Michael Blake - Fulfillment (2016)

Source & Label: Songlines

“Blake gets incredible range from his band here…beautiful stuff for our ears…[not] any less great than Joshua Redman or Banford Marsalis or even Sonny Rollins.”

– Will Layman, PopMatters, reviewing In the Grand Scheme of Things

Over the last 9 years, New York saxophonist Michael Blake has been periodically returning to Vancouver, which he left in 1986, to create and record new works with his pick of Vancouver improvisers. Amor de Cosmos (2007), a sextet somewhat inspired by his BC roots, featured Chris Gestrin, Dylan van der Schyff and André Lachance. In the Grand Scheme of Things (2012) was by his Variety Hour quartet (Gestrin, van der Schyff and JP Carter). This new release, his most ambitious in terms of writing and arranging, adds cello and guitar plus guest instrumentalists and, on two pieces, Michael’s own lyrics. It is also his most conceptual work since his debut as leader, Kingdom of Champa (1997), his jazz portrait of Vietnam. This time the connection is, more indirectly, with India. Originally titled The Komagata Maru Blues, this suite of music was inspired by a tragic immigration incident in Vancouver in 1914, when a Japanese freighter carrying several hundred East Indian immigrants (almost all Sikh) was turned away using exclusionist, racists laws. Michael has a family connection to this history through his great grand uncle H.H. Stevens, a Conservative Member of Parliament who declared at a public meeting, “I intend to stand up absolutely on all occasions on this one great principle – of a white country and a white British Columbia.”
Blake never knew Stevens, and grew up in a progressive environment. But the connection catalyzed a creative process, one which was also affected by the Syrian war: “I didn’t want the center of the work to be about the failure of it all, rather I wanted to tell the story from several different perspectives and show how far we’ve come. But then the current refugee crisis came into play and that definitely sank into my conscience while I was writing the music….The biggest departure for me was writing lyrics. Most people have never heard of the KM and probably never will. So I think the lyrics broaden the scope of the music into what listeners can imagine for themselves. For me ‘The Ballad of Gurdit Singh’ captures that moment in Vancouver harbor when the passengers are not welcomed with open arms.”  Read more...

1 Sea Shanty
2 Perimeters
3 The Ballad of Gurdit Singh
4 Arrivals
5 Departures
6 Battle at Baj Baj
7 Exaltation
8 The Soldier and the Saint

Michael Blake, tenor & soprano saxophone, compositions
J.P. Carter, trumpet, electronics
Peggy Lee, cello
Chris Gestrin, piano, MicroMoog
Ron Samworth, electric guitar, banjo
André Lachance, bass
Dylan van der Schyff, drums, percussion

Special guests:
Aram Bajakian, acoustic & electric guitar (1, 6, 7)
Emma Postl, voice (1, 3)
Neelamjit Dhillon, tabla (7)

BUY THIS ALBUM

 

Matt Parker Trio - Present Time (2016)

Label: Self Released

Source: Something Else!

