The OGJB Quartet - Ode to O

Label: TUM Records, 2022

Personnel - Oliver Lake; alto saxophone; Graham Haynes: cornet, electronics; Joe Fonda: acoustic bass; Barry Altschul: drums.

The OGJB Quartet is a product of experienced players who champion artistic freedom with creativity. All four members - saxophonist Oliver Lake, cornetist Graham Haynes, bassist Joe Fonda and drummer Barry Altschul - contribute compositions to Ode to O, the second outing of the ensemble. In line with Bamako (TUM, 2019), its predecessor, this album also includes two collective improvisations; one of them (“OGJB #4”) is expertly infused with Haynes’ electronics.

Penned by Altschul as a tribute to Ornette Coleman, the title track revels in blistering unison lines before Lake and Haynes enhance the angularity of their styles on top of fragmented swinging pulses with the right amount of groove. Then it’s Fonda who speaks vibrantly before the theme is reinstated. With that said, the bassist delivers his best statement on Altschul’s “Da Bang”, which was composed in the late ‘00s for the violinist Billy Bang. At the outset, the drummer explores and articulates the sounds of his drum kit with tasteful combinations, and then he and Fonda lay down an indefatigable locomotion that, bearing manic energy, wrings out every drop of excitement.

Lake calls the world’s attention to “Justice”, where the composure of the horn players contrasts with the ferocious drive of the rhythm section. That’s only until agitated concurrent statements occur between the raspy, growly saxophone and the piercing cornet.

Fonda’s “Me Without Bela” has some connotations with Bela Bartok’s classical erudition, shaping up lamenting lines, bowed bass and surprising percussive elements in an initial phase, before installing an invigorating groove that refuses to leave.

The two compositions by Haynes have distinct feels: “The Other Side” adds some corrosive tones to the graciousness of the theme via a middle passage soaked in electronic effects; “Apaixonado”, which is the Portuguese word for ‘in love’, develops with a steady melancholy pulse, integrating arco and pizzicato hefts, combinations of toms and cymbals, and free melodic zig-zags. 
Suffused with both intriguing and exciting moments, Ode to O is prime avant-garde jazz.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Ode to O ► 02 - Justice ► 04 - Da Bang

Alexander Hawkins Mirror Canon - Break a Vase

Label: Intakt Records, 2022

Personnel - Alexander Hawkins: grand and upright pianos, sampler; Shabaka Hutchings: tenor and soprano saxophones, flute; Otto Fischer: electric guitar; Neil Charles: acoustic and electric bass; Stephen Davis: drums; Richard Olatunde Baker: percussion.

The British pianist, composer and bandleader Alexander Hawkins, who stinted with the iconic multi-reedist Anthony Braxton in 2020, released one of the most exciting albums of last year - Togetherness Music (For Sixteen Musicians) - establishing himself as a fascinating composer. On his new outing, Break a Vase, he enlists another set of capable musicians who form the highly contrapuntal Mirror Canon ensemble. 

His 10 original pieces on the album take different group configurations, starting and ending as solo piano efforts. While the opener, “The Perfect Sound Would Like to be Unique”, is immersed in a granular pensive aura; the closer, “Even the Birds Stop Listening”, includes samples and gamelan-like sounds that come from the prepared piano.

The first great moment of the album is “Stamped Down, or Shovelled”, a tribute to the saxophonist Henry Threadgill, which attaches a modern vibe to the groove and squeezes a fluid melody into the catchy theme. There are concurrent statements from Shabaka Hutchings on tenor and Otto Fischer on electric guitar. The latter, toggling between melodic creativity and free comping, keeps his thing going on during Hawkins’ eloquent piano solo, and the piece finishes with a 30-second percussion statement by Richard Olatunde Baker, who, together with drummer Stephen Davis, shares responsibility for the 6/8 feel of the coda.

“Generous Souls” is another highlight professed with as much motivation as confidence. The angular phrasing in the theme and the elasticity of the piano bring to mind some Tim Berne’s music, and Hutchings fills it with crying multiphonics and dark lines, whereas a relentless piano ostinato in five backs Fischer’s guitar solo. Equally arranged in quintuple meter is “Chaplin in Slow Motion”, where the pianist wrangles comfortably through registers over the languishing yet magnetic groove laid down by the bassist Neil Charles.

