Label: Self produced, 2021
Personnel - Michael Husdon-Casanova: saxophones; Elliot Bild: trumpet; Nicholas Lombardelli: trombone; Lucas Brown: piano; Sandy Eldred: bass; Steven Perry: drums.
Echoes of Thought, the debut full-length album from Michigan-born, Chicago-based saxophonist Michael Husdon-Casanova offers a sprawling combination of tradition and contemporary views expressed in the sextet format. The members of this combo hail from Philadelphia, where the bandleader lived from 2017 until a few months ago.
The album is bookended by two playfully disorienting short pieces that are directly connected - “Spin the Context” and “Spin it Back”. Suggesting the force of rock and boasting the horn players in joyful communion, one can only regret these pieces weren’t made longer.
The title “The Old Days, Whenever they Were” is not misleading, with the group brandishing an elated swinging motion that is delivered with shifting meter as well as hard-bop and post-bop pushes. The soloing time is split by trumpeter Elliot Bild, who blows vigorously like Freddie Hubbard; pianist Lucas Brown, whose articulation and integration of harmony and melody are spot on; and Hudson-Casanova, who finishes with a thoughtful speech over a ultimately horn-filled sequence in six.
Waltzing with lushness, “K.W.” evokes trumpeter Kenny Wheeler’s unique ethos, while the living legend Wayne Shorter is presented with a nod on “Droogs”. There’s also “Abandoner”, which flows with a straight eight feel, displaying a contemporary grit amidst influences of the past and the familiar sounds naturally brought in it.
The short-lived “Yea, Exactly” broadens the palette with repetitions of a figure and fast kinetics that take us to a more avant-garde setting. Before closing out the album, “Ravensong” allows a soaring soprano saxophone to ride a mutable rhythm that goes from a more 4/4 dynamic spin to the balladic 3/4 linearity that sustains the bandleader’s improvisation.
This album shows the skills of Hudson-Casanova as a composer and saxophonist, giving sufficient indications that he can expand his musical vision and explore his creative side even more in the future.
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Favorite Tracks:
02 - The Old Days, Whenever they Were ► 05 - Abandoner ► 10 - Ravensong