James McGowan Ensemble: Threads Of Life
The discussion of this music amounts to dealing with but a percentage of a whole given that the work combines music, physical theatre and poetry. Being but a world-weary jazz hack I’m not equipped to offer informed comment on the poetry while my level of exposure to the physical theatre is limited to the images on the gatefold sleeve. But such is the depth of Mc Gowan’s individuality in terms of composition that the music’s relatively easily extracted from the rest and discussed accordingly.
In common with the Glorious Assembly Jazz Orchestra album I reviewed earlier this year there’s a sense here of the expansive instrumental line-up being justified. Thus the episodic nature of Marionettes feels in no way contrived and the deployment of instrumental colours lends the work greater substance.
If the time-honoured big-band balance between ensemble and soloist is considered then Richard Page’s alto sax on Second Chance, the interweaving of his clarinet with Mike Tremblay’s flute on People Pleaser and Mark Ferguson’s blowsy, ebullient trombone on Goddesses Of Fate rise to the surface in music that sometimes feels as though framing for soloists is not a high priority, even while a sense of the lust for life keeps sterility at bay, as it assuredly is on Fight Amongst Ourselves, which has a sense of theatricality about it which is purged of empty gestures.
Negatively speaking only six of the 18 titles break the four-minute barrier. While brevity doesn’t necessarily always ensure that jazz feeling’s curtailed (consider the 3.29 of Roy Eldridge’s version of Somebody Loves Me from December 1953 by way of refuting the idea) here it seems to have the effect of deflating proceedings despite the positive comments above.
Discography
Threads Of Life; On Your Own; Lost In The Labyrinth; Goddesses Of Fate; Battle For The Threads Of Life; Alone In The Dark; Second Chance; Temptation; Illusion Of Love; Obedience Or Freedom; Acceptance Of Fate; People Pleaser; Protagonist Tango; Fight Amongst Ourselves; Marionettes; Soliloquy; The Minotaur – Revolution; Strength In Community (61.34)
Ed Lister, Rebekah Waddell (t, flh); Mark Ferguson (tb); Richard Page (as, ss, cl, bcl); Mike Tremblay (ts, f); Keith Hartshorn-Walton (tu); Cendrine Despax, Jean Despax (vn); Maxime Despax (vla); Valerie Despax, Cal McGowan (clo); James McGowan (p, comp); Jean-Philippe Lapensee (b); Jamie Holmes (d); Aleks Demkina; Kateryna Karpova, Alisa Rogul, Lesana Yatsenko (poetry). Audio Valley Recording Studios. No location or date(s).
Canadian Council For The Arts
Nicola Meneghini: Metropolitan Views
This one features trumpet (doubling on flugelhorn), tenor sax, piano, bass and drums – a lineup that has been a staple of jazz since before I was born. Because of this, prior to listening I wondered to what degree (if any) the music deviated from the hard-bop template that defined so many albums put out by Blue Note back in the day. The music does indeed deviate, aided in no small part by the presence of both electric piano and electric bass guitar, making for an undemanding strain of fusion.
The lightness and politeness of New Piece comes on as jazz for people who can’t really cope with jazz, and indeed might well embody a strain of music that gets pumped into upmarket hotel foyers as a means for reassuring the equally upmarket guests. The preceding Pavane Jazz has about it an air of the songs that Peter Blegvad and John Greaves have written in the past, complete as it is with a kind of arch melodic quality that the group doesn’t make much of in the soloistic sense. The exception is Guidolin, who shows welcome restraint in ensuring that his undoubted ability doesn’t undermine his communicative effort.
However, in all this is one of those very in infrequent occasions in contemporary jazz where restraint has the effect of undermining the imprint of the music. More risk taking could have resulted in something more compelling.
Discography
Improvisation; Promenade; Giusy Theme; Suspense; Remember Chick; Solar Requiem; Pavane Jazz; New Piece (56.42)
Nicola Meneghini (t, flh); Fabio Pavan (ts); Samuele Donadio (elp); Christian Guidolin ( elb); Gabriele Grotto (d). Art Music Studio Recording, Bassano del Grappa (Vi), Italy, 25-26 January 2025.
Dodicilune ED612-4
Shadowlands: Two Minds
I guess the trio Azimuth – consisting of singer Norma Winstone, trumpet and flugelhorn player Kenny Wheeler and pianist John Taylor – serves as a precedent for this one. The comparison shows that despite the similar lineup similarities are only notional, differences in musical expression having effect. Here the emphases on folk music and poetry of a traditional bent put some water between this group and Azimuth even while a mood of calm, only infrequently ruffled reflection is common to both.
What’s often absent here is a sense of unease, although shadings of it are more than evident on Buds And Babies, where Fincker deploys his tenor sax in a manner pleasingly antithetical to the machine-tooled, high-precision sounds of so much contemporary jazz. The organ, tenor sax and recitation on Bourdon takes us into deeply reflective indeed contemplative territory while avoiding cod spirituality. The duration of three minutes and 16 seconds ensures that nothing outstays its welcome.
At first the title track tantalisingly hints at what happens when the trio abandon themselves to the moment and chance. Kinsella proves herself adept in the art of free vocalising before the music settles. The collective sense of understatement ensures the listener isn’t battered about the ears with technique.
Kinsella sings Roisin Dubh in Gaelic along with Maire Ni Eidhin and thus the music is drained of jazz content and replenished with folk, albeit folk likely to alienate lovers of traditional styles. The music goes about its business quietly though not unassumingly, and thus strikes a fine balance.
Discography
My Life Has Stood; Buds And Babies; Cornered; Roisin Dubh; Sainte; Maire Ni Eidhin; Two Minds; Rencontre; Rushes; Plumage Instrumental; Bourdon (43.03)
Robin Fincker (ts, cl); Kit Downes (p, org); Lauren Kinsella (v). BMC Studio, Budapest, 5-7 March 2025.
BMC CD372
