Label: Enja, 2023
Personnel - Samuel Blaser: trombone; Alex Wilson: piano, organ, melodica; Alan Weekes: guitar; Ira Coleman: double bass, baby bass; Dion Parson: drums; Soweto Kinch: alto sax, vocals; Michael Blake: tenor sax; Edwin Sanz: percussion (#1,3,4,5,6,9,10), drums (#7) + Guests - Carroll Thompson: vocals (#2,6); Lee “Scratch” Perry: vocals, dub (#8,9); Steve Turre: shells, trombone (#4), John Fedchock: trombone (#4); Glenn Ferris: trombone (#4); Johan Escalante: trombone (#4); Jennifer Warthon: bass trombone (#4); Heiri Känzig: double bass (#7).
Swiss trombonist Samuel Blaser, who has enriched the avant-garde and modern creative circuits by collaborating with Marc Ducret, Paul Motian, Gerald Cleaver, Oliver Lake, Russ Lossing and Gerry Hemingway, radically changes direction on his latest album, Routes, a dive into reggae and ska stylism. The album, inspired by Jamaican trombonist Don Drummond, encompasses three of the latter's most emblematic compositions, five Blaser cuts, and two vain dub versions of one tune by each of them.
There’s nothing wrong with probing new territories, but Blaser’s album is limited in latitude, relying too much on disciplined rhythms and unambiguous melodic contours (solos being the exception). It’s a commercial endeavor that, failing to hold one’s attention for long, becomes tedious as a result of unchanging atmospheres and some arguable choices in the production.
Blaser’s “Rainy Days”, featuring vocalist Carroll Thompson and robust solos by Blaser and tenor saxophonist Michael Blake, feels like a jazz standard dressed in Caribbean colors, whereas Drummond’s “Green Island” is given an interesting treatment with four guest trombonists joining the bandleader on the frontline. Among them is Steve Turre who also plays his famous shells. Both these numbers are re-included as dub versions - reworked by the hand of the late Jamaican singer/producer Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry - but the results are far from impressive.
The opener, “Silver Dollar”, serves as a rhythmic template via the bouncy ska at its core. The soloists - British alto saxophonist Soweto Kinch, Blaser and guitarist Alan Weekes - are extremely colorful and expressive. Just like the piece I just mentioned, “Thoroughfare” was penned by Drummond, but this one has melodica player Alex Wilson at the center. More interesting is Blaser’s “Lady Rawlinson”, which boasts nice harmonic changes and slick solos from Swiss bassist Heiri Känzig, Blaser, and Wilson on Hammond organ.
This Blaser album must have been fun to play, but feels like a misstep when compared to other more interesting and progressive works in his discography.
Favorite Tracks:
01 - Silver Dollar ► 02 - Rainy Days ► 07 - Lady Rawlinson