Both “Sun Rigged Billions” and “Domingada Open Air” validate an impressionistic abstraction that is elevated by the prepared piano. The former, titled after a quote by Emily Dickinson, explores curious rhythmic possibilities with the flute at the fore; the latter, alluding to the Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci, flies on the wings of a soprano sax before finalizing with strong parallel lyricism.

The ambiance gets more jubilant on “Stride Rhyme Gospel”, a swaggering piece that grows rambunctious as it advances, just to end up in a smooth world-music-influenced kind of dance. 

Artistically edgy, Hawkins likes to push his limits, populating his recordings with invariably exciting ideas. This album has excellent moments of interplay and improvisation.

Favorite Tracks: 
02 - Stamped Down, or Shoveled ► 04 - Generous Souls ► 08 - Domingada Open Air

Andrew Cyrille / William Parker / Enrico Rava - 2 Blues for Cecil

Label: TUM Records, 2022

Personnel - Enrico Rava: flugelhorn; William Parker: double bass; Andrew Cyrille: drums.

I’m a long-time admirer and follower of the music put out by the Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava (here on flugelhorn only), the bassist William Parker, and the drummer Andrew Cyrille, as leaders. These brilliant musicians, who often write with improvisation in mind, are constantly open to ideas, remaining alert and responsive to every sound that surrounds them. 

Although appearing together for the first time as a trio on 2 Blues For Cecil , they were all part of the groundbreaking Cecil Taylor Unit in the past, but at different times. Cyrille and Parker played in the cited group for 11 years each, 64-75 and 80-91, respectively; Rava appeared twice alongside the free jazz piano genius in 1984 and 1988. This dedication to the memory of the pianist comprises four collective improvisations, one jazz standard, one original by Parker and two apiece from Rava and Cyrille.  

“Improvisation No.2” is way more reflective and sparse than “Improvisation No.1”, which opens the record with singing bass lines and likable figures, ever-sparking drumming filled with multi-timbral discernment, and crystal-clear horn playing that manages to be agile and searing. Also collective improvisations, “Blues For Cecil No. 1” and “Blues For Cecil No. 2” have different feelings. The former starts off slowly and then swings conveniently with Parker mutating rhythmic flows with vision; the latter is a more conventional 12-bar blues limned with expressive melody and groove.

Rava populates his hasty, if carefully calibrated, 1991-penned “Ballerina” with restless trumpet, but it’s his other composition, “Overboard”, that enthralled me the most. This Ornette Coleman-inspired piece was revisited many times before, but is built afresh here with beautiful trumpet lines and an enveloping rhythmic web consisting of sure-footed bass walks and intense tom-tom focus.

Whereas Cyrille’s “Enrava Melody” was written for the trumpeter, who, blowing with ascendant verve, combines sophistication and stamina, Parker’s open piece “Machu Picchu”, grounded on a three-time-feel bass ostinato, is a static yet dazzling showcase for Rava’s melodic impressions. The trio concludes with a brushed, harmonically broken reading of Rodgers/Hart’s “My Funny Valentine”. 

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Improvisation No. 1 ► 08 - Overboard ► 09 - Machu Picchu

John Hébert - Songs of Love

Label: Sunnyside Records, 2022

Personnel - Tim Berne: alto saxophone; Taylor Ho Bynum: cornet; Fred Hersch: piano; John Hébert: double bass; Ches Smith: drums

John Hébert is an articulate, broadminded artist who has been contributing to the jazz panorama with his excellent bass skills. A reliable member of the Fred Hersch Trio, Hébert left his mark on modernistic projects led by the guitarist Mary Halvorson, saxophonists Michael Attias and Steve Lehman, and trumpeter Johnathan Finlayson. Not to mention that he was a sturdy rhythmic pillar on the last Blue Note effort of the late pianist Andrew Hill. Songs of Love, his fourth outing as a leader, is a dedication to the amazing bass player Charles Mingus, and features an all-star quintet composed of altoist Tim Berne, cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum, pianist Fred Hersch, drummer Ches Smith and the bassist himself.

Expertly layered, Hébert’s “Constrictor” gets on the road with expressionistic muted cornet, and then adds quiet piano. Measured bass notes and shiny cymbal blend magically before a fine groove lopes along with an easygoing three time feel. Adhering to the ear, this blues-based, free-flowing narrative catalyzes Berne and Bynum to cooperate. They chip in with conjoint work before the saxophonist jumps out for a gripping solo. Hersch comes next in line - enjoyably sober and full of radiance - in anticipation of a final section infused with parallel lines. 

