Label: Irabbagast Records / Red Palace Records, 2024
Personnel - Jon Irabagon: mezzo soprano, tenor and sopranino saxophones; Brian Marsella: piano, Yamaha CS-60, Korg BX-3, Ritm-2.
Saxophonist Jon Irabagon never lets me down, regardless of the context or format he’s playing in. He can compose exceptional straightforward tunes inspired by jazz tradition and be a spectacular improviser who colors outside the lines, bringing novelty to the setting. The fully improvised duo album Blue Hour marks his first collaboration with innovative pianist/keyboardist Brian Marsella, known for his work with iconic saxophonist and composer John Zorn.
Purposely unsystematic in form, the music often volleys between enigmatic atmospherics and fleshier impulsions. The first two tracks were recorded live at The Stone. The album’s opener, “A Day That Will Live in Infamy”, starts with a psychedelic freeflow of effect-drenched keyboards and a panoply of saxophone timbres. There’s a passage that seems to evoke liturgical classical music with poignant saxophone melodies atop, later evolving to something more contemporary, in an agitated cacophony filled with whirling figures. The piano is louder than it should be at this phase, and the piece ends enigmatically, exploring darker alleys.
The second track, “Zeros and Ones and a Nine”, puts Marsella’s synths on the rise with glitchy sounds and digital frequencies, insistent bass notes, and animated piano delivered with a rag feel. This abrasive experimentalism suits Irabagon, a master of timbral mutation who uncoils ever-climbing spirals, racing, swinging, and grooving through the harmonic tapestries. The mood veers to dreamy before ending in manifest discomposure.
Tracks 3 to 6 are studio recordings, where the impressive technical quality of the players also unveils their impeccable sense of direction. The title “Centrifugal Machine Goes to the Scrapyard” makes you take your own conclusions beforehand, displaying saxophone extended techniques and gritty dissonance before morphing into wistful melancholy. The rollicking final track, “Bird Games With a Tragic Ending” surprises, hitting at swing, blues, and stride with a disarming naturalness.
This is killer stuff, deeply ingrained in the experimental side of jazz. For both artists, Blue Hour feels like a creative leap in a different direction that we urge them to explore further.
Favorite Tracks:
01 - A Day That Will Live in Infamy ► 02 - Zeros and Ones and a Nine ► 06 - Bird Games With a Tragic Ending