Label: Enja / Yellowbird, 2024
Personnel - Myra Melford: piano; Allison Miller: drums; Dayna Stephens: alto, tenor and soprano saxophones; Scott Colley: upright bass.
Lux Quartet is co-led by two distinctive and accomplished musicians — pianist Myra Melford and drummer Allison Miller — whose formidable bodies of work set high expectations for this debut. With the well-rounded saxophonist Dayna Stephens and the formidable bassist Scott Colley rounding out the group, the anticipation is well-founded. This project, which explores philosophical and spiritual themes, offers a sound that is more accessible than the avant-jazz of Melford’s Fire and Water Quintet and less sprightly than the jazz-rock hybrids of Miller’s Boom Tic Boom.
The album features compositions from all four members, beginning with Melford’s “Intricate Drift”, which exhibits impeccably intonated unisons, a cool, marching flow, and oblique improvisations. On this piece, Melford seamlessly picks up where Stephens’ solo leaves off, driving the music forward with creativity and logical progression. The longer compositions on the album are hers, on the lookout for exploration and spontaneity, and “The Wayward Line” is another highlight, beginning with sympathetic bass-drums activity and evolving through an inventive structure. This track includes parallel sax-piano lines, burnished saxophone coloration over revolving drums, and a section where piano curlicues and focused arco bass coexist, placing the quartet firmly in avant-garde territory.
Miller’s contributions bring a different flavor to the album. “Congratulations and Condolences” offers a rich, comforting, and fulfilling plate of modal post-bop, highlighted by soprano sax flights and rock-solid drumming, “Deeply Us” contrasts with its rubato ballad feel, gaining further genuine expression with Colley’s prominent thoughts. Miller also revisits the staccato-infused “Speak Eddie”, first recorded in 2013 as part of the album No Morphine No Lillies (Royal Potato Family), here distinguished by its walking bass and conspicuous ride cymbal pulses.
The album is marked by a deep sense of rapport, wit, and small epiphanies, with each piece consistently arriving at a satisfying destination, regardless of pace or texture. Stephens and Colley each contribute one composition, exuding peculiarity in their processes. Stephens’ “23 Januarys” draws inspiration from Messiaen’s modes of limited transposition, blending fluxes and energies to create polyrhythms, supported by a swinging bass flow and softly brushed snare and hi-hat. Colley’s “Tomorrowland,” a piece retrieved from his 2010 album Empire (Cam Jazz), is notable for its use of drama, ambiguity, and space, culminating in a dark, torpid atmosphere.
The levels of composition and execution are top-notch, and Tomorrowland is filled with the musical maturity and inventiveness expected from prestigious anchors and improvisers of the scene.
Favorite Tracks:
01- Intricate Drift ► 03 - Congratulations and Condolences ► 05 - The Wayward Line