The bandleader also penned the next piece, “The Blank-Faced Man”. Introduced by an itchy drum solo, the piece’s sense of hastiness is further imposed by the bass groove. At this point, the two horn players are free to ramble, but the atmosphere takes a turn into a more meditative, subtly emotional chamber duo passage with prominent arco bass and alto. The classical lyricism leads to other instrumental combinations, and contrary to the expected, the group never returns to that dynamic groove of the middle section.

Two Mingus compositions - from the 1974 album Changes One - were tackled here. “Duke Ellington’s Song of Love” is a highlight that kicks off with Hebert’s bass eloquence, mostly delivered sans accompaniment, and only occasionally supported by minimal percussion. It then enters into ballad mode, when its wondrous charm shines with the same timeless appeal of Strayhorn’s “Lush Life” and Ellington’s “Sophisticated Lady”. The classy mainstream jazz returns with “Remember Rockefeller at Attica”, whose exuberant melody and chord changes make us revive the best of Mingus’ later period, but with fresher sounds. We’re presented with intriguing horn calls at first, followed by a percussion essay. There’s plenty of space for the soloists, but it’s Bynum who stands out by painting outside the lines with oblique strokes and quirky runs.

Hebert’s “Frivolicity” concludes the album, boasting an inventive solo piano intro, meandering unison lines, a bass groove loosely based on Mingus’ “Sue’s Changes”, and imaginative horn statements.

Conveyed with both authority and refinement, this is a record well worth snapping up.

Favorite Tracks: 
01 - Constrictor ► 03 - Duke Ellington’s Song of Love ► 06 - Frivolicity

Tony Malaby's Sabino - The Cave of Winds

Label: Pyroclastic Records, 2022

Personnel - Tony Malaby: tenor and soprano saxophone; Ben Monder: guitar; Michael Formanek: double bass; Tom Rainey: drums.

Inspired by the turnpike sessions he did in New Jersey with musician friends, the American saxophonist and composer Tony Malaby reassembles the estimable, powerhouse quartet Sabino, which marked an early phase in his career. The bassist Michael Formanek and the drummer Tom Rainey are kept in their original positions, while the guitarist Ben Monder replaces Marc Ducret. 

The highly creative spirit of these musicians transpires on “Corinthian Leather”, a loose reading of Dizzy Gillespie’s “Woody'n You”, where a riff serves as a point of departure for an exciting journey of exploration and interplay. At the outset, Malaby and Formanek play very close to each other, having Monder on the loose. The resourceful guitarist makes an interesting bridge between the frontline and the rhythm section, whether opting for single-note texture or harmony work to better consolidate the substructure. It might feel unorthodox sometimes, but you can definitely feel the swinging pulse flowing at the bottom. The concluding theme statement shows guitar and tenor following identical melodic paths.

The enigmatic “Recrudescence” is a collective improvisation that revels in seemingly static waves of kaleidoscopic guitar harmony, timbral tenor fascination, independent bass slides, and understated cymbal sparks. This calm scenario suddenly picks up steam via the beefy intonation of the saxophone, the eerie guitar sounds shadowing the texture, and a skittering bass-drum activity that densifies and propels. The piece ends with the earthy, wooden phrasing of Formanek.

The brooding, guitar-centric “Scratch the Horse” finds a middle ground between black metal and modern creative jazz. Malaby’s throaty and monolithic vociferation on tenor paints the space in expressive midrange without ever losing any melodic notion or the tasteful sense of phrasing that characterizes his playing. He’s no less extraordinary on “Insect Ward”, where he takes the soprano to unstoppable acrobatics. Surrounding and underpinning his actions are Formanek’s arco incisions and Rainey’s thoroughly selective percussion.

The 18-minute title track. “The Cave of Winds”, starts off like a happy chant outlined by folk soprano melodies. Along its meandering course, the piece acquires an expressionistic quality whose energy is later abated with temperate dark moments. If the ensemble moves in a relatively obscure setting here, then wait for the closer, “Just Me, Just Me”, a contrafact of the late-twenties classic “Just You, Just Me” that brings a glimmer of hope in both the unisons and polyphonies created by Malaby and Monder. They are imperative in their movements and majestic in their sounds, forming a rainbow of vast angularities.

There’s nothing dated in Malaby’s The Cave of Winds. It’s all fresh, bold and adventurous... decidedly not for conservative jazz listeners. 

