Out Front: Buried Webs (Green Eyes Records)
It’s difficult to review this album without explaining the influence (or rather, influences) behind it. The whole project was born from putting together a band that would play the music of trumpeter Booker Little and pianist Andrew Hill, but before long the musicians began composing original tunes using the ingredients and influence of Little and Hill. The result is nothing short of fantastic.
There’s something timeless about the music and the production. The music sounds as if it could have been released in the 1950s or 1960s, but this isn’t a gimmick. It’s just good choices being made about how the music should be presented.
This is my kind of jazz: there’s energy, power, bravery and no shortage of excitement. It should appeal to experienced lovers of jazz and newcomers that want that Blue Note feel but with a dash of contemporary thrown in.
The patient build of Mycelium before a toe-tapping swing section, the cool, unhurried introduction of The Roots That Clutch, the intricate, interweaving brass on Carmine At Crepuscule and the throbbing vibrating bass taking the spotlight on Song Unlimited balanced beautifully with a drumming masterclass are among the attractions of this set.
Band leader and trumpeter Nick Malcolm will be known to followers of the UK jazz scene, most probably through his role with The Jazz Defenders or as sideman to fellow Bristolian Rebecca Nash (among others), but this is a bit of a sidestep and really shows his impressive talents. Neither he nor anyone else in the impressive lineup puts a foot wrong. For me this album has been practically on repeat for a week or so and shows no signs of being replaced anytime soon.
Smooth Elevator: Moving Target (Losen Records LOS3192 CD)
I’m always wary when I hear or see the description “avant-garde jazz” because it usually ends up being a pleasant way to denote music that is experimental without any real goal or designated outcome. I’m happy to reveal that Smooth Elevator is experimental but that the music here is engaging and interesting.
Opener Slow Mover and Miguel’s Panda sound like jam sessions, while FutuRISIKO is a homage to those 80s and 90s arcade machines where the risk of a giant ape throwing barrels at an Italian plumber is all too real. Leda is a lovely Latin-guitar folk tune, while the ocean deep bass on the wonderfully named Lullaby Of Rattlesnakes helps create a gloomy, forbidding soundscape reminiscent of a David Lynch movie.
There are some lovely aspects here, particularly a bass tone that’s between warm and thuddy and sits beautifully in the mix (check out the late night and boozy P.M. Gone). The band seems larger than it is as the sound is full and heavy. But it never tips into loud or weighed down: this is a credit to the musicians and the production of the music. It could easily become thick but it remains light and buoyant.
On later tracks, the music seems to switch to B-movie territory. Urban Modesty has a guitar tone redolent of the bluegrass and rock and roll players of the 1950s, the twinge of echo painting a picture of a drive-in movie. You can almost see a lone woman being chased by a shadowy stranger while the footsteps grow closer and the popcorn gets munched.
If you’re one of those people who believes jazz has no boundary, that it’s a hostel open to all styles unable to find a home, the chances are you’ll enjoy this album. It’s as if Brian Eno found a stack of jazz albums in a Berlin basement whilst going through a blues phase. It’s heavy on sound effects but is determined to be spontaneous and impulsive and it succeeds because of it. If this is avant-garde, sign me up.
Tumultr: Do You See What I See (Tumultr Records)
The Nordic jazz stereotype often seems a reflection of the area’s wilder landscapes – wide open and sometimes bare. So it’s little surprise, after hearing the first minutes of opener Hegre, to read that four-piece Tumultr hail from Norway. Their debut album (on first listen, anyway) shows signs of being your typical Nordic offering. But give it a few tracks and you will experience much more as it pulls in not just jazz but also rock and some funk. The result is as big as it is impressive. Make no mistake this is a very good, very accomplished album. Kimyou is an early example of this, with its straight drum parts on the chorus before it eventually drifts into a fine guitar solo (complete with a rock tone, of course).
A good stylistic reference would be the American juggernaut Snarky Puppy. They’ve built a career around taking rock, gospel and whatever else fits at the time and applying a jazz approach, with solos and improvisation. Tumultr do all of this but with a fraction of the number of musicians – very, very impressive.
There are moments where the band really flies. Tracks such as Ikigai, Ossu and Kazahana move at a fantastic rate, the drums driving the music on. These are really impressive tracks that allow the listener to nod their head and experience the band’s energy. But then there are moments of reflection: Natsukashi and Jorull are audio versions of quiet contemplation as the sun comes up in a Japanese wood – beautiful. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this album. It’s modern, brilliantly produced and never puts a foot wrong. Excellent.
