Label: Hide Inside Records

Personnel - Neil Cowley: piano; Rex Horan: bass; Evan Jenkins: drums.

English pianist and composer Neil Cowley has captured the attention of modern jazz audiences with poetic instrumentals that emphasize subtlety and melodic clarity over overt virtuosity. Entity marks a warmly received and re-energized reunion with his trio mates, bassist Rex Horan and drummer Evan Jenkins, following a seven-year hiatus.

With a refined touch, the trio delivers 11 literate, thoughtfully crafted originals that highlight their sophisticated musical sensibilities. Cowley’s ability to set a mood with just a few notes is evident in “Marble”, a 3/4 crossover piece that feels like a fusion of cerebral post-bop and Spanish folk dance, reminiscent of Chick Corea. “Those Claws” leans into a soulful ostinato and syncopated drumming to create a spellbinding, minimalistic ambiance, while “V&A” offers a sublime spiritual tone, unfolding gracefully in an unconventional meter.

“Father Daughter”, with its pop/rock disposition, could easily fit into Radiohead’s repertoire, while “Adam Alphabet” is rhythmically defiant with its additive meter {8+8+6} and fascinating interplay that hints at electronic dance music. Both “Lemon Meringue” and “Sir Benjamin” unfold in quintuple meter, with the former pulsating with rhythm and the latter finding its own pocket in a slower, dreamy way. The trio makes their instruments soar in “Brood”, another 3/4 piece wrapped in serenity, and “Photo Box”, an emotionally resonant ballad layered with delicate cascading piano, sparse bass propagations, and gently brushed drums.

Entity is exactly the album Cowley needed to create at this stage in his career. With tremendous assurance, he and his cohorts deliver music that is as much difficult to label as to resist.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Marble ► 02 - Those Claws ► 03 - V&A ► 08 - Lemon Meringue

Label: Libra Records, 2020

Personnel - Satoko Fujii: composer, arranger; Oscar Noriega: alto saxophone; Briggan Krauss: alto saxophone; Ellery Eskelin: alto saxophone; Tony Malaby: tenor saxophone; Andy Laster: baritone saxophone; Natsuki Tamura: trumpet; Herb Robertson: trumpet; Dave Ballou: trumpet; Curtis Hasselbring: trombone; Joe Fiedler: trombone; Nels Cline: guitar; Stomu Takeishi: bass; Ches Smith: drums.

Satoko Fujii is a prolific and multifaceted Japanese pianist, composer, and bandleader who has been playing in a variety of formats, from solo to small groups to large ensembles. Her delightful avant-garde style acquires a relevant expression with Entity, the 11th outing of her acclaimed 13-piece Orchestra New York, an assembly of some of the greatest jazz improvisers out there.

Inspired by the Buddhism, Fujii composed and arranged the five tracks on the record with the specific qualities of these musicians in mind. And the result is a wonderful sonic ride pervaded with surprise and adventure.

The title track welcomes you with a colossal jarring chord issued collectively, after which Ches Smith’s meticulous percussive work finds space available. The horns punctuate his expressions with a logic agglomeration of notes, forecasting a sonic storm that is brought by Nels Cline’s electrifying guitar. The rhythm keeps mutating into a panoply of body rocking locomotions and the guitarist dives deep in the noise rock, freeing bittersweet dissonance until a horn-driven passage brings tranquility. This is just before another sonic eruption arrives, this time accelerating into a crescendo with fiery saxophone outbursts.

“Flashback” takes a more straightforward inception through precise orchestral movements, the source of an incredible energy. Dynamics are cooked with carefully chosen ingredients and their distinguished seasoning refrains from spice things up all the time. This is noticeable when it all comes to a relative calm with electric bass noodling by Stomu Takeishi and an insouciant muted trombone drive by Joe Fiedler, who later leads a denser passage laced with tension. From then, we hear Oscar Noriega stretching out alone on alto saxophone, and the expressive trumpet of Herb Robertson projected against a minimalist background.

“Gounkaiku” starts off like a game of timbres provided by a spontaneous arrangement for the horn players, who devotedly build a panel of mosaics for approximately four and a half minutes. Bassist and drummer then provide twangy spells and rumbling toms, respectively, reaching wider panoramic landscapes, and the climax occurs with Dave Ballou inserting an unabashed trumpet solo while benefiting from Cline’s versatile accompaniment. An inclination to darker atmospheres marks the ending of this track.

If “Elementary Particle” offers a wild late section, “Everlasting” is a spiritual detour that proclaims a far more direct relationship with melody. This prayerful exercise is configured with occasional droning for mystery, and ethereal streams of light. Strange dialogues break out with air sounds, circular routines, slap and flutter tonguing expressions, obsessive squeaks, moaning whispers, and long stretchable notes. Embracing delicate shades of feeling, the orchestra creates moments of sheer beauty.

Fujii’s identity is stronger than ever, and her orchestral empowerment enmeshes textures, improvisations and timbres into a satisfying, cohesive whole.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Entity ► 02 - Flashback ► 05 - Everlasting