Jaimie Branch - Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die (world war)

November 28, 2023

Label: International Anthem Records, 2023

Personnel - Jaimie Branch: trumpet, voice, keyboard, percussion; Lester St. Louis: cello, voice, flute, marimba, keyboard; Jason Ajemian: acoustic and electric bass, voice, marimba; Chad Taylor: drums, mbira, timpani, bells, marimba. Guests - Nick Broste: trombone (#5,6); Rob Frye: flute (#5), bass clarinet (#5,6,7); Akenya Seymour: voice (#5); Kuma Dog: voice (#5); Daniel Villarreal: conga, percussion (#2,5,6,7).

The late trumpeter and composer Jaimie Branch, a dynamic force of nature, left an indelible mark on contemporary jazz with her beautiful and innovative work. This posthumous album, recorded with her renowned quartet Fly or Die, was in the final stages of production just one month before her passing. The music, captured during a residency at the Bemis Center for the Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Nebraska, comprises eight tracks, many of which explore extended forms and modulations.

The album opens with the anthemic melody of "Aurora Rising”, seamlessly blending keyboards, timpani, and high-pitched trumpet notes. It segues into the rhythmic celebratory procession that is “Borealis Dancing”. Branch pushes and pulls throughout the firm tides, followed by cellist Lester St. Louis, whose soaring lines top off the arrangement. The abrasive backbeat of drummer Chad Taylor, a standout behind the kit, is the tune’s ballast. His pulsatory killing rhythm is also key on the upbeat “Take Over the World”, a concoction of African-tinged hooks, punk rock, and electronic rave. It all burns with hard-hitting energy.

Branch's artistry extends beyond composing and playing - she infuses a sense of fun into her work, exploring expanded approaches. This is evident in her use of vocals and lyrics on "Burning Grey”, where a punk flavor meets avant-garde proficiency, maintaining a persistent rhythm and groove throughout.

The jubilant “Baba Louie” takes on a rollicking African-tinged vibe under the aegis of Taylor’s mbira and Daniel Villarreal’s percussive articulation. There’s a change of pace halfway, which helps modulate to a more psychedelic passage with additional vocals and hazy effects. The quartet is further augmented on this occasion by special guests, adding trombone and flute to the mix. There’s still space for Meat Puppet’s country song “Comin’ Down”, here re-titled “The Mountain”, and featuring bassist Jason Ajemian as the sole accompanist. He joins Branch on vocals.

Jaimie Branch left a solid body of work whose sound doesn’t hide the sensitive colorist within her. Her music remains a lasting expression of creativity and gratitude.

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Borealis Dancing ► 03 - Burning Grey ► 08 - Take Over the World

Dave Gisler Trio with Jaimie Branch and David Murray - See You Out There

April 4, 2022

Label: Intakt Records, 2022

Personnel - Dave Gisler: guitar; Raffaele Bossard: bass; Lionel Friedli: drums; David Murray: tenor saxophone; Jaimie Branch: trumpet.

The extroverted Swiss trio led by guitarist Dave Gisler is powerfully augmented here with the wealth of experience and blaze brought by saxophonist David Murray and the creative musical sensibilities of trumpeter Jaimie Branch. Even probing other moods, the stylistic predominance on the trio’s third outing, See You Out There, can be specified as acute avant-jazz meets raw-boned punk rock.

The boisterous opener, “Bastards on the Run”, ensures an explosive start. Played at a blistering tempo, the piece shows off an aggressive and pliable rhythm section - composed of bassist Raffaele Bossard and drummer Lionel Friedli - paving the ground for concurrent spontaneous incursions of guitar, saxophone and trumpet. A cacophonous noise delirium comes out of the speakers at full force, inundating the surroundings with ferocious energy. Other punkier tracks include “Medical Emergency”, which, inspired by true Covid events, revels in horn unisons, muscular drumming, and fiery solos from guitar and tenor; and “What Goes Up…”, whose pummeling rhythmic drive and loud guitar strumming are in a position to defy The Sex Pistols. This number, together with the closing 3/4 bluesy cut “Better Don’t Fuck with the Drunken Sailor”, originally appeared on the 2020 album Zurich Concert, which also featured Branch.