Favorite Tracks: 
01 - Corinthian Leather ► 02 - Recrudescence ► 07 - Just Me, Just Me

Fred Hersh - Breath By Breath

Label: Palmetto Records, 2022

Personnel - Fred Hersch: piano; Drew Gress: bass; Jochen Rueckert: drums; Rogerio Boccato: percussion (#6) + Crosby Street String Quartet - Joyce Hammann: violin; Laura Seaton: violin; Lois Martin: viola; Jody Redhage: cello. 

Acknowledging string quartet as a natural configuration for him, the pianist/composer Fred Hersch puts out Breath By Breath, a well-rounded set of sensitive music that seamlessly integrates his jazz trio - featuring his long-time collaborator Drew Gress on bass and the recent associate Jochen Rueckert on drums - and the harmonious strings of the Crosby Street String Quartet. 

The eight-part Sati Suite, inspired by his meditation practices, starts with “Begin Again”, which flows relentlessly with dramatic and poignant tones during the reflective theme; then radiates optimism during a piano solo that shows the quality of his language. The signature meter shifts to 5/4, proposing a delicate Latin touch before a brief passage infused by strings. This metric rhythm is also found in the suite's concluding part, “Worldly Winds”, a pulsating treat that, living from vivid impulses and counterpoint, reveals a strong classical lineage.

Predominantly introspective, the songs often combine silken tones with sparkling chops, and both “Awaken Heart” and “Breath by Breath” are two notable examples of these quiet inflections. The former, solemnly cinematic in the [pizzicato/bowed] strings introduction, definitely awakes for passionate and emotional piano playing; the latter, recalling a chorale, thrives with a thoughtful bass solo, pondered brushwork, and inspired string fills adorning the piano statement. The richness of the arrangements is also visible in the waltzing “Rising, Falling”, which works closer to the Bill Evans template. A bit less obvious is “Monkey Mind”, whose interactive delineation is committed to explore beyond what is expected.

On the singular “Mara” - titled after the god who tempted Buddha with wine, women and wealth - the ensemble jells into a gently percussive flow in six that evokes Eastern atmospheres. The Brazilian percussionist Rogerio Boccato guests on this immutable foundation over which Hersch churns out subtle melodic shadings before concluding with entrancing chordal movements. Not affiliated with the suite, “Pastorale” is Hersch’s homage to the German classical composer Robert Schumann, warmly put together with a bolero-ish throttle.  

Serving as a catalyst to creativity, this intimate musical experience shows the prolific pianist working in an infrequent context with the same personal voice.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Begin Again ► 06 - Mara ► 08 - Worldly Winds

Matthieu Mazué - Cortex

Label: Unit Records, 2021

Personnel - Matthieu Mazué: piano; Xaver Rüegg: double bass; Michael Cina: drums.

After playing a few gigs in France, Switzerland and Germany in 2020, the French pianist and composer Matthieu Mazué opted to release a 9-track album - titled Cortex - in the company of his two competent Swiss backers, Xaver Rüegg and Michael Cina on bass and drums, respectively.

The trio opens with the title track, implementing the theme statement with intervallic awe and triggering an arresting motion imbued with accentuation that travels your body with energy. An idea in the form of pedal point interrupts the flux and welcomes clearer bass expressions. And then the piece regains its throbbing heart with rich piano playing, whose attributes include shades of Andrew Hill and Horace Tapscott.

On “Cyborg”, the trio shows its fondness for rhythmic complexity, alluding to the crescent role of machines in our society. The piece starts with a tangling web weaved between bass and drums, and upon which free single-note piano lines are laid down. As the time advances, Mazué instills harmonic solidification, denoting an industrious vibe that often brings Kris Davis’ ostentation pianism to mind.

“Black Cloud” is a haunting ballad sustained by whispering brushes and sparse piano. The wide space created here has a noir-ish Paul Bley/Paul Motian elocution, something we hear once again on “Extended Sharpness”, which, giving a strong impression of intangibility at first, gains palpable traction with time. There’s an alternate take of this piece that brings a pop/rock pulse into play.

Both energetically dispensed, “Forming C” and “Data Are About to Collapse” are in connection with boisterous sounds. The former, propelled by a fine bass groove and nuanced pedals, is reinforced in the lower register by the pianist, who, at some point, causes a polyrhythmic, avant-edged, train-like motion to occur. The latter piece, probably partly inspired by spasmodic electronica and machine language, comes shrouded in an opaque sonic veil before settling in a lurching swing that is held down with vigor until the final theme.

