst others. As a leader and sideman Hirahara has worked with a list of impressive artist including trombonist Michael Dease, bassists Boris Kozlov and Linda May Han Ho , drummers Rudy Royston and Akira Tana, saxophonists Donny McCaslin and  Don Braden, trumpeters Josh Lawrence and Alex Sipiagin  and vocalist Stacey Kent to name just a few.

Hirahara's relationship with the record label Posi Tone, now in its thirteenth year,  started with his first recording with them, Noble Path, from 2011. If you track this musician's musical output since then, you are witnessing the personal growth of Hirahara, as the pianist's playing blossoms with ever increasingly more expansive expression, additional mastery of nuanced subtlety and space, and a continued sense of confidence that comes with maturity.

On the latest release, Good Company, Hirahara continues to explore the possibilities of how three tonally different musicians can interact creating their own palette of colors and textures to great effect. This piano trio is both bass less and drum less and it still manages to create some remarkably beautiful and creative music. This trio includes the jazz/blues guitarist Paul Bollenback, known for his tasty work with late B3 master Joey DeFrancesco, and backing up tenor titan Stanley Turrentine and the trumpeter/flugelhornist Ron Horton who has worked extensively with the bassist Ben Allison, the saxophonist Michael Blake and the late pianist Frank Kimbrough. With no traditional rhythm section, these three musicians find a common ground of expression on a series of thirteen diverse compositions that make up this recording, four from Hirahara, three from Bollenback, three from Horton, and one each from Thelonious Monk, Andrew Hill and Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Art Hirahara : (Photo credit unknown)

The opener, Bollenback's swaying ballad "Shambolic," is just gorgeous and opens with some piquant guitar lines, deft piano accompaniment and a sensitive piano solo, and some empathetic Art Farmer inspired flugelhorn lines that just grabs you. Bollenback's guitar work is a marvel of understatement.

Andrew Hill's "Laverne" is an angular piece that shows how this trio can navigate a chicanery with aplomb and class. Hirahara skillfully holds the bass less group together with his left hand during Bollenback's solo and the guitarist does the same when its comes to Hirahara's turn to improvise on the melody. Horton's horn floats above the music like a free bird in flight above the fray, always still keeping tabs of the action. Impressive interplay, indeed.

Paul Bollenback:(photo credit unknown)

The contemplative Monk tune "Ugly Beauty" is given a ethereal opening by Hirahara's haunting piano lines, accentuated by Horton's slurred trumpet lines that hang in the air like a cumulus cloud, with Bollenback's oscillating guitar notes  underscore making this reconstructed opening memorable. These guys are hard wired into each other and it shows. Hirahara's piano is melodic and expressive but never overstated, and just so unselfishly supportive of the music that it allows his two bandmates to shine. A rendition of Monk's classic that is true to the composer's intent while still finding its own creative way into being one of our favorite renditions.

Ron Horton (photo credit unknown)

There is a pop feel to Horton's "Sinatra Breeze" that brings some lightheartedness to this music. Hirahara carries the bouncy rhythm and the three contribute to the melodic stroll of this one. Paul Bollenback's "Psalm" is a short hymn that finds the trio creating a somber reverence and his "Songline" is like a dance that promises hope and joy. Horton's trumpet leads the declaration, Hirahara opens it up with an inspired solo that raises the energy level, and Bollenback's guitar offers multiple ideas from various guitar traditions. 

"The Shadowist" is the first of Hirahara's compositions we hear on the album. The three follow the complex lines that ascend and descend in unpredictable patterns. The pianist finds his like-minded band mates are able to negotiate this musical puzzle with aplomb, first in sync and later in counterpoint to each other. As the rhythmic drive becomes more identifiable, the three artists find their own way to making individual contributions to the music.

Hirahara's "SoHo Down" is the pianist's attempt to create his own urban inspired hoe down.  A free expression to a traditional, folk inspired jig-like dance music piece. 

Jobim's "As Praias Desertas,"  which translates from the Portuguese into "the beaches deserted now" is a bossa nova. The trio plays this Brazilian inspired romantic song with sensitivity and skill. Led by Horton's plaintive and fluid flugelhorn, Bollenback's honey-toned hollow bodied guitar lines and Hirahara's beautiful piano work, this one is like a mini-vacation.

