Matt Wilson's Good Trouble

June 12, 2024

Label: Palmetto Records, 2024

Personnel - Jeff Lederer: tenor saxophone, clarinet; Tia Fuller: alto saxophone; Dawn Clement: piano; Ben Allison: bass; Matt Wilson: drums.

Helming a powerful new quintet, drummer/composer Matt Wilson delivers an entertainingly gripping set of music with Good Trouble, marking his 14th release on Palmetto label. The album includes both originals and covers, paying tribute to congressman John Lewis and his fight for Civil Rights while also celebrating Wilson’s 60th birthday. The quintet features a dynamic two-horn frontline with longtime collaborator Jeff Lederer on tenor saxophone and new addition Tia Fuller on alto, while the rhythm section is rounded out with pianist/vocalist Dawn Clement and bassist Ben Allison, players capable of serious chops within a variety of musical contexts.

Wilson’s “Fireplace” pays homage to the late pianist Geri Allen, opening with a provocative riff and deliberate accentuations before the soloists are given ample room to cut loose. Lederer’s irresistible eloquence finds a complementary foil in Fuller, with whom he alternates bars with indomitable energy. “Albert’s Alley”, penned by Lederer and inspired by his dog, results in a cerebral bluesy neo-bop number with some polyphonic allure and smart moves.

The album’s centerpiece, Good Trouble Suite, is comprised of three parts.The first, “RBG”, honors justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg with a fresh Latin vibe and jubilant unisons, leading to exhilarating saxophone exchanges and the band singing her name. The second movement, “Walk the Wind” is a soulful ballad where Allison speaks his truth with thick, roving lines. The third act, “Good Trouble”, tricks the listener with early Monk-ish accents before embarking on a splendid carousel of gospel and dancing jazz revival.

This fascinating blend of traditional and modern elements enhances the appeal of the album, and this holds true for the four covers presented here, which straddle different styles and approaches. “Be That As it May”, penned by Wilson’s student Akihito Goray, takes the form of a soul-jazz ballad propelled by pleasing snare currents and polished by Clement’s voice. She also claims the spotlight in the rendition of John Denver’s country-folk hit “Sunshine on My Shoulders”. Yet, the standout interpretations are Ornette Coleman’s “Feet Music”, featuring a groovy bass solo and another heated dialogue between Lederer and Fuller, and Gary Bartz’s “Libra”, a post-bop dazzler.

The special warmth and kaleidoscopic eclecticism that keeps Wilson’s tunes so captivating continues in “Community Spirit”, which concludes the album with a contagious African rhythm in 5/4 time after a rubato gospelized inception. Wilson’s music is a joy to listen to, and this band, moved by an elevated sense of unity, truly delivers.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Fireplace ► 04 - RBG ► 10 - Community Spirit

Matt Wilson Quartet - Hug!

September 10, 2020

Label: Palmetto Records, 2020

Personnel - Jeff Lederer: tenor, alto and soprano saxophones, clarinet, piccolo, voice; Kirk Knuffke: cornet, soprano cornet, voice; Chris Lightcap: acoustic and electric basses, 8 string space bass, voice; Matt Wilson: drums, xylophone, voice.

American drummer/composer Matt Wilson reconvenes his monumental quartet - pairing up with bassist Chris Lightcap in the rhythm section and having reedsman Jeff Lederer and cornetist Kirk Knuffke sharing the frontline - to perform an 11-track session crammed with improvisational virtuosity and quicksilver interplay. The drummer’s phenomenal work, known for its elasticity and versatility, can encompass everything from New Orleans marches to muscular swinging numbers to uncompromising avant-garde tradition. Consisting of originals and covers alike, Hug! is no exception to the rule, having been programmed with a wide aesthetic variety.

The bluesy hard-bop of tenor master Gene Ammons’ “The One Before This” is infused with a striking energy and delivered with fascinating ideas on the account of the awesome soloing offered by all members of the quartet. The pictorial vividness found in here is also taken to Dewey Redman’s “Joie de Vivre”, originally a balladic post-bop number that, in the present case, is pumped up with a robuster sound and a faster tempo.

“Jabulani” and “In the Moment”, penned by pianist Abdullah Ibrahim and bassist Charlie Haden, respectively, are propelled by a hard-grooving overdrive that swings galore. While the former plays like a march during the theme statement, surfacing with a South African feel and staccato-imbued melody, the latter runs at full throttle, showing off sax and cornet thoroughly engaged in legato concordances.