I don’t select a Best New Artist every year like they do at the Grammies, but if I were to do that, Matt Parker would have easily taken the prize in 2013 for his standout debut album Worlds Put Together. The tenor sax maestro strikes me as a Joe Lovano with the gumption of Rahsaan Roland Kirk or Eric Dolphy, a fun combination of qualities that is so mindful of the jazz saxophone’s soulful past while giving in to impulse, an oft-forgotten tenant of what jazz is about, too.
For Present Time (February 12, 2016 by Bynk Records), Parker puts his horn into even sharper focus by paring down his band to just the rhythm section of Alan Hampton (bass) and Reggie Quinerly (drums). It means that every note blown by Parker carries a heavier load and the revelation of Present Time is that he can not only handle it, he shines brighter as the spotlight gets hotter.
Part of the secret to delivering when there’s no one there behind him handling the chord changes is being more personable in the delivery. Parker doesn’t fuss over whether he’s leaving behind too many notes or too few, as long as they carry out the right passion. No where can that be more evident than on blues numbers like “Noah’s Arc” and here he conjures up Coleman Hawkins in a particularly gruff mood. Contrast that with the cheerfulness of “Present Time,” a throwback melody played over Quinerly’s modern, almost drum ‘n’ bass beat that vacillates between 7/8 and 7/4.
Parker is fond of stretching out toward avant-garde while maintaining a connection to tradition, as “New Horizons” makes clear. His wailing notes on soprano sax with an improvising Quinerly beside him is mindful of Coltrane/Ali’s Interstellar Space except that Parker is too melodically inclined to let it get that far outside. Halfway in he ushers in a new figure with Hampton, and pours out fills of trills with Hampton pulling out the bow. He goes without any accompaniment at all for “The Gong,” making exhortations first on soprano and then tenor sax (sounding as brawny as a baritone) punctuated by strikes to a gong. On his final note, he blows through both horns in a nod to Kirk.
Parker showcases his facility for playing alongside a vocalist on a handful of songs performed with Emily Braden. Most of her performances are wordless, assuming a co-lead part that supplements Parker, but for the standard “I’m Confession’ (That I Love You)” she sings the lyrics while Parker goes into Lester Young mode. He proves to be a fine accompanist behind Braden, acting almost as a harmonizing voice, and amps up the energy level a notch for his solo turn.
The only other non-original is a Charles Mingus composition that has never been fully recorded. “Song To Keki” is a pretty reading of Mingus’ melody, but when he enters the solo portion he flies off into orbit, returning still feelin’ jaunty and improvising like no one in particular.
The days when a teenaged Parker was just getting started playing in New Orleans are alluded to in the second line pulse of “Sixteen,” with Jerome Jennings (Sonny Rollins, Christian McBride) adding tambourine. Parker cuts loose on tenor in a funky aside that surely would have filled up his saxophone case on a French Quarter street corner. It’s a nice and tidy wrap up of the whole album.
Present Time confirms the resourcefulness and playfulness of Matt Parker’s saxophone that’s so engaging and so lively. These are qualities that shine through whether he’s playing in an orchestra, sextet or this trio. Show me someone who says jazz is no fun to listen to and I’ll show them Matt Parker. S. Victor Aaron

1. Noah's Arc 04:52
2. New Horizons 06:07
3. Winter's Gone 04:11
4. One For Duke 06:05
5. I'm Confessin' (That I Love You) 04:18
6. Song To Keki 04:08
7. Present Time 07:10
8. The Gong 02:38
9. Sixteen 03:07
    

Matt Parker, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone and gong
Alan Hampton, bass (all but 8)
Reggie Quinerly, drums (all but 8)

Special Guest
Emily Braden, vocals (3,5,7)
Jerome Jennings, tambourine (9)  

BUY THIS ALBUM

 

Roxy Coss - Restless Idealism (2016)

Source & Label: Origin Records

Best known for her work with trumpeter Jeremy Pelt's group, New York saxophonist / composer Roxy Coss developed the compositions and group concept for her second recording during a three-year residency of her Quintet at New York's famed Smoke Jazz Club. With Pelt on trumpet, long-time band members guitarist Alex Wintz and pianist Chris Pattishall, and the dynamic duo of bassist Dezron Douglas and drummer Willie Jones III, Roxy's created a thoughtful, highly emotive and undeniably fearless recording. Inspired by the Jazz Messengers, Wayne Shorter, and Kurt Rosenwinkel's group with Mark Turner, Coss further defines her own unique voice through these ten original compositions. "Just like Coltrane, Coss achieves a perfect balance of lyricism and intensity in her improvisations through a superb sense of timing, and her rhythmic and harmonic structures." - All About Jazz 

01. Don't Cross The Coss (4:10)
02. Waiting (6:31)
03. Push (5:09)
04. Persperctive (5:28)
05. Breaking Point (7:53)
06. Happiness Is A Choice (5:15)
07. Tricky (6:38)
08. The Story Of Fiona (5:39)
09. Almost My Own (6:41)
10. Recurring Dream (5:16)

Roxy Coss - Tenor and Soprano Saxophones
Jeremy Pelt - Trumpet
Alex Wintz - Guitar
Chris Pattishall - Piano
Dezron Douglas - Bass
Willie Jones III - Drum

BUY THIS ALBUM