The rapid "Everywhere, All At Once,"  and shifting "Drop and Drag" two other Hirahara compositions, unite this empathetic trio with athletic music that challenges and inspires these guys. Horton's expressive ballad "Full Moon Over Lisbon" is a must hear and the Americana inspired "Home" another Horton composition, proves these guys continue to find common ground in each others musical visions and finish this emotive and imaginative album. Art Hirahara's Good Company is well worth a listen.

"Horizons": Trumpeter Alex Sipiagin's Musical Message About A New Start

Alex Sipiagin: Horizons; Blue Room Music

For years the trumpeter Alex Sipiagin has become a first-call session and section player in the world of modern jazz and pop music. Spiagin was born in Yaroslav, Russia a town approximately 160 miles north- east of Moscow. He attended trumpet lessons at the age of twelve and studied at the Moscow Music Institute and the Gnessin Conservatory where he received his baccalaureate degree. At the age of twenty-three, Sipiagin came to the U.S. in 1990 competing in the International Louis Armstrong contest sponsored by the Thelonious Monk Institute and received top honors. Despite the honors, the young man  wanted to establish his creditability to himself and others. That same year he relocated to New York City, the cauldron of competitiveness, and found his first employment in the orchestra of prestigious composer/arranger Gil Evans.  It didn't take long for his inherent talents to get him to become part of Gil Goldstein's Zebra Coast Orchestra, George Grunz's Jazz Band, drummer Bob Moses' Mozamba, the Charles Mingus Big Band, the Mingus Dynasty and Mingus Orchestra groups as well as bassist Dave Holland's Big Band, Sextet and Octet groups to name a few.

This prolific trumpeter was making a name for himself as one of the most accomplished, tasteful, and fiery players on the scene. In 2003, he started a relationship with the saxophonist Michael Brecker, recording and touring with Brecker's Dectet -which won a Grammy for the album Wide Angles-and  with Brecker's Sextet. Alex's first recording as a leader was made in 1996 and released in 1997. Titled Images,  it is an auspicious debut with an eclectic group of up and coming musicians including altoist David Binny, bassist Scott Colley, pianist Gil Goldstein, guitarist Adam Rogers, percussionist Kenny Wollesen and tenor saxophonist Chris Potter. Many of these musicians would grow together and often collaborate over the years. Sipiagin's in demand trumpet sound was also used in recordings by pop artists Eric Clapton, Michael Franks, Elvis Costello and Dr. John. Sipiagin is also a founding member of the group Opus 5 which features saxophonist Seamus Blake, pianist Dave Kikoski, bassist Boris Kozlov and drummer  Donald Edwards and has released five records on the Criss Cross label.

Alex Sipiagin photo credit Vladimir Korobitsyn

I've seen Sipiagin perform as an important trumpet voice of the Mingus Big Band at the Jazz Standard and have been delighted by his work as a vibrant session and solo player for Conrad Herwig's Latin Side albums. His own releases,  particularly his two Positone releases Upstream  which made my Notes on Jazz Best of 2021 list and Ascent to the Blues have both shown an ever ascending artist who never ceases to push the boundaries of the music as a  musician/composer. 

Sipiagin's latest release is titled Horizons and was released in May of this year on Blue Room Music label. Alex has been in New York for over thirty years and  was a educator at NYU for seven of those years. He and his wife decided it was time for a change and they relocated to northern Italy in 2020 to the town of Sandrigo, in the province Vincenzo, Veneto.  The album carries a theme inspired by Sipiagin's  move to Italy, the disruption of uprooting yourself,  reflections of things accomplished, and the expectations of new horizons, of what is to come.

On Horizons, Alex has enlisted some of the familiar faces from his past records. The tenor sax flame thrower Chris Potter joins with his energized tenor and sinewy soprano saxophone. John Escreet brings his piano chops, his Rhodes sensitivity and deft synthesizer talents.  Bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Eric Harland together create a formidable rhythm section as well as two versatile solo artists in their own right.

