Jerome Sabbagh & Greg Tuohey - No Filter (SUNNYSIDE RECORDS October 26, 2018)

There are special bonds that can withstand distance and time. Saxophonist Jerome Sabbagh and guitarist Greg Tuohey’s partnership has lasted from their days in college at the beginning of the 1990s, through moves and interruption, only to be reinvigorated with the creation of a new ensemble and recording. The resultant No Filter eschews pretension in an effort to provide music that cuts straight to the heart. 

Sabbagh and Tuohey met at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Coming from opposite sides of the world (Sabbagh from France and Tuohey from New Zealand), they stared playing together, and quickly became friends and roommates. The two moved to New York around the same time and created the band Flipside, which included bassist Matt Penman and drummer Darren Beckett. Flipside recorded an eponymous album for Naxos Jazz in 1997 and toured for a number of years. 

In the early 2000s, Tuohey took a ten-year leave from the jazz scene but remained active in rock bands, touring and recording, most notably with singer/songwriter Joe Pug. Upon moving to Illinois, where he lived for three years, Tuohey began to play jazz again around Chicago and recorded an album, First, before eventually moving back to New York. There he reconnected with, among others, pianist Aaron Parks, who hired him for his band Little Big. 

Sabbagh remained involved in jazz, playing in a trio with Paul Motian in one of the legendary drummer’s last appearances at the Village Vanguard and releasing a string of well-received albums, including The Turn (Sunnyside, 2014) with his quartet, featuring guitarist Ben Monder. 

In New York, Sabbagh and Tuohey put a band together. Joe Martin, one of today’s great bassists and an alumnus of Sabbagh’s quartet, was an obvious choice. Drummer Kush Abadey impressed when he came to a session at Sabbagh’s house; his commitment, versatility and musicianship cemented his position in the quartet. 

The two leaders knew they wanted to record an album of original pieces. Following the success of The Turn in the audiophile community, they also aimed to release the best sounding record possible (No Filter will be available in audiophile vinyl, cut all analog by Bernie Grundman, as well as high resolution download). Sabbagh and Tuohey both wrote a number of tunes, fourteen of which were recorded live to two-track tape by James Farber at Sear Sound in New York City. 

Recording direct to analog tape, all in the same room, without edits or overdubs, required some preparedness. Following a tour last fall, the band knew the material and veteran engineer Farber mixed on the fly. This urgency and directness are very much representative of the band’s esthetics. The goal was to capture the moment and produce an album in which there is as little barrier as possible between the artists and listeners. 

The seven pieces eventually chosen for the album are short and punchy, melodic and lyrical. They keep the listener engaged and provide the four musicians a canvas for improvising, interplay and exploration. Though Sabbagh and Tuohey have different compositional identities, their contributions work well together and the history and deep trust between the two leaders is evident in the way they phrase melodies together and play off each other throughout the album. 

The recording begins with Sabbagh’s exploratory “Vicious,” an extended minor blues on which the band really lets loose. Tuohey’s “Lurker” is meant to have a slightly sinister vibe, though it remains engaging and grooving. On the beautiful ballad “No Road,” Tuohey expresses the emotion of coming to the end of the road, in this case a marriage, while his “Chaos Reigns” holds together by the faintest of structures even as it lets the solos fly off with abandon. 

Tuohey’s “Ghostly” has an Elvin Jones inspired groove and the lyricism of the solos belies the song’s intricate harmonic structure. Sabbagh’s “Cotton” is a through-composed melody on which the saxophonist sought to emulate the vulnerability of the human voice, singing over dissonant chords. The recording concludes with Sabbagh’a “You Are On My Mind,” a catchy melody, which shows the band’s deep connection to swing and the jazz tradition. 

With this new record, Jerome Sabbagh and Greg Tuohey have sought to bring listeners a performance of emotion, depth and resonance. After ten years apart, they have reunited to take their longtime musical partnership to new height with No Filter. 

Recorded by James Farber at Sear Sound, New York City, live to 1/2 inch two track analog tape at 30 ips, December 22, 2017 

Mastered by Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering, Hollywood 

There are no edits or overdubs on this recording. 

Produced by Jerome Sabbagh & Greg Tuohey

Jerome Sabbagh - tenor saxophone

Greg Tuohey - guitar

Joe Martin - bass

Kush Abadey - drums

1. Vicious

2. Lurker

3. No Road

4. Chaos Reigns

5. Ghostly

6. Cotton

7. You Are On My Mind

Aaron Parks - Little Big (ROPEADOPE RECORDS October 19, 2018)

Aaron Parks Little Big, the new Ropeadope album from the acclaimed pianist, keyboardist and composer, is at once the culmination of his brilliant early career and the long-awaited follow-up to his Blue Note Records debut, Invisible Cinema. That 2008 release, with its gorgeously melodic writing and improvising and deft use of indie-rock, electronica and hip-hop elements, established Parks as one of the most gifted and original young voices in jazz. “This is the natural successor to that record,” says the New York-based artist, 34. “It’s taking the ideas of that project and doubling down on them—fully committing to that direction.” 

