Artemis: Arboresque (Blue Note Records)
Nature and environmental beauty inspired this third Blue Note release from all-female quintet Artemis. The title means “tree-like”. The album features eight five-minute tracks, with one written by each musician and three borrowed from outside. The group has won a shelf-full of awards since its debut in 2016 – and is tipped to pick up more silverware for this perfectly balanced record.
Pianist and musical director Renee Rosnes deserves most of the credit for that balance. Her assured and graceful arrangements give Arboresque its unwavering charm. She’s joined by an all-star lineup of fellow New York residents: Ingrid Jensen on trumpet and Nicole Glover on tenor saxophone, plus bassist Noriko Ueda and drummer Alison Miller.
Wayne Shorter’s death in 2023 led to a flood of tribute tracks. This album includes one of the best. Rosnes spent time playing alongside the late sax great and she puts together a joyful, exuberant rendition of Footprints. There’s a lively passage of celebratory solo trading between the pianist and trumpeter, while Miller’s sparkling drum work is a delight throughout.
Echoes and electronic effects sneak into Jensen’s composition, Sights Unseen. It’s an upbeat number with frequent rhythmic shifts. Glover’s soloing is more intense here. Rosnes switches to Hammond organ and her shape-driven improvising style is a good fit for the instrument’s drip-by-drip sound.
Glover’s waltzing ballad Petrichor stands out. Brushes on the drumkit wrap around a muted trumpet and a fluffier tenor-saxophone voice. The song unfolds at snail-pace without ever losing its grip on the listener. A sensitive and generous piece of writing.
The album sleeve for Arboresque proclaims the music’s leafy intentions, but there’s also an unmistakable note of NYC in this bold and brilliant release. Widely described as a supergroup, Artemis is more than the sum of its esteemed parts thanks to the stellar work of its musical director. She may need to knock up a new set of shelves when award season rolls around.
Sasha Berliner: Fantôme (Outside in Music)
Vibraphonist and composer Sasha Berliner aims to break free from lazy labelling and restrictive categorisations with her third album as leader. She believes old and new ideas can coexist. Genre boundaries can blur, bend or dissolve. The listening experience is what really matters. And listeners will enjoy spending 45 minutes with this solid six-track release.
Guests pop into the studio and swap instruments throughout Fantôme. Taylor Eigsti and Lex Korten take turns at the piano and Fender Rhodes. David Adewumi appears twice with a trumpet and once with a flugelhorn, while Rico James plays tenor saxophone on one song. Harish Raghavan’s bass and Jongkuk Kim’s drums are present at all times. Berliner adds extra percussion and synthesizers.
UMMG, the opening track, was written by Billy Strayhorn and gets presented via a muscular performance. Vibraphone mallets zip and zing, with Raghavan’s bass bouncing behind them. As a soloist, Berliner favours coherent phrases and solid shapes. Eigsti’s piano soloing prefers rapid runs. It feels like a tightly composed piece and the group executes it with precision.
Many tunes on this record are animated by a stop-start momentum, surging to each apex and hanging there before plunging in the opposite direction. Zenith is typical in this regard. Horns enunciate a simple melody, while the vibraphone fills blank space around them. The group propels each individual player by swelling up, simmering down and rising up again in the background.
The freest material arrives on the final track, Private Investigation. It’s another jumpy piece with loop-the-loop energy. Solos from piano and vibraphone overlap. In the final minute, there’s an unpredictable atmosphere that stands in strong contrast to the rest of this well-ordered album.
Fantôme showcases Berliner’s unique musical personality and priorities, with a consistent character running through the music. The listening experience is enjoyable and the shifting instrumentation keeps things fresh. Despite the vibraphonist’s bold claims, it’s a record that takes few risks and neatly slots into the category “contemporary jazz”. But is there anything wrong with that?
Matt Carmichael: Dancing With Embers (mattcarmichaelmusic.com)
Listeners take a visit to the shores of Loch Ranza for tenor saxophonist Matt Carmichael’s third album as a leader. Each track expresses a moment or an emotion from his experiences at this idyllic spot on the Isle of Arran. As on his previous two records, Carmichael’s music-making combines methods from jazz and Scottish folk traditions. It’s a mature and melody-driven release.
A solid quintet is at the heart of Dancing With Embers. Charlie Stewart (fiddle), Fergus McCreadie (piano), Ali Watson (double bass) and Tom Potter (drums) have played alongside Carmichael since their teenage years – and they regularly appear on each other’s records. Two guest guitarists join the mix this time, plus Rachel Sermanni on vocals and Brìghde Chaimbeul on Scottish small pipes.
Each of the album’s 12 tracks features a short motif that gets passed from one musician to the next, evolving and expanding as the mood dictates. Piano, fiddle and electric guitar let a dreamy melodic shape rise, recede and resurface on the first tune, A Distant Glow. No bassline, no drumbeat, no long solos. Just three musicians coalescing around a handful of notes.
The two tracks starring small pipes appear one after the other. Beckoning Night blends high-pitched pipes with Carmichael’s viscous low-register sound. It’s a patient, slow but stirring performance. Aglow has a happier spirit, gaining momentum as instruments reel around a compact central phrase.
Rachel Sermanni’s wordless vocals on Mangata enter the mix almost unnoticed. Her husky-edged syllables feel like an uncanny reflection of the band leader’s dulcet saxophone voice. This is another hesitant piece that unfurls with two steps forward and one step back.
Matt Carmichael’s music treads different paths to many of his contemporaries and is rich, refreshing and memorable for that reason. Dancing With Embers has a more reflective mood than his previous output, exploring romantic ideas with clearer eyes and lower energy. But it’s another outstanding release that transports listeners to an idyllic and inspiring landscape.