The album features two songs penned by guitarist virtuoso Pat Metheny and six Sipiagin compositions. The opener is Metheny's smoker "While You Were Looking" which the guitarist offered with the intent of making this one a  technical challenge. The serpentine opening finds Sipiagin's penetrating trumpet in sync with Potter's tart tenor, matching impossibly complicated lines with sterling aplomb and accuracy before the two trade solos all driven by Brewer and Harland's syncopated drive. Sipiagin soars over Escreet's airy-like synth touches as he rises to heights that seem to fly up to the stratosphere. Potter offers a rhythmically fragmented solo that shrieks and simmers in unexpected ways as Escreet's flowing piano work adds depth to the mix. This one has a fusion-era like feel that reaches back but at the same time forging forward into new territory. 

"Overseen" is a gorgeous Sipiagin ballad that features Escreet on Rhodes and Potter on soprano.  Alex is on his flugelhorn here and his interplay with Potter is a real treat. These two have a telepathic connection when they play in unison. Potter has a Shorter-like feel here and Harland's distinct drum work accentuates and Brewers bass compliments the music with wisdom and style. You can just feel yourself getting drawn into a blanket of sumptuousness. There is some notable Rhodes work by Escreet with the rhythm section to the coda.

"Clean Cut," a reference to Sipiagin's move to Italy, finds the trumpeter, Potter and Escreet on his synth following each other in another circuitous route of music that never ceases to have surprises. Just like one might experience in a major life move. Potter's tenor is jagged, muscular and adventurous, Escreet's piano work flows with speed and artistry, Brewer's bass is like an anchoring force that moves with the flow but never leaves you stranded. At about the five minutes mark Alex's trumpet offers a superb solo with unlimited range, flawless execution and unquenchable creative artistry. This man can play. Harland is featured on an explosive solo that erupts with power and rhythmic inventiveness. 

Another Sipiagin composition, "Jumping Ahead," is reportedly inspired by Brazilian composer/ multi-instrumentalist Hermeto Pascal whose penchant for repetitive melodies and harmonies are deployed here. The group spells out the recurring lines led by the front line and accentuated with Brewer's buoyant bass solo. Alex's trumpet negotiates the ostinato with a flowing solo that percolates with excitement and promise. Its  anxious but invigorating to be moving forward with a new path in your life. Potter adds some flute lines at the coda over Harland's bubbling drum work.

"When Is It Now?" is the second Metheny composition on this album. The ballad finds Sipiagin on his emotive flugelhorn, Potter on tenor and Escreet on  piano all weaving their instruments into a tapestry of contemplation and reflection. 

"Lost" is another Sipiagin composition that is representative of some of Alex's feeling s that he experienced in his move to Italy. Sipiagin's trumpet wanders over the syncopated rhythm as he is finding his way in a new land with new surroundings, leaving some of his long established relationships back in N.Y. and trying to find a new equilibrium in his new home. The rhythm section bubbles like a simmering crucible, Potter's tenor pleads and cries. Eventually, Escreet's crystalline Rhodes work lends the music a dream-like feel to this journey.

Sipiagin offers a three piece suite of songs titled "Horizons 1," Horizons 2," and "Horizons 3." The three explore tones, color, freedom, expansion and expression. "Horizon 1" is free and loose. "Horizon 2" is a space-like experience of sounds led by Escreet's  synth atmospheric sounds, Sipiagin's muted trumpet cries and Potter's soprano has a avian feel as Brewer and Harland provide the percussive sound effects. "Horizon 3" has a rhythmic drive over which Potter and Sipiagin intertwine there sounds as Escreet adds effects. There is an expression of relief here, a release from angst and an acceptance of the possibilities of an untethered future.

The final composition is titled AIVA-tion, a reference to a local bar/cafe that Sipiagin found in his new hometown of Sandrigo. The crowd sound opens and is happy, the feeling is inviting and the future looks bright. The piece has a laid back hip, cosmopolitan sound that exudes a feeling of cool contentment. Escreet's Rhodes leads the path with a glimmering sound, Sipiagin's trumpet flies like a free bird, Potter's tenor responds in like as Brewer's bass and Harland's drums lay down the groove. Italy should be a blast!

Mike Holober and The Gotham Jazz Orchestra "This Rock We're On: Imaginary Letters": A Magical Piece of Music

Mike Holber and The Gotham Jazz Orchestra: This Rock We're On: Imaginary Letters

The pianist/composer/arranger/educator Mike Holober is a musician whose talents deserve to be more widely known and appreciated. I first heard Holober, the then under-the-radar musical director of the Westchester Jazz Orchestra, at a performance that I caught in Irvington, NY in 2011. It was obvious then that he had an impressive command of the composing and arranging skills necessary to make the disparate seventeen pieces of the WJO work their sounds both in splendid accord and to great effect. I later got a chance to witness Mike's impressive pianistic acumen when he played in a moving duo set with the superb trumpeter Marvin Stamm at the Carnegie Room of the Nyack Library in Rockland County in 2013. This was a musician whose career trajectory was clearly worth following. 

