Scopes - Age of Reason (September 10, 2021 Whirlwind Recordings)

Following their critically acclaimed eponymous debut in 2018, international jazz quartet SCOPES bring their blend of accessibility and adventure to Whirlwind Recordings for their second album, Age of Reason. Led by Austrian drummer Mathias Ruppnig, German bassist Tom Berkmann and French pianist Tony Tixier, American altoist Matt Chalk makes his debut with the quartet on this their second full-length release.

The group’s name SCOPES describes “the frame we all work within”, says Berkmann. “SCOPES is a creative space that we share, without boundaries.” The group’s second release, Age of Reason, is a personal and philosophical reflection on the pressing matters of a time, when all generations need to come closer together and become more aware of their surroundings. That feeling of maturity emerges on Age of Reason too – it’s the first SCOPES recording to feature the compositional skills of each member, delivering some thrilling results.

Age of Reason opens with ‘Deep Water’, a Tixier composition that carefully balances drive and expansion in a “dive into the depths of our biggest unacknowledged dreams.” For Ruppnig, the album’s aims are encapsulated by this tune– “the songs have an easy feel, and they’re not too specific – every musician has the space to have his own voice speak.” ‘More Hope’ came to Ruppnig when faced with relentless negativity during the Coronavirus period, with characteristically tumbling solo contributions from Tixier and space for Berkmann’s introspective soloing. The angular, bop-ish feel of ‘Continuity’ (also from the pen of Ruppnig) follows a similar theme, on the need to keep a creative drive no matter what life throws at you.

‘Vice’ begins on a completely different tack – Berkmann’s relaxed bossa slowly spirals out of control, aided by Chalk’s frenetic solo contributions. “We call ourselves a modern jazz band, but maybe this symbolises the urge to not always feel so hip,” says Ruppnig. Chalk contributes ‘Riotous Silence’ to the album, borrowing the title from a self-penned poem written in 2019. The freest track on the album, here we find SCOPES at their most focused, on Chalk’s quest to find “new ways to more fully express atemporality.” The title track follows with its combination of melodic ease and structural space, before ‘Gift of Time’, a tune born from the idea of how precious time is. Unable to tour or perform, SCOPES used that time constructively to create and explore the new sounds heard on Age of Reason. ‘Chocolate Travels Slowly’ is a band favourite featuring Tixier on blistering form, before the album closes with ‘Here’s My Prayer’, written for Tixier by Chalk with the aim of “finding melodies and chords that we could all really sink our teeth into.”

Summarising, Ruppnig describes Age of Reason as a “transportation of feelings. “It's a very emotional album, and I hope listeners will find their own stories when listening to it.” SCOPES make that task a pleasant one for audiences of all dispositions.

1. Deep Water

2. More Hope

3. Continuity

4. Vice

5. Riotous Silence

6. Age of Reason

7. Gift of Time

8. Chocolate Travels Slowly

9. Here's My Prayer

Scopes

Matt Chalk - alto saxophone

Tony Tixier - piano/synth

Tom Berkmann - bass

Mathias Ruppnig - drums

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Tony Tixier - I Am Human (Whirlwind Recordings)

In response to a world struggling with disruption and discord, Tony Tixier has instinctively turned towards his music as a way to re-establish the sundered connections of everyday existence. I Am Human, his latest limited edition release, was created when he returned from a sell-out US tour to find himself locked down in his Paris apartment. An escape route appeared out of a happy combination of chances: a loan of a new piano from Yamaha and an encounter with a neighbour, David Freiss, who turned out to be an expert sound engineer. Tixier conceived a plan to spontaneously record a series of pieces, all in one take, and then send them out across the world to a chosen band of his closest musical accomplices - Scott Tixier, Hermon Mehari, Ben Leifer, Logan Richardson and Adrien Soleiman - musicians with whom he felt so closely in tune that the enforced separation of time and space could be overcome - and invited them to overdub a response to create a series of virtual duet recordings “Each track is dedicated to a friend, someone I feel close to - I sent them the track in the morning, and by the afternoon I had the track back with their parts.”

‘Someone To Watch Over Me’ features Scott Tixier, Tony’s brother and also his twin, playing violin on the tune made famous by Billie Holiday - the level of empathy is otherworldly. “As humans, we all need a special person to watch over us: for me, this is my twin brother, my best friend.” Each track is dedicated to a friend and selected to talk about a different aspect of human emotion: ‘But Beautiful’ was sent to trumpeter Hermon Mehari as the message in the song sat naturally with his optimistic personality, ‘Like Someone In Love’ went all the way to Kansas City and love-struck bassist Ben Leifer and ‘You Know I Care’ elicited a rare, deeply committed performance on tenor sax from Adrien Soleiman. Tony contacted his longtime bandmate Logan Richardson, recalling an original tune over a well-loved sequence that they used to play: ‘When They Happen’ is the spontaneous result, developing into a thrillingly free flowing outro – “Logan is always so creative - like a visionary! We’re all a bunch of crazy guys and we just played what we felt at that moment.”.

Each side of the vinyl release is opened with a performance of an original solo piece by Tixier, both recorded back to back. ‘Leaking Life’ is a meditation on the passing of time and a call to action to make the most of every day. ‘Humain’ is an expression of his own identity “A presentation of myself - I don’t see myself as mixed race - I am 100% black, 100% white, 100% human.”

Tixier has travelled the world with the likes of Christian Scott and Keyon Harrold and performed for audiences across four continents, but this is his most personal, direct work to date. Reaching out across the world, sustained by a network of friends, he has delivered a statement for our times that transcends the limitations of remote recording with the sheer force of its emotional connection.

I am breathing and I feel.

I am an individual with my own set of eyes, my own pair of ears.

With these singularities I am (some)one.

A human being among all.

The addition of each soul breathing around the world is the full name of beauty.

We are all connected,

Stay aware...

- TONY TIXIER

1. Humain (Preview Only)

2. Someone To Watch Over Me

3. But Beautiful

4. Like Someone In Love

5. You Know I Care

6. Leaking Life

7. When They Happen

Tony Tixier - piano

Scott Tixier - violin

Hermon Mehari - trumpet

Ben Leifer - double bass

Logan Richardson - alto saxophone

Adrien Soleiman - tenor saxophone

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