Label: Fresh Sound Records, 2020

Personnel - Aaron Burnett: tenor saxophone; Adam O’Farrill: trumpet; Joel Ross: vibraphone; Nick Jozwiak: bass; Kush Abadey: drums + Esperanza Spalding: vocals (#3,9).

Up-and-coming saxophonist Aaron Burnett progressed from an in-demand sideman (Esperanza Spalding, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Vijay Iyer) to a respected composer and bandleader. His risk-taking approach to music translates into another interesting album with The Big Machine, an eclectic project formed in 2018 to give him a voice on topics such as corporation corruption and technology addiction. The follow-up to his debut album, Anomaly (Fresh Sound, 2018), is Jupiter Conjunct, which features nine original compositions inspired by the largest planet in the solar system. Backed by a cast of brilliant musicians, Burnett doesn't waste the chance to push the envelope, not only by blending jazz, hip-hop and electronica into gorgeous groove-laden offshoots but also making use of an expansive vocabulary that results in plenty of side-stepping improvisation.

“Color Durations” makes for a haunting opening with trumpeter Adam O’Farrill projecting piercing notes against a mysterious setting. The trumpeter and Burnett complement each other on “The Veil”, a sensational expedition whose rhythmic inventiveness relies on the strongly accented beat of drummer Kush Abadey, the decaying low notes of bassist Nick Jozwiak, and the impeccable integration of vibraphone and Fender Rhodes, responsibility of the young prodigious Joel Ross and gifted keyboardist Carlos Homs, respectively. The latter two musicians are the soloists here in addition to Burnett.

One of the highlights of the album is “Ganymede”, an immediately grabbing, if slightly cryptic jazz/hip-hop overlap with a smart neo-soul touch. It features Esperanza Spalding on vocals, who rides a psychedelic improvisational segment with powerful elasticity while enjoying terse horn ostinatos running in the background. Burnett is equally imaginative in his statement.

The dark-hued “Callisto” is dedicated to Wayne Shorter and evolves with a ponderous, measured beat and an underlying poignancy in tone that recalls Ambrose Akinmusire’s laments. This particular tune contrasts with the piece that follows, “IO”, an uplifting, busy depiction of the most volcanically active moon of Jupiter.

This body of work is built on invulnerable eclectic foundations, and “Ace of Swords” and “Ether” are chosen as phenomenal examples. The former, resolute in the groove and expedite while shifting meters, enjoys a very cool, ambient-soul vibe; while the latter, an EDM-inspired episode sustained by the drum-and-bass propulsion at its base, is reinforced with blistering sax-trumpet interactions and an emotionally intense vibraphone solo.

If anyone had doubts about Burnett’s extraordinary capabilities as a reedman and composer, this album should be sufficiently elucidative.