Holober's early career included a stint with baritone saxophone ace Nick Brignola in the late 1990's. He later formed The Mike Holober Quintet and recorded two albums with saxophonist Tim Ries, guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel, bassists John Patitucci and Scott Colley, and drummer Brian Blade in the early 2000's. Holober was the musical director for the non-profit Westchester Jazz Orchestra from 2007-2013, where his prowess attracted an array of top-tier soloists like Joe Lovano, Randy Brecker, and John Scofield to name just a few. He guest arranged and conducted for two prestigious European jazz bands, the WDR Big Band from Cologne, Germany in 2014, and the HR Big Band of Frankfurt, Germany in 2011 and 2015 amongst others. These projects featured its own stellar list of accomplished artists too numerous to list. In 2015 Holober and his octet Balancing Act featured his original compositions (both music and lyrics) and the vocalist Kate McGary, saxophonists Dick Oatts and Jason Rigby, trumpeter Stamm, trombonist Mark Patterson, bassist John Hébert and drummer Blade. 

Since the first release in 2004 of Thought Trains, from his big band The Gotham Jazz Orchestra, Holober's creative composing voice has been increasingly blooming. The band's second release Hiding Out, was issued on Zoho Records in 2019 and received multiple accolades from the critics as one of the year's best releases. The album was rightfully recognized for a Grammy nomination in the Best Large Ensemble category in 2020. 

Mike Holober: photo credit Matthew Cylinder

With such a successful history, there is no surprise that Mike Holober and The Gotham Jazz Orchestra's latest release This Rock We're On: Imaginary Letters, released on June 14, 2024, may easily be one of his greatest musical achievements to date. The album is a two-disc meditation whose music and lyrics focus on Holober's love and respect for nature, its majesty, and beauty. As an avid appreciator, he also expresses, both in music and words, his concern that the planet and its treasures may be in danger of being irreversibly damaged by climate change and our own thoughtless actions. Anyone who has followed Holober and his wife Melissa on his social media posts from some of nature's most imposing wonders and gorgeous vistas, can see that he lives his non-musical life immersed in nature hiking, biking, kayaking, and appreciating the great outdoors. There is authenticity here and it shows.

He adroitly includes a series of eight Imaginary Letters, statements that he composes and performs as if to converse with some of his own environmental and social inspirations on the issues at hand.  Letters to iconic nature photographer of the West, Ansel Adams, to renowned marine biologist and writer Rachel Carson, to conservationist Sigurd Olson and activist Terry Tempest Williams, to poet and essayist Wendell Berry, and to Native American scientist Robin Wall Kimmerer. 

These eight paeons talk of "sharing this home," of waiting for summer and lamenting the potential loss of another summer if our actions leave the earth "broken beyond all repair." These letters revel in the "...swaying pines upon a snowy hill" as Ansel Adams did in his poem to his wife Virginia. They imagine a monolithic rock formation, Castleton Tower in Utah, woefully speaking as a harbinger whose continued existence may be only preserved by the written word and action. They recall the love of "pristine snow in silent, longing, beauty" and a conversation with a tree that "...fears of what may come of me? " who cautions that "...to love life you must know a tree". Finally a letter/poem to a child that speaks to the pulse and breath of the Rock We're On and the love that it requires for its sustenance and ultimately for our own survival. These are profound expressions of awe, respect, sensitivity, love, and action and they are brilliantly incorporated into Holober's moving suite.

