JEFF SWANSON & CASE-FITTER - FATHOMS (Bace Records, 2020)

Personnel - Jeff Swanson: guitar, OP-1; Greg Ward: alto saxophone; Dustin Laurenzi: tenor saxophone; Paul Bedal: keyboards; Matt Ulery: electric bass; Greg Arty: drums, percussion.

Chicago-based guitarist/composer Jeff Swanson reunites his Case-fitter group and releases his second album of originals. The material consists of 10 disciplined, eclectic tracks delivered with a strong sense of texture. The opener, “Gaussian”, is built in conformity with an iterative idea as a theme, just like “Tre”. They showcase the bandleader in a fine guitar solo and Ulery’s authority on the lower registers, respectively. “The Accutron”, a guitar-driven 3/4 ballad, has Swanson throwing in some eligible bluesy lines, while “Fyra” is an ostinato-drenched collage that veers into psychedelic territory. The multi-dimensional impression of Arty’s drumming is noticeable on “Elisha”, a piece that starts as a reflection but then blooms with a deft combination of snare, hi-hat and bass drum. The pieces on the album were shaped in quartet, excluding four tracks where saxophonists Greg Ward and Dustin Laurenzi add extra color: the unruffled, odd-metered “Roads”, the danceable “Replicants”, the happily electronic “Farvel”, and the indie-meets-classic rock “Let The Children Play”. [B]

ANDRE MATOS - EARTH RESCUE (Robalo Music, 2020)

Personnel - Andre Mastos: guitar, bass.

Portuguese guitarist Andre Matos continues his solo work with another album, Earth Rescue, the successor to Muquina (2016) and Nome de Guerra (2017). The sea of calm he dives into is meant to be slowly absorbed and comes reflected on “Castelo dos Mouros”, the poignant and spacious opener; “Future Memories”, which is bathed in polished textural washes; “Borboletas”, where the harmonics make me think of the wings of a butterfly at rest in opposition to the chordal movement; and the title track, a contemplative look at the Earth’s urgency to breathe and flourish again. “Carlos” is busier yet equally methodical, displaying a thick round bass in support of the guitar. If “Planalto” leans on the folk genre, “1984” is all pretty prairies and ranches, shaping up as a country song suitable for a film score. Matos adds some ambiguity to “Climbing”, but the album, as a rule, embraces breezy symmetry and easygoing melodicism. I felt some of the pieces could be extended. Politicians are invited to take a listen and, hopefully, inspired by the music, help rescuing the Earth, considering it a primary concern of the present times. [B]

ROBERTO MAGRIS - SUITE! (JMood Records, 2020)

Personnel - Mark Coilby: tenor saxophone; Eric Jacobson: trumpet; Roberto Magris: pino; Eric Hochberg: bass; Greg Artry: drums; PJ Aubree Collins: vocals.

Italian pianist Roberto Magris releases Suite!, a double album comprising originals, known jazz standards, and curious interpretations of pop and rock songs. The album opens with a great rendition of King Crimson’s “In The Wake of the Poseidon”, here propelled with a contagious rhythm and jazzified with a warm touch. Another cover that surprised me favorably was John Lennon’s “Imagine”, rendered solo with openness of heart and catchy sweeps on the higher registers. When performing solo, Magris attains deeper spiritual dimension, and titles such as “(End of a) Summertime”, a fascinating reading of Gershwin’s famous tune; “Never Let Me Go” and the self-penned modal prayer “Love Creation” charm with soulfulness. This work comes stocked with stylistic diversity, and if both “Chicago Nights” and “The Island of Nowhere” are hard bop-inflected tunes in the line of Lee Morgan and Hank Mobley, then Jerry Martini’s “One With the Sun” and “Sunset Breeze”, whose intense bossa groove brings Joe Henderson to mind, come infused with crossover flavors as they intertwine and merge distinct lexicons. “Suite!” finds a confident 3/4 stride, and everyone should meditate upon the wise words in “A Message for a World to Come”. [B]

Label: Bace Records, 2018

Personnel – Jeff Swanson: guitar, electronics; Greg Ward: alto sax; Dustin Laurenzi: tenor, OP1; Artie Black: bass clarinet, tenor sax; Quentin Coaxum: trumpet; Paul Bedal: Fender Rhodes; Lane Beckstrom: electric bass; Greg Artry: drums.

With his debut full-length album, Case-fitter, guitarist/composer Jeff Swanson cultivates the already vibrant Chicago jazz scene with a set of seven plucky compositions. This live recording was a product of a four-week residency at The Whistler in Chicago, in which the bandleader formed a consistent rhythm section with Paul Bedal on Fender Rhodes, Lane Beckstrom on bass, and Greg Artry on drums, and had a valuable frontline of explorers with him: Greg Ward on alto saxophone, Dustin Laurenzi on tenor and OP1, Artie Black on bass clarinet and tenor, and Quentin Coaxum on trumpet.

“Graham’s” makes a very good impression, opening the recording with frontal horn manifestations within an affecting pop/rock nature that, having started with a musing posture, gets infectiously bracing over the course of the improvisational section. The first improviser that steps to the forefront is Coaxum, whose translucent melodies are transformed into high flies. Before Ward sets about a juicy narration strategy, we have the tenor explorations of Laurenzi, whose language and timbral appeal cause rhythmic reactions in his peers.

Boasting a furiously active horn section, “Two-Nineteen” covers the ground with a full-throttle rhythm and enveloping bass lines. The soloists take distinct approaches, with Ward sounding much more neurotic than Bedal or the bandleader, who crafts his first solo on the record with faded shades of sepia and gray. On the 17-minute “F-Bomb”, a composition propelled by a laid-back rhythmic flux and buoyed by the druggy expressivity of the horns in unison, he is in evidence again, this time through bluesy melodic drives. The tension comes and goes whimsically as the artists extend themselves in individualistic efforts.

Swanson and his associates are practitioners of an engaging jazz that may be burning, accessible, and more experimental. The latter case is mirrored on “MF”, a piece containing harmonics, drones, and vocal samples in an incipient electronic haze. The mood is renewed into something more probationary when the trumpeter discourses on top of chromatic bass movements and restless drumming. The rhythm section almost swings by the end, but the experimental procedures with Artry’s turbulent press rolls in the foreground, engulf this intention. This is very contrasting not only with “Little Big Run”, an Afro-funk examination, more in the style of Abdullah Ibrahim than Randy Weston, with a collective romp at the end, but also with “Let The Children Play”, where hard-rock surfaces meet jazz and folkish phrasing.

The excitement of playing live sometimes extends the improvisations a little too long. That is a fact that Swanson has to deal with. However, the band enthusiastically channels their waves of passion and driving energy to convey emotions in an ardent way. They were particularly successful in this fundamental aspect.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Graham’s ► 04 - F-Bomb ► 05 - Little Big Run