Jeremy Cunningham - Passing Fires

Label: Northern Spy Records, 2026

Personnel - Jeremy Cunningham: drumset, percussion, piano, Rhodes, organ, vibes, electronics; Jeff Parker: guitar; Josh Johnson: alto saxophone, electronics; Dustin Laurenzi: guitar, synth, programming, tenor saxophone; Matt Gold: guitar, bass, pandeiro; Greg Uhlmann; guitar, electronics; Will Miller: Rhodes, electronics; Sen Morimoto: vocals; Lia Kohl; cello; Paul Bryan: bass, electronics; Lane Beckstrom: bass; Makaya McCraven: drumset, vibes.

Jeremy Cunningham is an alert and versatile multi-instrumentalist based in Chicago since 2009. I was very well impressed with his previous outing, A Better Ghost (2022), featuring a few members who reappear on Passing Fires, namely saxophonists Dustin Laurenzi and Josh Johnson, bassist Paul Bryan, and trumpeter-turned-keyboardist Will Miller. Other illustrious guests here include guitarists Jeff Parker and Matt Gold, and sophisticated drummer Makaya McCraven. Instead of fixed formats, Cunningham favors a rotation of musicians who have an ear for careful sonic detail.

The album has a very personal feel to it, evolving as a meditation on love, loss, memory, and change. Two of the strongest pieces are "To The Sky" and "Kobi Shobi". While the former holds a wonderful collective bossa groove, featuring the multi-faceted Matt Gold on guitar, bass, and pandeiro, Cunningham on Rhodes, McCraven's soulful drumming, and Japanese-American Sen Morimoto's ethereal, wordless vocal work, the latter is unexpectedly edgy, bolstered by funk throbs and a jazzy hip-hop vibe that takes us to A Tribe Called Quest and Digable Planets. Johnson's snaky alto solo boosts the energy over the syncopated guitar comping offered by Parker.

Also filled with joy and aplomb, "Union Pier" is a compelling 3/4 duo piece that pairs Cunningham on drum set and percussion with Laurenzi, who, besides tenor—on which he offers a fluid improvisation—also injects guitar, synth, and percussion. "Beyond the Veil" is a 4/4 pop/rock piece with rounded harmonic contours and a graceful melody, featuring McCraven on vibes, and Parker, who claims the spotlight while injecting deep feeling into his impromptu statement. He also appears on the pop-meets-R&B "Some Days”.

Bryan's six-beat funky groove stretches into asymmetry and a different figure on "Galloway Street", which welcomes guitarist Greg Uhlmann and shines a spotlight on Johnson's effect-drenched alto solo. The album closes in a Sade-like sophisti-pop style with "Somewhere To Be", featuring Morimoto's smooth styling.

Cunningham's compositions have a strong emotional arc, and that quality rings true in the music. Melding jazz-imbued improvisation into different stylistic frameworks, Passing Fires works as an escape from traditional jazz moves.

Favorite Tracks:
03 - To The Sky ► 06 - Kobi Shobi ► 10 - Galloway Street

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Jeremy Cunningham / Dustin Laurenzi / Paul Bryan - A Better Ghost

Label: Northern Spy Records, 2022

Personnel - Jeremy Cunningham: drums, percussion; Dustin Laurenzi: tenor saxophone, OP-1, electronics; Paul Bryan: bass, synth + Guests - Jay Bellerose: percussion; Katie Ernst: vocals; Josh Johnson: alto saxophone; Will Miller: trumpet.

Displaying maturity, this trio collaboration between drummer Jeremy Cunningham, saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi (both from Chicago) and L.A.-based bassist/producer Paul Bryan is a success. These technically enlightened musicians navigate new sonic waves that are fascinating, sometimes ethereal, and consistently magical. The nine enticing Cunningham-Laurenzi compositions on A Better Ghost were developed at a distance. While touring with the alternative folktronica/pop/rock group Bon Iver, the saxophonist came up with several ideas on the OP-1 and sent them to the drummer, who gave them melodic elasticity and rhythmic grace through his modern musical sensibilities. Then, Bryan, sliding across keys with futuristic vision and figuring disciplined bass lines, granted the final touch to a body of work that is pleasurable in all its unfolding detail.

“Everything” is an easy listening experience masterfully weaved with a relentless one-note drone in the background and untethered by Laurenzi’s inside/outside tour de force on tenor. “Worlds Turn” admits multi-instrumentalist Josh Johnson on alto saxophone, with Cunningham’s energized clarity in the beat allowing for latent syncopation. The synth vibes sound like playful toy music by the end, creating a particular atmosphere that is redeployed to the groovy title track.

If “Comfort Station” is a cyclic effort impacted by an uncanny bass figure, then the deceptively slow-burning “Ray Tracing” surprises in its last section with a transfixing rhythmic fabric and a saxophone sound that enthralls. Further deeply involving is “New Dust”, whose introductory reverb-drenched sax monologue in good time enjoys the company of bass and drums for a feel-good, moderately exotic dance. An asymmetric 14-beat cycle is contemplated before the trio aligns it to a more commensurable measure of 16 beats, just to conclude it after a little while with the bassist at the fore. “The Way We Remember” brings the album to a conclusion, guesting singer Katie Ernst, who co-wrote the lyrics. This one is a dedication to Cunningham’s late father, shaping up as an elegiac cinematic anthem where one readily perceives the power of the drums.