As for this music, it is simply splendid in both conception and execution. The opener "Lay of the Land"  organically emerges with Holober's sensitive piano entry sprouting like new life on fertile soil. Gentle cymbal splashes by Jared Schonig and probing ostinato bass lines by John Patitucci set the aural landscape before the horn and reed sections lay out pulsing layers of sound that throb with life. The tenor saxophonist Chris Potter enters like a siren with his distinctive wail. Holober is a master of coloring with an almost limitless array of hues that his orchestra adds to his musical palette. The Herculean Potter, at the top of his game, never ceases to amaze with his seemingly endless ability to percolate with flawless creativity and majestic power. This is particularly evident as Holober sends his group into an ascending apex. The orchestra is musically climbing a mountainous peak, with the sections roaring, Schonig and Patitucci boiling over, and Potter is soaring above it all like a cruising eagle on the hunt. Breathtaking!

The first of the Imaginary Letters, "On This Rock" is to environmentalist Wendell Berry, and finds a chamber music-like feel that features Holober's delicate piano,  Mark Patterson's burnished trombone work, and the crystalline voice of Jamile Staevie Ayres. 

"Dirt Lover's Almanac" has an opening featuring some gorgeous cello work by Jody Redhage Ferber accompanied by an attentive Holober on piano. As the music opens into a more traditional big band piece we are treated to excellent section work of the repeating theme. Bassist Patitucci offers a probing and facile bass solo that throbs before Charles Pillow presents his own vision of interpretation on a fine alto solo. The group roars with splendid unanimity.

The remainder of the album is equally as impressive."Tides" features cellist Ferber and Jason Rigby's tenor saxophone. "Dear Virginia," one of my favorites, features some stellar alternating duo work, first with Holober's piano and Marvin Stamm's superb trumpet and then with Virgina Mayhew's sensitive tenor to great effect.

"Domes" offers the circuitous alto saxophone work of Ben Kono, some effervescent vibes work of James Shipp, a clarion trumpeter solo by Scott Wendholt, and roiling drum work by Schonig. "Refuge" creates poignancy with the trio of Ferber's evocative cello, Ayre's charged voice, and Holober's moving piano.

"Tower Pulse" has an organic, throbbing vibe, a cardiac-like pulse that carries you like a life force. Nir Felder's spidery guitar lines are quite well-matched with Felder's repeating acro cello lines in a call-and-response sort of section. Potter's dynamic saxophone bursts of kineticism as Holober's orchestra carries the music's drive in what sounds like a Native American-like inspired ostinato. There is majesty to this music and it is inspired. "Soil Erosion," a slow shuffle that features Shipp's vibraphone accents, Kono and Pillow's flutes touches, and Nir Felder's fine, expansive guitar solo as the rhythm section and orchestra maintain the heartbeat of the tune. "Three Words for Snow" has a classical-chamber music feel to it with Ferber's cello, Kono's delightful flute, Holober's piano, and Ayres' voice making this a very special and moving addition to the suite. "Boundary Waters" has a Latin feel that finds the composer letting the orchestra ebb and flow as he has his most extended solo on the album. It's nice to hear him let loose here a bit and get a chance to express himself outside of the restraints of being the leader. The album continues with "Noetry" a vocal that imagines a letter from a tree. "SkyWoman Falling" opens with a cello feature by Ferber that morphs into a Native American vibe. The orchestra expands with aplomb. Expanding his color palette, Holober has Charles Pillow featured on a very willowy bass clarinet and Marvin Stamm is paired to this sound with his own warm Flugelhorn response. The music has an organic feel, a symbiosis with the Earth that seems to have its own spirit that as a listener we can only marvel at its pure authenticity.  The final piece is titled "This Rock We're On" and is an imaginary letter to a child. It leaves us all with the realization that we all have a responsibility to preserve what we can still enjoy and leave this beautiful and important legacy to the next generations. There a moving vocals by Ronan Rigby, James Shipp, and Jamile Straevie Ayres and a nice baritone saxophone feature by Carl Maraghi.

Holober's This Rock We're On: Imaginary Letters, is a magical piece of music. His astute composing, orchestration, and arrangement of his Gotham Jazz Orchestra, the voices he chose and lyrics he created, and the soloists that he selected all make this inspired suite of meditation on a theme a modern masterpiece.

