Label: Self Released
Right
off the top of this set list, the program is plainly spelled out:
Today’s Forecast calls for reverence of the smoky early ‘60s, a la that
rose-tinted pushback from the mid ‘80s. These here must be clean cut,
ambitious young people locking horns for glory’s restoration! Just like
Blanchard and Harrison before them, we herald the new-New Morning in
America. The leadoff solos even seem to obliquely recall “Part Time
Lover”, one of Stevie’s finer commercial singles of that era, which
these dapper cats must have ingested from FM radio between spoonfuls’s
of strained peas. Wait…What? ... No, cancel the DeLorian time machine
ride: it all seemed so predestined until about four minutes in, when
the musicians switched up gears and dropped the beat and us into
contemporary times, where meaningful music tends to belong... I’ve got
to admit, though: that was pretty hip. And now we must start again.
New Chapter.
This
is the second album from Colorado’s Jason Klobnak Quintet, twenty-some
months following the release of the JKQ’s very auspicious opening salvo
Mountain, Move. In the time elapsed since then some key components of
the band have changed: a bassist moved to the Big Apple, a keyboardist
answered the call of our Uncle Sam. However, much has remained largely
constant - chiefly the bandleader himself. This Klobnak is the same
trumpeter-composer from 2013, only two years more mature, two good
strides closer to capturing the elusive Self through creativity. Not
much of one for fireworks and revolutionary posture, this guy’s more a
thinker, a worker. Generous to his well-chosen friends. Likes things
kept tidy. Probably plots carefully the route to his destinations but
still thoroughly enjoys the journey. Honestly, I’m just supposing here -
Jason and I don’t actually know one another socially very well. But
this is Jazz, and a good player or writer or arranger will clearly
express to the listener their spirit through the music, and Jason
Klobnak is a real good Jazz musician. His trumpet flights manage to
excite without many departures from the instrument’s middle register and
the compositions prepared for this project gel together on multiple
levels, oftentimes breezing melodically above but all business below
decks in the engine room. Throughout there’s a steady sense of
determination, optimism, congeniality and that certain bump which
readily identifies this musical strain as early twenty-first century
Jazz music, a deep-rooted varietal.
1. Today's Forecast: Sunny, High of 80 Degrees and a Chance of Snow
2. Breaking Point
3. Awe
4. New Chapter
5. Stay in the Game
6. Forward
7. Maybe Next Time
8. For Them
9. It Won't Return Void
10. The Other Side of Circumstances
11. Wait... What?
Jason Klobnak - trumpet
Elijah Samuels - tenor sax
Annie Booth - piano
Kim Bird - bass
Paul Mullikin & Alejandro Castano - drums