Wilson, who demonstrates his genius throughout, splices his own “Space Force March” - a parody where we hear the voice of the current American president uttering a bunch of nonsense - with Sun Ra’s “Interplanetary Music”. The last segment is certainly a good time for Lederer and Knuffke interact with charisma. Their styles combine in perfection, and while the saxophonist usually unleashes full-throated blows that carry bravura intervallic leaps, the cornetist maintains a neat and bracing post-bop flair in his vocabulary. The latter's playing really makes an impression on Wilson’s sweet and soulful ballad “Every Day With You”.

Other Wilson compositions that stand out for their candor and originality are “Sunny & Share”, a tribute to the duo Sonny and Cher wrapped up in an unapologetic avant-garde outfit with a bass solo at the outset; “Hug!”, an effulgent pop song with strings arranged and played by Nashville-based bluegrass artist Matt Combs; and “Hambe Kahle (Goodbye)”, a tune with connotations to South Africa.

More than anything, this album expresses the immense joy these four musicians feel when they play together. They have fun while exploring the visceral pleasures of swing and marching songs, or by simply exchanging muscular melodies with ecstasy.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - The One Before This ► 04 - Every Day With You ► 07 - Sunny & Share

Matt Wilson - Honey and Salt

August 26, 2017

Label/Year: Palmetto, 2017

Lineup – Dawn Thomson: guitar, vocals; Jeff Lederer: reeds, harmonium, vocals; Ron Miles: cornet; Martin Wind: acoustic bass guitar; Matt Wilson: drums.

Experienced American drummer Matt Wilson takes inspiration in the poetry of Carl Sandburg, poet of the people, for his new genre-bending outing, Honey and Salt, which features a talented group of musicians, and readings by guest jazz luminaries such as John Scofield, Carla Bley, Joe Lovano, Christian McBride, and more. Sandburg was a native of Illinois, as well as Wilson, who, well acquainted with the poet’s work, arranged the tunes in such a way that music and poetry could coexist symbiotically.

Throughout the 18 short pieces of the album, each one enveloped by a specific genre and mood, the band alternates between adventurous and prevailing approaches.

“Soup” is a great opening, carrying the spirit of The Lounge Lizards on its shoulders and boasting a blues-rock guitar riff inscribed on the surface of a convivial rhythmic core. The vocalist/guitarist Dawn Thomson assumes the leadership, and the tune also marvels through parallel melodies delivered conjointly by Jeff Lederer and Ron Miles, on the saxophone and cornet, respectively.

Vibrating with lofty rhythmic accentuations, “Anywhere and Everywhere People” exhibits Martin Wind’s loose bass grooves and Thomson’s frank guitar chops over a funky beat that stimulates the improvisers to operate within the same time frame.

If “Stars, Songs, Face” is clearly a product of the pop genre, “As Wave Follows Wave”, “Bringers”, and “I Sang” bring accentuated folk scents attached to their melodies. They all have this ear-pleasing balladic nature in common. Country music is also represented through “Prairie Barn” and “Offering and Rebuff”, even if the latter, mutates at a certain point to take a more pop direction.

“We Must Be Polite”, narrated by Scofield with an emphasis that occasionally reminisces Zappa, as well as “Choose”, are conducted with a similar fanfare-ish, animated stomp. The groovy throbs of the former tune become a formidable motivation for Lederer’s energetic blows and salient timbral maneuvers. The latter piece seems to have been inspired by Broadway musicals and classic films, exhibiting heroic snare ruffs n' rolls, and counterpointed cornet/flute melodic lines.

Wilson wouldn’t leave the jazz aside, and on “Snatch of Sliphorn Jazz”, he embarks on an interesting dialogue with Lederer, now blowing the soprano sax. All the impetuosity he conjures up on “Paper 2”, an alluring postbop momentum that swings and refreshes, is refrained on the following piece, “Trafficker”, which gets closer to Miles Davis’ cool line of action.
Pretty distinctive is “Night Stuff”, a slow paced procession propelled by Wilson’s mallet drumming, Thomson’s smart comping, and Lederer’s sweet melodic sketches on clarinet.

Everything ends in a joyful samba fashion with “Daybreak”, in which the warm vocalization increases the singableness of the very Brazilian melodies.

Honey and Salt provides moments of pure delight. Regardless the setting, Wilson’s ardent passion can be felt every time he wisely hits a piece of his drum kit.

Favorite Tracks:
01 – Soup ► 05 – We Must Be Polite ► 13 – Paper 2