Michaël Attias: Quartet Music Vol. II – Kardamon Fall (Out Of Your Head Records OOYH 031)
Alto saxophonist Michaël Attias was born in Israel, brought up in Paris, educated in Minneapolis, and has lived in New York since 1994. His latest release is the successor to LuMiSong, which was recorded during Covid and released earlier this year. Kardamon Fall features Attias with Santiago Leibson (piano), Sean Conly (bass) and Tom Rainey (drums). All compositions are by the leader.
Kardamon Fall is inspired by a creature that is half woman, half horse, who leaps across the crags of Mount Pelion – hence the track titled Kardamon Spring (Femme Centaure). The album is not so maverick and experimental as the saxophonist’s earlier album on Out Of Your Head, échos la nuit – a solo release in which Attias played saxophone with his left hand and piano with his right. That album overlaps in material with Kardamon Fall – Trinité appears on both, and here the serpentine theme gets an intense, hard-edged interpretation that edges into ecstatic free jazz.
Avrils is a beautifully plangent ballad; Voies is a stirring and memorably mid-tempo composition. Bobulated is a searching improvisation in ad lib tempo. Attias loves grooves, but often exploits texture: “When tonality breaks down, it releases its most beautiful colours”, he affirms. Kardamon Fall reiterates his Braxton affiliations, through a tone richer and more approachable than the master’s. Cool players are often criticised as “cerebral”, but Lee Konitz showed the confusions in that claim. Attias is cerebral in the best sense – his improvising is strong and inventive, his compositions are thoughtful. An excellent release.
Jakob Bro with Lee Konitz, Bill Frisell, Jason Moran, Thomas Morgan, Andrew Cyrille: Taking Turns (ECM Records 7506872)
Danish guitarist Jakob Bro, born 1978, is – with pianist Dan Tepfer – the most important partner of Lee Konitz in his final decade. Taking Turns is the fourth and final album that they made together. It was recorded 10 years ago in New York, and is released now for the first time on ECM. The pair first played together in 2008, and produced three albums – Balladeering, Time and December Song – for Bro’s own label. “I felt I had found a direction that worked for me when Lee started playing my pieces”, the guitarist explains. “Lee was quite freely interpreting my music, playing around the melodies… not necessarily playing them as written.” He’s been exploring the results ever since.
It’s an accolade that Konitz – who in his late career mostly played standards – would explore Bro’s compositions. The result is a fine late album – one of the master’s final ones. The saxophonist was 86 at the time of the session, and still searching – on the plangent Haiti he’s on his rarely heard soprano saxophone. Although Bro assembled an august, cross-generational band – featuring Bill Frisell (guitar), Jason Moran (piano), Thomas Morgan (bass) and Andrew Cyrille (drums) – Konitz is the only soloist. The band provide a beautiful backdrop or cushion for Konitz’s improvising – it’s as if Bro didn’t want any distractions from the master’s contributions.
The accompaniment is essential, however, and reminds me of parallels between the guitar styles of Bro and Frisell. Bro makes judicious and subtle use of effects pedals and distortion, and his playing is intensely relaxed. Though it crosses many genres – originating in Jim Hall’s jazz, and encompassing country, folk and blues – the style is individual and refreshing. The resulting album has many delights. The standout for me is the haunting, melancholic Pearl River, named after a budget store in New York’s Chinatown. Milford Sound is affecting, while the concluding Mar Del Plata has an Argentine inflection. A wonderful tribute to one of the greatest saxophonists of modern jazz.
Kevin Sun: Quartets (Endectomorph Music/La Reserve)
“A free player or a mainstream guy?”, “a personal approach to disrupting time” are a couple of press comments on Kevin Sun. Ethan Iverson, a very sage writer, describes the saxophonist as “greasy, at times even lurid”. Sun moved to New York City nearly a decade ago, and is active on the Brooklyn scene. Since his recorded debut, Trio, in 2018, he’s released five albums. He’s also performed extensively in China, whose jazz scene seems to be expanding incredibly – Sun was artistic director of the Blue Note China Jazz Orchestra 2018-20, and his guests at Blue Note Beijing include luminaries such as Rudresh Mahanthappa and Kris Davis.
The first eight tracks of the album – the first side – feature longtime collaborators Dana Saul (piano), Walter Stinson (bass) and Matt Honor (drums). In 2023, Sun decided to form a new band with a move into more melodic territories – though the change isn’t radical, I’d say. Bassist Walter Stinson remains, but it’s now Christian Li on piano, and Kayvon Gordon on drums. This new quartet appears on side two.
There are four covers, including a gorgeous Title Theme From The Legend Of Zelda by Koji Kondo, and a beautiful Latin interpretation of On The Street Where You Live by Lerner and Loewe with perfect comping by the band. Estate by Bruno Martino is a richly strange version for piano and saxophone. There’s a magical 12/8 version of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Yellow Magic (Tong Poo), associated with 80s Japanese synth-pop band Yellow Magic Orchestra.
The originals are a superb set. The quirky Far East Western is inspired by the films of Akira Kurosawa, while Rudderless Blues is a wayward, drunken-sounding exploration in ad lib tempo. Storied History, somewhat related to Giant Steps, is an exciting romp, down to the Coltranish duo of sax and drums. Kierkegaardashian is named after the wonderful website that creates mash-ups from quotes by the Danish philosopher and inane celebrity Kim Kardashian. (There’s a book, currently out of print but available second-hand, if you’re interested.) Sun has also invented Heideggerdashian, but sadly so far no one has taken up his challenge of mashing up the German monster… er, master.
J.D. Allen: The Dark, The Light, The Grey And The Colorful (Savant Records SCD2217)
Tenor saxophonist J.D. Allen is an exciting player in the mould of Coleman Hawkins, Sonny Rollins and Ben Webster. His closest model may be Dexter Gordon – he likes slow tempos and has a fat sound, which like later Gordon, has a hard post-Coltrane edge. Born in Detroit, Allen had a formative tenure with Betty Carter, and also worked with Lester Bowie, Louis Hayes, Butch Morris and David Murray.
His new release features three longtime colleagues, acoustic and electric bassists Gregg August and Ian Kenselaar, and drummer Nic Cacioppo, who have appeared on earlier Allen recordings for Savant. Gregg August appears on electric bass on track eight, while Kenselaar plays electric bass on tracks 5-7. Cacioppo and Kenselaar are a generation his junior. Cacciopo is a loud drummer with an unremitting bass drum, while Kenselaar fills the bass register with abandon.
I’ve reviewed several releases by Allen in recent years, and his sound is wonderful. However, none of the albums really stays in the memory. It may be that the problem is uninteresting material. But this Savant release is the best of them, and many readers will find it enjoyable.