Label: Zennez Records, 2023

Personnel - Suzan Veneman: trumpet; Zack Lober: bass; Sun-mi Hong: drums.

The musical career of Canadian-born bassist and composer Zack Lober spans two decades and is filled with constructive collaborations as a sideman. Saxophonist Chet Doxas and flutist Jamie Baum are some of the examples. Lober, who's also a DJ and turntablist and lived 11 years in NYC before moving to the Netherlands, also played with David Binney, John Escreet and Dan Weiss in his Ancestry Project, a multimedia quintet performance concerning the life of his family, as it was told to him by his Polish grandfather.

The opening cut from his debut album, No Fill3r, was drawn from the latter project, showing syntactic maturity in the language of Dutch trumpeter Suzan Veneman and a mix of earthiness and coolness in the rhythmic mesh weaved by Lober and South Korean drummer Sun-mi Hong. The piece in question, called “Mid Music”, is a strong introduction to the trio, preserving a swinging flow and illustrating gracious melodic angularities that are redolent of Ornette Coleman.

The mind-set of the trio maintains high standards in the gorgeously soothing “Force Majeure”, which refers to forces that are greater than ourselves. It’s delivered in six with a solid core and a beautiful songlike touch. Things go more frenzied on the title track, a freely improvised number that jangles and bubbles with polyrhythmic interplay while pushing the envelope of the trumpet-bass-drums format. There’s jazz, rock and electronic music influence here, and the bass hooks that pin the groove dissipate into the next number, “Blues”. The latter may sound archetypal in its 12-bar progression but is melodically off-grid.

The threesome has found common ground in these compact compositions, and “Chop Wood”, inspired by Buddhism and its benevolent philosophy, flows under soft brushes and a more eloquent, if loose, bass drive. Sober trumpet lines populate this pavement and contribute to making “Luck (Alice)”, penned for Lober’s wife, a cheerful song.

Lober plays with inspiring self-respect but also shows recognition for his peers and their sounds. Their willingness to create new music is very much sensed in this positive debut recording.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Mid Music ► 02 - Force Majeure ► 04 - No Fill3r

Label: Loyal Label, 2019

Personnel - Chet Doxas: tenor saxophone; Jacob Sacks: piano; Zack Lober: bass; Vinnie Sperrazza: drums.

Landline consists of a stellar crew of four contemporary bandleaders and improvisers, who take their compositional prowess to another level with a new challenging concept envisioned for their self-titled debut album. The process, based on the popular broken telephone game, has each member - saxophonist Chet Doxas, pianist Jacob Sacks, bassist Zack Lober, and drummer Vinnie Sperrazza - sending written notes to one of his bandmates, who has two weeks to work on it as he pleases and pass it along to the next member and so on. Each musician may ignore, alter, or maintain what was written. This well-prepared yet full of freedom process combines composition and improvisation in a totally different way and the result is 12 not-too-long episodes revealing strong capacity of invention and tightness.

The titles were given according to the final product and “Michael Attias”, the opening piece, couldn’t be more appropriate since the sax-piano unisons hold that curious ambiguity so characteristic of the aforementioned alto sax player. Snare drum assertiveness, cymbal color, and a bass pedal, here sustaining echoed phrases professed by Doxas and Sacks, are transported to the following tune, “Modern Jazz”, whose swift lines and pungent accents confer it a rock energy. The bass is then loosened to groove along recurrent expressive sax melodies soaked in chromaticism, while the entangling piano comping is fundamental to attain a perfect atmosphere.

A sheer vitality is also observed in other highlights such as “Feel the Bernstein”, which adheres to a freshly swinging mobility; the pop/rock-inflected “Flim Flam”, played with gorgeous accentuations and slight angular playfulness; “Yup”, whose disorienting tempo and contrasting timbres are complemented with absorbing individual statements from bass (introductory section), sax and piano; and “After The Money”, a successful crossing between the bluesy modal post-bop of Andrew Hill and the rock energy of Beat Happening, declared under an encouraging rhythmic thrust attributable to a dance floor.

There are also slow-moving chapters counterbalancing the more energetic ones. Examples are “Twelve Years”, which consolidates a dismal melody, continual cymbal effervescence, and dark chordal work; “Crystalline”, an exercise in piano minimalism with glacial moments and silences; and the vague “Shiny Things”, which meditates through popping sax sounds, sparse piano activity, snare drum calls, and moody bass notes.

Told half-and-half by Sacks and Doxas, “An Anecdote Regarding Anthony Braxton” climaxes in an ultimate collective laugh that closes out the recording with a bright touch of humor.

You’ll find immersive moods and textures on Landline informing us that these guys’ music is never clumsy or forced. Their big sound, open aesthetic, and compositional variety are great part of the appeal.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Michael Attias ► 02 - Modern Jazz ► 11 - After The Money