Label: Yestereve Records, 2025

Personnel - Jacob Garchik; trombone; Brandon Seabrook: guitar; Mary Halvorson: guitar; Jonathan Goldberger: guitar, baritone guitar; Vinnie Sperrazza: drums + Ava Mendoza: guitar; Sean Moran: guitar; Miles Okazaki: guitar; Josh Dion: drums.

Trombonist and composer Jacob Garchik returns with his eccentrically futuristic, hard-nosed collective Ye Olde, a guitar-centric sci-fi jazz act featuring two quartets - Ye Olde and Simulacrus (the resurrected version of the former) - inspired by the Omega Point, Spinal Tap, fascinating concepts in science and sci-fi, and Hungarian contemporary classical composer György Ligeti. Ye Olde 2: At The End of Time arrives a decade after the release of Ye Olde (Yestereve, 2015), prompting a smile of wonderment as it channels a distinctive compositional style that feels entirely unique.

“One Can Only Go Up” opens the album in scalar form, with a rising two-octave scale played on on Barndon Seabrook’s 12-string electric guitar. Multiple layers accumulate with both power and logic, and Mary Halvorson solos over a rock-driven backbeat. This is fusion in the truest sense—drawing on Mahavishnu Orchestra, contemporary classical, and avant-garde jazz. Garchik closes the piece with an abrasive improvisation. A similar concept drives “Omega Point”, only this time the scale moves downward. This singable, euphoric 8-beat sequence later stretches by an extra beat, following scorching solos from Miles Okazaki and Ava Mendoza over two contrasting textures.

The masterful harmonic turns of “Transcending Time” take shape through the pointillistic regularity of Seabrook’s acoustic guitar and Garchik’s delayed trombone tremolos. It unfolds as a 10-beat cycle, a medieval folk-rock meditation that recalls King Crimson and Jethro Tull, but heavier. It reaches a climax in heavy-metal fashion, with Jonathan Goldberger’s baritone guitar executed with unswerving tenacity. “Exo Microbiology” boasts a punk-like theme that is both complex and danceable. Seabrook and Goldberger improvise, the former with energetic atonality, the latter with jagged, shredding force.

Embracing a glorious chill-out transformation, “Dyson Spheres” is anchored by Vinnie Sperrazza’s syncopated, downtempo rhythm, with Halvorson’s sparse chords layered above. The delivers a solo that proves it’s not only about technique and effects but also about emotion. Before the funk-rock vibes of the Zappa-esque “Ye Olde vs Simulacrus”, where the two quartets interact in battle, there is still room for 16th-century Italian composer Giorgio Mainerio’s “Caro Ortolano”, a stubby church music piece reimagined here as a rock fanfare.

Forging experimental and transformative paths in modern music, Garchik takes risks and wins, achieving new heights of both virtuosity and imagination. Ye Olde 2: At The End of Time is a revolutionary album that lifts us out of this world and into an adventurous future realm.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - One Can Only Go Up ► 02 - Transcending Time ► 05 - Dyson Spheres ► 07 - Omega Point

Label: Yestereve Records, 2022

Personnel - Jacob Garchik: trombone; Sam Newsome: soprano saxophone; Jacob Sacks: piano; Thomas Morgan: bass; Dan Weiss: drums.

Trombonist/composer Jacob Garchik is anything but a newcomer to the creative jazz world. He's actually one of the most adventurous and in-demand trombonists on the scene, having played with names such as Mary Halvorson, Henry Threadgill, Anna Webber, Ohad Talmor, and Steve Swallow. For his audacious new album, Assembly, he put together a powerful combo whose frontline consists of himself and sopranist Sam Newsome. The triangular association of pianist Jacob Sacks, bassist Thomas Morgan, and drummer Dan Weiss completes the quintet, providing solid rhythmic anchor. Known for his conceptual sonic schemas, Garchik delivers a studio work of collages and musical juxtapositions that blends the experimental and the traditional sides of jazz. With the sonic uncertainty amidst the executional certitude, the way melody and rhythm collide and merge upends expectation.

Kicking off with the quizzical “Collage”, the album immediately baffles as fricative forces emerge from the encounter of an effusive rhythm-changes-based dialogue and a slow, heavy harmonic development demarcated by a swinging hi-hat pulsation. The swing is literally incorporated into “Pastiche” with insightful resolve. The horn players keep blowing bopishly, and Garchik takes off for a solo over bass and drums before the time is doubled for a lightning-fast finale.

“Bricolage” is a showcase for Newsome, who extracts interesting sounds of the soprano over a simple two-note bass figure. Morgan increases the number of notes as Garchik begins punctual counterpoint. It’s all very curious until here, but not as beautiful as when we hear “Homage”, the album’s most meditative piece. It’s a modal experiment based on McCoy Tyner’s “Contemplation”, which overdubs three drum sets, four basses, four pianos, two soprano saxes, and three trombones.

Whereas “Idée Fixe” simulates a ‘broken record’ with loopy ostinatos and occasional swinging motion interference, “Fanfare” employs cascading sequences, counterpoint, and unisons in a masterful setting, going from rambunctious to balladic whenever the group falls into Ellington’s “In a Sentimental Mood”. In opposition, “Fantasia” builds tension from the very beginning, combining the droning, didgeridoo-like sounds of the altered soprano sax with a driving collective post-bop.

Both writing and playing are first class, and the group creates an integration of languages that draw from different domains. We never know what to expect from each track, and that’s the thrill of it.

Favorite Tracks:
04 - Homage ► 05 - Fanfare ► 06 - Idée Fixe