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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

Label: Much Prefer Records, 2018

Personnel - Kristo Rodzevski: vocals, guitar; Mary Halvorson: guitar; Ingrid Laubrock: tenor sax; Brian Drye: trombone; Kris Davis: piano; Michael Blanco: bass; Tomas Fujiwara: drums.

With The Rabbit and the Fallen Sycamore, Macedonian singer/guitarist Kristo Rodzevski, a dweller of New York since 1999, completes a trilogy started in 2015 with Batania and proceeded with Bitter Almonds two years after.

Just like in the former work, the bandleader convened six superb jazz musicians to help him convey his musical ideas. Guitarist Mary Haslvorson, bassist Michael Blanco, and drummer Tomas Fujiwara remained solid in their positions, while trombonist Brian Drye, pianist Kris Davis, and saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock join the project for the first time, replacing cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum, tenorist Chris Speed, and cellist Tomeka Reid.

The album kicks off with a generous dose of glam rock since “Polyester Suit” exhibits, at some point, a similar vocal tone and dramatic vein of the British rock band Placebo. Here, Drye’s solo gets responses from Halvorson’s effect-drenched guitar.

The trombonist returns to the spotlight on “Out of Key”, a piece that, even not as grungy as Nirvana or Alice In Chains, carries a bit of these band’s emotional desperation. However, the trombone solo, introduced by clapping, shape into a Spanish-tinged harmonic sequence that is not followed when Laubrock takes over by the end. Robust in sound, the indomitable saxophonist infuses the right amount of irreverence on “Your Name”, a song with a punk vibe à-la Public Image Ltd., even if sung in a softer tone when compared with John Lydon’s style.

With most of the tunes falling into the alternative pop/rock genre, jazz is clearly spotted on the cabaret-tinged “Madadayo”, a mellow, somewhat obscure dramatic piece that pushes Davis into infrequent euphonic incursions. Yet, her known adventurous pianistic twirls populate “Meet Me Online”, a song with a strong chorus, which also bursts with Halvorson’s rapid pointillism.

If the yearning that envelops “Bucharest, 1913” takes us to Radiohead’s nostalgic tonalities, the title cut wraps up the session with a folk-rock that could have been composed by Nick Drake or Sun Kil Moon.
The album was mixed by Bill Laswell and co-produced by Rodzevski and Fujiwara. Regardless of the numerous influences, the songs reveal a strong identity, flowing agreeably. However, some more time given to these extraordinary improvisers would have been beneficial.

Favorite Tracks:
03 - Your Name ► 04 - Madadayo ► 06 - Meet Me Online