Poetry Inspires Music :The Jamie Baum Septet+ "What Times Are These"

The Jamie Baum Septet +  What Times Are These -Sunnyside Records

It is hard to imagine that the flutist/composer/arranger Jamie Baum has been playing and composing for her midsized Septet and later expanded Septet+ since 1999. That is twenty-five years of top-tier level composing, arranging, and playing an array of adventurous, thoroughly modern, chamber-inspired jazz. Much of the music recorded has been lauded by the press and the public and some of it has won well-deserved awards.  Despite the success, over the years, the group has been forced to evolve. Sometimes, after working together for years, the magic is lost or the personnel just needs a change. The musicians may relocate. They may face commanding health issues that ebb their ability to commit. They may experience personal success in their own career trajectories that demand more attention. Or artistically, they may need to part ways with the leader and expand in another direction to maintain their own creativity. That's why so few ensembles or orchestras can sustain themselves over long periods without some level of personnel turnover.  So how does Baum manage to revitalize her groups, add new players with new gifts, and keep the music vital over a quarter of a century? The key to continued creative success that attracts talent comes from the leader's vision and her proven ability to realize that vision in tangible aurally dazzling creations. Over the years those visions were realized by her Septet + in projects like Moving Forward/Standing Still, Solace, Bridges, and now her latest What Times Are These which was released this past March of 2024.

I was first hooked on Jamie Baum's jazz/chamber concept in 2009, when I heard her brilliant album Solace, and got to experience the music in person at a show at New York City's respected venue Joe's Pub. Since then I have followed this composer as her music has continued to grow with sophistication, heroism, and creativity. Through the years the personnel have changed, but the musicians have always been some of the most progressive and talented available. This new release What Times Are These, on Sunnyside Records, got its genesis during the Covid shutdown period in 2020. As all activities came to an unexplainable halt, Baum realized the Covid-inspired isolation could be economically disastrous for an artist. She also realized that the downtime needed to be used to inspire creativity in her quest for a new musical project. During this time she discovered Bill Moyers' website "A Poet A Day" where he introduced poets to his readers as a way to  expose them to"...a measure of joy, reflection, and meditation brought on by “the best words in the best order.” It eventually became a source of inspiration to this composer.

What Times Are These, is Baum's musical answer to how the spoken word can be a powerful expression of ideas, especially when reinforced by complementary music. Baum deftly interwove the ideas -the essence of the poetic messages- with her carefully crafted musical interpretations that these themes inspired within her. She uses seven poems from five different poets to tell their poignant stories. In some respect, it is a critical evaluation of where we have come as a society and asks the question What Times Are These? 

The poems and the related songs remind us of the value of being "of use", in service, of remembering what we once took for granted, what always was and was now almost lost. They remind us of how on the way we have somehow lost our sense of "us" and "them" and become more obsessed about ourselves. The words take note of sorrow and disappointment about some of our collective actions and callused attitudes. Other words offer a remembrance of the loss of a loved one. Only to be transcended by acknowledging the celestial connection with the stars above us and the continuity they represent to all of us. The poems fight off depression over the realization that we are still in a world that is driven by prejudices based on age, ethnicity, gender, class, and color.

To create the music for these poems, Baum enlisted her latest Septet 6+ members in addition to several important guest artists. This version of the Septet+ includes Baum on flutes and spoken word (song 2); Jonathan Finlayson on trumpet and voice (song3); Sam Sadigursky on alto sax, clarinet, and bass clarinet; Chris Komer on French Horn; Brad Shepik on guitar and singing bowls; Luis Perdomo on piano and Fender Rhodes; Rickey Rodriguez on bass and electric bass; and  Jeff Hirshfeild on drums.    

Luis Perdomo, Jonathan Finlayson, Ricky Rodriguez, Sam Sadigursky, Jeff Herschfield, Chris Koner, Brad Shepik (Photo credit unknown)

To increase her aural palette the composer enlisted the talented percussionist Keita Ogawa to three songs(1,3 & 10). Baum employs the disparate instruments of five imaginative vocalists Sara Serpa (5,7 & 8), Aubrey Johnson (3,6 & 9); KOKAYI (6), and Theo Bleckmann (4). Baum proves herself to be a master of composing music that explores the sounds and textures of possibilities whether they come from instruments, percussive objects, or voices. The resulting music from Baum is a tour de force.

Theo Bleckmann 

Aubrey Johnson

Keita Ogawa (photo credit unknown)

KOKAYI

Sars Serpa

(Photo credits unknown)

The album includes ten complex, yet captivating compositions from Baum. There is the opener "In The Light of Day" which utilizes an ostinato piano line by Perdomo, and creative stacked ringing, metallic percussion by Ogawa at the opening. A majestic French horn by Komer opens up the music to beautifully executed and precise ensemble playing. Some beguiling alto flute by Baum with some facile interplay with Finlayson on trumpet and some powerful drum and bass work by Hershfeld and Rodriguez create a powerful opening statement.