Demonstrating tastefulness and high quality in the chops, these modern jazz practitioners find a harmonious balance between composition and freedom. They definitely make me want to hear more of what they do.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Everything ► 02 - Worlds Turn ► 05 - New Dust

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Jeremy Cunningham - The Weather Up There

Label: Northern Spy Records, 2020

Personnel - Josh Johnson: saxophone, keys, bass clarinet; Jeff Parker: electric guitar; Matt Ulery: electric bass; Paul Bryan: electric bass, synth; Jeremy Cunningham: drums, percussion, Wurlitzer + guests Jaimie Branch: trumpet; Ben LaMar Gay: vocals, electronics; Dustin Laurenzi: tenor sax, OP-1; Tomeka Reid: cello; Chicago Drum Choir (Jeremy Cunningham, Mikel Patrick Avery, Makaya McCraven, Mike Reed).

Chicago-based drummer Jeremy Cunningham composed the music on The Weather Up There in response to the loss of his brother Andrew, a victim of gun violence in a home invasion robbery occurred 10 years ago. His band features bassist/synth player/co-producer Paul Bryan, bassist Matt Ulery (he can be heard on three tracks), multi-instrumentalist Josh Johnson, and guitarist Jeff Parker, who also co-produces. A bunch of special guests help coloring the drummer’s sonic landscapes.

The album kicks off with no electric bass but synth bass instead. “Sleep”, aptly narrated with dreamy tones, includes solemn cello bowing, contiguous bass clarinet, percussive rattles, and synth effects. Cunningham then starts a warmly brushed rhythmic musing with a triple time feel, over which a saxophone dances freely. The other two bass-less pieces are “All I Know”, which features the fulgent trumpet of Jaimie Branch hovering atop the gutsy drumming, and “Elegy”, where samples of interview narratives from three family members and a close friend have the percussive flow of Chicago Drum Choir in the background.

Accentuating the first and third tempos, “1985” brings Jeff Parker’s guitar to the center, veering from melodically popish to Zappa-rock irony. The guitarist exhibits crunchy chords on “It’s Nothing”, an expressive pop/rock piece that, just like the yearning ballad “He Pushes Up”, is prone to sadcore. 

The psychedelic “The Breaks” starts off as a polyrhythmic collage made out of delayed saxophone, spatial guitar loops, and relentless bass figures. Everything is unified by Cunningham’s energetic rhythm. This particular mood contrasts with the pacifism of “Hike”, where an illuminated smooth jazz à-la George Benson unfolds with expressive melodies. 

The group probes ambient electronica during the initial stage of the title track due to a methodical arrangement designed with looping phrases and the undeviating comping provided by bass and drums. Yet, Parker’s soloing triggers a change in the atmosphere, time when a soulful, mellifluous, groove-leaning funk imposes.

Synthesizing the deep emotions of Cunningham’s painful loss and his ability to speak musically, this recording is a very personal statement. 

Grade B

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Sleep ► 02 - 1985 ► 05 - The Breaks

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Jeremy Cunningham Quartet - Re: Dawn (from afar)

Jeremy Cunningham: drums; Jeff Parker: guitar; Josh Johnson: alto saxophone; Dustin Laurenzi: tenor sax; Andrew Toombs: wurlitzer, piano; Matt Ulery: bass.

Chicago-based drummer/composer Jeremy Cunningham leads a debutant sextet composed of Josh Johnson on alto saxophone, Dustin Laurenzi on tenor sax, Jeff Parker on guitar, Andrew Toombs on Wurlitzer and piano, and Matt Ulery on bass, whose sonic maneuvers deserve to be urgently assimilated.
The bandleader, who considers Elvin Jones and the music of Coltrane his great inspirations, also reveals compositional adroitness. 
Cunningham displays pliant drumming skills, which adapt to different styles as we had the chance to confirm in a couple of albums by trumpeter Marquis Hill.

His debut album, Re: Dawn (from afar), was released on Ears&Eyes Records and unwraps a wonderful tune to open it. “Bémbé” flows with a straightforward African-samba-rock pulse that only eases on brief calmer passages. The theme’s melody is designed alternately by sax and guitar, suggesting a fair trade of ideas. As for the solos, Parker shows to be equally comfortable playing within the traditional and unconventional, Johnson thinks quickly and executes with agility, while Toombs seamlessly adapts himself to the funk direction assumed for the last minutes.

“Pulses” places sax-bass unisons on top of jittery African cadences. Cunningham drives with a steady hand as the tune gets a boost through majestic improvisations – rock-solid in the case of the guitarist, winding when it comes to the saxophonist.

A slow-yet-consistent 7/4 groove is laid down by the rhythm section in “Leaves Rain”, which despite the epic propensity, ends up in a shimmering vamp painted with Brazilian watercolors.

Both the title track and the last tune, “Visions”, linger in the air for quite awhile. The former is a ballad where the great communication between Cunningham and Ulery becomes evident, while the latter is a downtempo 4/4 piece, strongly accentuated by snare drum on the third beat.

The quartet expresses its love for pure, melodious jazz in the colorful “Constituent” whose breezy hooks are much appreciated.

Whether playing fistfuls of chromatic clusters on top of challenging rhythms or simple melodies on top of refreshing textures, this band never ceases to captivate.
Re: Dawn (from afar) is the type of debut album that many newcomers would like to do. Despite the few recordings, Cunningham reveals maturity and sensitivity galore.

          Grade A

Label: ears&eyes Records
Favorite Tracks:
01 – Bémbé ► 02 – Pulses ► 07 – Visions

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