Little Big also marks the recorded debut of the intuitive working group that gives the album its title (and which takes its name from a fantastical novel by John Crowley—a favorite book of Parks and, the pianist notes, Wayne Shorter). Parks handled the production duties, with engineering by Daniel Schlett (whose credits include The War on Drugs and Ghostface Killah). The album was mixed by both Schlett and Grizzly Bear bassist/producer Chris Taylor, the latter of whom Parks met in a Seattle big band at the age of 10. “We put a lot of time and care into the way this record sounds, and the result”—simultaneously crystalline and warm, postmodern and natural—“makes me really happy,” Parks adds. 

After experimenting with various lineups and sessions, Parks landed on three musicians ideally suited for this atmospheric, genre-bending new work. “This feels like a real band, one that will be around for a while,” he says. Greg Tuohey is the longest-running member, a guitarist who places taste and tone ahead of chops-focused bravado—or, as Parks puts it, “It’s like he’s chasing Miles Davis’ phrasing with Jimi Hendrix’s attitude.” On electric bass is David “DJ” Ginyard Jr., a left-handed player with a distinctively lyrical approach and an aptitude for seeing the bigger musical picture. “He really understands what the bass does, and he thinks super compositionally,” Parks says, noting how some of Ginyard’s basslines have become integral to the songs. Anchoring the unit is Tommy Crane, a forward-looking, stylistically resourceful drummer who brings both explosive creativity and a producer’s knack for precision. “He has a very unique ability to internalize and commit to the particular heartbeat of each song,” Parks explains, “but always with this vital and elastic human element, which is rare to hear in combination with the kinds of grooves we’re exploring.” 

Together they interpret a panoramic set of Parks’ original compositions—from the 21st-century fusion of “Kid,” to the odd-metered studio jam “Professor Strangeweather,” to the trip-hop ambiance and folkish melody of “Bells.” The psychedelic “Aquarium”—“probably the sexiest tune on the album,” Parks says, chuckling—conjures up the trippy, sultry neo-soul vibe of Meshell Ndegeocello, before Tuohey offers a solo that channels Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood. “Digital Society” somehow manages to evoke Afrobeat, bluegrass and Aphex Twin. “Lilac” is, as Parks describes it, “a solo-piano pop tune.” The leader’s “secret favorite” cut, “Doors Open,” seeks inspiration in late Talk Talk and the “earnestness” of Brian Blade & the Fellowship Band. That closing track is “definitely not afraid to go straight for your heart,” Parks says with a laugh. 

A prodigal talent raised outside of Seattle, Parks moved with his family to study at the Manhattan School of Music when he was 16. Two years later, on the recommendation of a teacher, NEA Jazz Master Kenny Barron, he was invited to join trumpet great Terence Blanchard’s band. That tenure began the relationship with Blue Note that would yield Invisible Cinema, released when Parks was just 24. In The Guardian, John Fordham called the album “a real independent vision,” adding that “Parks is a fast-rising star.” In the September 2008 issue of JazzTimes, Parks was named a “New Jazz Visionary” alongside current giants like Esperanza Spalding, Robert Glasper and Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah. Over the ensuing decade, Parks certainly made good on that early promise. He was an essential presence in Kurt Rosenwinkel’s band, including on the guitarist’s well-received double album from 2012, Star of Jupiter. As a member of the supergroup James Farm, also featuring saxophonist Joshua Redman, bassist Matt Penman and drummer Eric Harland, Parks put out two celebrated albums on Nonesuch. In 2013 he released his first disc as an ECM Records artist, Arborescence, which DownBeat’s J.D. Considine called “a forest-invoking solo-piano effort marked by wonderfully detailed narratives and a harmonic palette worthy of Ravel.” Find the Way, an ECM trio session with bassist Ben Street and drummer Billy Hart, followed last year and garnered equally enthusiastic reviews. 

On Little Big, Parks taps into the lessons he’s absorbed throughout those far-reaching experiences, while also progressing some of the au courant sounds he investigated on Invisible Cinema. “This feels like the most personal record I’ve ever made,” he says. What’s more, the album reflects his worldview, an outlook in which optimism and inclusion supersede politics. “There’s a lot out there right now to protest against, and it feels like it’s the artist’s duty to create music that reckons with the issues of the day. Nonetheless, this is not a protest record. It’s not against anything; it’s much more for something. What we’re aiming to do is blend genres and ideas in an open and fluid way, so that structure and freedom work together to serve the larger concept of the song. It’s a way of working together that feels representative of the kind of world I could imagine many of us might want to live in.” 

Aaron Parks - piano, keyboards

Greg Tuohey - guitar

David Ginyard - bass

Tommy Crane - drums

1. Kid

2. Small Planet

3. The Trickster

4. Professor Strangeweather

5. Lilac

6. Aquarium

7. Digital Society

8. Siren

9. Mandala

10. Hearth

11. The Fool

12. Bells

13. Rising Mind

14. Good Morning

15. Doors Open

all songs written by aaron parks (invisible cinema music, bmi)

produced by aaron parks

mixed by chris taylor & daniel schlett

recorded by daniel schlett at strange weather

mastered by greg calbi at sterling sound

executive producers - aaron parks & tommy hawk wilson

creative consultant - judie stein

additional keyboards by eliot krimsky

additional production by chris taylor

additional engineering by zach brown

assistant engineers garret deblock & kiri stensby

assistant mastering engineer steve fallone

album photography by aaron parks

album design by aaron parks & ania parks

album layout assistance by kaya marks

band photography by deneka peniston