“Can You Hear Me” and “Get a Doener” have strong improvisational flairs. The former, with unaggressive chordal work and sharp trumpet notes pointing to the sky, becomes heavier, then darker and then percussive; the latter, squeezing a hip-hop feel out of its rhythmic fragmentation, has Gisler and Murray engaged in an uproarious dialogue. At odds with these ambiences yet with distinct natures, we have the eerily atmospheric title track and “The Vision”, whose irresistible theme plays like a spiritual hymn. Over the course of the tune I just mentioned, one finds melodious trumpet lines set against a fuzz-painted wall of noise, an inside/outside guitar improvisation delivered with hammer-ons and resolute phrases, and Murray’s volcanic blows over a prodding krautrock rhythm. This captivating album is a squall of musical intensity and puissant improvisation.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Bastards on the Run ► 04 - The Vision ► 06 - Medical Emergency

Jaimie Branch - Fly Or Die II: Birds of Paradise

October 11, 2019

Label: International Anthem, 2019

Personnel - Jaimie Branch: trumpet, voice, synths, sneaker squeaks, bells, whistles; Lester St. Louis: cello, percussion; Jason Ajemian: double bass, percussion, vocals; Chad Taylor: drums, mbira, xylophone + guests

Chicago trumpeter Jaimie Branch became a sensation after moving to Brooklyn and release her widely acclaimed debut album Fly or Die, title that also identifies her excellent group. With Fly or Die II: Bird Dogs of Paradise, another fearless socio-political manifesto that marks her much-anticipated return, she brings new elements to the recognized eclectic approach, including inflammatory lyrics that she sings with punk-like attitude. According to her, we’re not living in a particularly beautiful time and an exclusively instrumental perspective is not effective anymore. That’s why words of criticism and discontentment are essential. Most of these tunes were written while touring in Europe for the first time with her band.

Targeting racism, “Prayer For Amerikkka Pt. 1 and 2” is a tremendous force, a powerful and insurgent blues that is the absolute peak of the album. The sluggish groove meticulously designed by bass, cello, and drums airs a slightly menacing tone, with acerbic cries of protest and agony echoing from Branch’s trumpet. Whereas her vocal mechanisms can easily relate to Patti Smith during the first part of the tune, it resembles PJ Harvey in the second (the other voices belong to the illustrious guests Ben LaMar Gay and Marvin Tate), where the conspicuous acceleration and mood variation trigger off Spanish-tinged statements over the strumming of a 12-string guitar. The finale has rasping cello incisions pushing us directly to “Lesterlude”, a composition by cellist Lester St. Louis.

Both “Simple Silver Surfer” and “Nuevo Roquero Estéreo” are feel-good-riffing songs whose melodies stick in your head. The former blends folk and Latin elements and the result is humorous and playful, while the latter incorporates more than the rock suggested in its Spanish title by mixing funk, Latin, and African music into an immutable yet exuberant rhythmic state of euphoria. The spirit of Don Cherry is present.

Diversity, inclusion, and eclecticism are the words of order here. Hence, if “Bird Dogs of Paradise” is populated with droning and buzzing sounds and percussive invasions that take us to the liberating ecstasy of Art Ensemble of Chicago, “Twenty Three N Me, Jupiter Redux” awakes with a flickering electronic drone, traverses a killer ostionato-based groove in 12, and wraps up with cacophonous avant-garde eruptions.

Branch concludes the work with the singable “Love Song (For Assholes and Clowns)”, a pop-inflected waltz that veers to indie rock at some point. Chad Taylor’s drumming contracts and expands here, and you can hear the following words at the beginning: ‘this one goes out to all those assholes and all those clowns out there. You know who you are!’.

In a political time where so much feels uncertain, it’s openly revolutionary recordings like this one that impel everyone to act in order to preserve civil rights. Branch’s work exerts visceral power in an exciting way.

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Prayer For Amerikkka Pt. 1 and 2 ► 04 - Twenty Three N Me, Jupiter Redux ► 08 - Nuevo Roquero Estéreo