Oh People: Part-Time Elegance (April Records APR140CD)
Oh People is a quintet consisting of five young, highly respected Danish musicians who came together for this debut album recorded in 2023 at the prestigious Royal Danish Academy Of Music. Four out of the five members contribute tunes to the programme described as having been inspired by Duke Ellington and beyond. Much on offer is redolent of an earlier era without the clichés to indicate where the band is coming from.
Minus a pianist, the guitarist, Casper Christensen, is often the focal point, starting with the Kessel/Burrell stylings of the swinging opening track The Beat and carried over into the lilting ballad Parisian Love Affair graced by his nod to Django. The need for variation is enhanced by the samba rhythms of Beginnings and the title track, carrying the intended elegance the group intended.
Andreas Toftemark is straight down the line perfect on tenor, not to be outdone by trumpeter Jonas Due, who is happy to be muted a good percentage of the time; both frontline horns ride gracefully over solid bass and drums.
This is good middle-of-the-road jazz, a pleasure to the ear; a coarse note is never in evidence.
Tim Berne, Tom Rainey, Gregg Belisle-Chi: Yikes Too (Screwgun OOYH 002)
Saxophonist Tim Berne has never made any concessions to popularity or accepted norms and now into his 70s he shows no sign of choosing a different path as he continues to push the boundaries of improvised music.
For this latest release on his own long-established Screwgun label he is joined by guitarist Gregg Belisle-Chi and drummer Tom Rainey, resulting in a powerful trio delivering mostly uncompromising, in-your-face compositions, all from the Berne pen apart from Julius Hemphill, which supplies some of the lighter moments.
This is a two-CD set, everything recorded in 2024; the first CD is studio-based via Firehouse 12 in New Haven, CT, the second a live concert from Seattle’s Royal Room, with four tune titles used on both occasions. There is nothing to choose in the performance level between each location, as the intensity and the commitment are a constant.
Berne’s alto delivers some pretty telling statements, his tone occasionally eliciting a buzzy quality, often in unison with the guitarist, whose methodology owes much to the sounds we associate with rock music. In isolation, their attack is often relentless whatever the tempo, although there are the odd allowances for the occasional moment of reflection. Drummer Rainey supplies plenty of forthright drumming, very rarely turning to conventional time but totally appropriate for the mood required.
We arrive at the back end of the second disc before something more recognisable arrives in Middle Seat Blues – not as one would expect a 12-bar but a subtle blend of arresting bluesy nuances.
Bill O’Connell: Touch (Jojo Records JJR-010)
New York born pianist Bill O’Connell could correctly be described as a veteran, given that his first album as a leader goes way back to 1978, the first of less than a dozen albums under his own name. Much of his time has been spent as an educator at Rutgers University and touring in the band of the late flautist Dave Valentin, who died in 2017.
The Valentin milieu was Latin-jazz oriented but for Touch, O’Connell has returned to a straight down the line jazz trio format. He uses a lot of his own material, rubbing shoulders with Herbie Hancock’s Maiden Voyage, Three Little Words and I Hear A Rhapsody. Joining him are bass player Santi Debriano and drummer Billy Hart, the latter now approaching his mid-80s.
It would be easy for these seasoned professionals to coast through a session of this nature but there is plenty of bounce in evidence, indicating this date was important to each member of the trio. The leader reveals some interesting harmonic variations as he brings his considerable technique to bear on his originals, containing some impressive single-note runs.
If Maiden Voyage may have become a slightly overworked item for many pianists, the two standards which could also fall into the same category, are both given nicely conceived re-workings, leading to a fresh lease of life.