Baum's breathy flute and Perdomo's cascading piano frame the word-spoken lines by the artist of the Marge Piercy poem "To Be of Use." The music expands over the repeating piano lines with Shepik's probing guitar, Sadigursky's tubular clarinet, and the cadenced drum work by Hershfield. There is a regimental feel to the music that bespeaks the idea of "being in use." Shepik's electric guitar takes flight, soaring with passion as the ensemble creates a beautiful, synchronous tonal background on which to build.

Tracy K. Smith's "An Old Story" opens with a vibrant electric bass entre by Rodriguez. There is a funky groove to this one, as it sets up the spoken word by trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson, who also offers a vibrant trumpet solo. Some fusion-like Rhodes work by Perdomo, and synchronous sinewy vocal lines by Aubrey Johnson are matched by flute and other ensemble members. Her voice elastically melts into the funky ensemble work like another tuned instrument. 

Adrienne Rich's "In Those Years," a tome about the 'me' generation, features Theo Blekmann's ethereal voice. First, he is heard on an overdubbed choir-like opening and then he vocalizes the words of the poem followed in tandem with Perdomo's accompanying piano. The music becomes more intense as Baum utilizes repeating ensemble sections and cascading ascending and descending lines that give Bleckmann backgrounds on which to perform his darting, pointillistic vocalizations. His work leads to an apex after which Sadigursky's alto saxophone searches plaintively and gives the piece some loose freedom. Perdomo's piano takes over, brilliantly dancing with elan, spurred on by Rodriguez's throbbing bass and Hirshfield's syncopated drum work. Bleckmann returns, angelically vocalizing the  final words of the poem, reprising an overdubbed choir-like hum at the coda.

Another poem by Rich, "What Kind of Times," finds the endearing soprano of Portuguese vocal stylist Sara Serpa. An angular and soulful guitar solo by Brad Shepik is another highlight. The music traces the words in modulating lines accenting certain words and drolling others giving it a sing-song-like treatment.

Lucille Clifton's "Sorrow Song" is given a modern hip/hop treatment opening with a complimentary rap written and sung by KOKAYI. Baum enters after the voice with a breathy, Rahsaan Kirk-inspired flute solo that smolders. Rodriguez's bass rocks. Shepik's guitar is next in line providing piercing, staccato accents. Hirshfield is let loose with some roiling drum work to the coda as KOKAYI's voice returns to finish this one with repeating refrains.

The album follows with a song dedicated to Baum's mom Edie, Naomi Shihab Nye's "My Grandmothers in the Stars " returning with Sara Sherpa's transcendent vocals. There is some distinctive bass clarinet work and a moving alto solo sax by Sadigursky. 

It follows with "I am Wrestling with Despair" based on a poem by Marge Piercy. Baum composes the opening with a guitar and piano alternating repeated lines before the ensemble enters with Serpa's vocal navigating the slippery placement of the words with aplomb. A plaintive trumpet solo by Finlayson is another worthwhile feature.

"Dreams," like the opening "In a Light of Day" and its related reprise the closing   " In the Day of the Light" are all Baum compositions not associated with a poem. "Dreams" opens with Komer's resonant French Horn solos and proceeds to have a call-and-response section between Komer's French horn and Sadigursky's alto sax. The ensemble then adds their own composed section of call and response before Baum offers her own angular alto flute solo. The solo brims with a subtle flow of ideas that hover with resonance. Perdomo is given a chance to be his most lyrical and the music coming from his keyboard is a delight. 

The closer "In the Day of Light" is a bit of a reprise from the opening composition "In A Light Day". The music starts out with Rodriguez's repeating bass line and Perdomo's ostinato piano line. Ogawa's hand drums and percussion come into the fray. The individual; instruments, flute, French horn, bass clarinet, trumpet, drums, and bass all come into the mix each adding their own recurring lines. The music crescendos before it finds a brief plateau where Perdomo's piano and the rhythm section create a small exploration within the composition. The ensemble returns following a cacophony of organized sound before the relentless ostinato  ends abruptly.