Mazué manages to create a narrative direction while alternating between brisk dynamics and pure reflections. Several interesting moments are drawn from this trio effort.

B+

Favorite Tracks: 
01 - Cortex ► 02 - Cyborg ► 04- Forming C

Orrin Evans - The Magic of Now

Label:  Smoke Sessions Records, 2021

Personnel - Orrin Evans: piano; Immanuel Wilkins: alto saxophone; Vicente Archer: double bass; Bill Stewart: drums.

On his sixth outing for the Smoke Sessions label, the American pianist Orrin Evans, who has recently ended a three-year stint with The Bad Plus, spearheads a pliable quartet that includes the excellent 23-year-old saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, the alert bassist Vicente Archer and the sensitive drummer Bill Stewart.

The program consists mostly of originals, with Evans and Wilkins contributing three compositions each, while Stewart allows his discreet “Mynah”, which originally appeared on his 1997 Blue Note album Telepathy, to be paired with Mulgrew Miller’s dynamic “The Eleventh Hour” for the record’s inaugural number. Its gripping post-bop eloquence stimulates the ear, and the ensemble welcomes Wilkins’ imaginative phrasing, twice. He seems to appreciate the sparse piano accompaniment while discoursing over drums. A swinging motion imposes, after which the saxophonist takes a firm stand on rhythmic figures that first repeat and then reshape according to his own whim. Next in line is Evans, whose inventive statement is professed on top of a bass pedal and scintillating cymbal work.

Two of the three tunes penned by the pianist had been previously recorded, appearing here with fresh outfits. Punctuated with an optimistic gospel tinge, “Libra” was tackled in the past by two groups Evans was involved with - Seed in 2001 and Luvpark in 2005. “MAT-Matt” is a straight-ahead effort from 2000, meticulously designed with well-measured breaks in the flux for accentuation. His other piece, “Dave”, is a delicate ballad propelled by Stewart’s formidable brushwork. It lives from the immense beauty of the melody.

Wilkins unrecorded pieces are strong and intense, with “Momma Loves” and “Levels” as highlights. The former flows with a searching quality that draws from jazz tradition, swinging over the course of a sophisticated chord progression that supports the altoist’s extensive vocabulary; the latter tune explores a captivating neo-bop where the saxophonist and the pianist are close communicators. Later on, we have drums and piano engaging in a playful rhythmic activity. On the other hand, “The Poor Fisherman” is a ballad limned with diaphanous textures and classical movements.

The Magic of Now stresses the cohesion of this brand new quartet. All four players have strong personalities on their instruments and that aspect transpires here with encouraging results.

B+

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Mynah/The Eleventh Hour ► 02 - Libra ► 06 - Momma Loves

John McLaughlin - Liberation Time

Label:  Abstract Logix, 2021

Personnel - John McLaughlin: guitar, synth, piano; Gary Husband: keyboards, drums; Julian Siegel: tenor saxophone; Oz Ezzeldin: piano; Roger Rossignol: piano; Sam Burgess: bass; Jerome Regard: bass; Etienne MBappe: bass;  Ranjit Barot: drums, voice; Jean-Michel Aublette: drums; Vinnie Colaiuta: drums; Nicolas Viccaro: drums.

79-year-old guitarist John McLaughlin, a jazz fusion pioneer and breathtaking improviser, puts out Liberation Time, an album whose majority of tunes were composed during the Covid-19 pandemic. This fun-filled multitrack recording features him in various group formats - from solo piano (two short tracks) to trio and quartet (two tracks each) and quintet (one track) - proving his artistry undiminished. 

“As The Spirit Sings” is a great piece of fusion and a fantastic opener. Brimming with intense energy and ideas, this thrilling number shows McLaughlin at his best, whether announcing the theme or soloing magnetically on top of a colored rhythmic tapestry offered by keyboardist Gary Husband, bassist Sam Burgess and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta. The keyboardist switches to drums, his other instrument, on the title track, the piece that concludes the album on an optimistic note.

“Singing our Secrets” initially suggests a ballad as it is softly caressed by synth guitar and brushed with sensitivity by the drummer Jean-Michel Aublette. The trio, rounded out by the pianist Roger Rossignol, transitions from this gentle disposition to a more energetic blues-rock environment, which serves as a showcase for the bandleader’s blistering licks.

Delivered in five and denoting a positive spirit, “Lockdown Blues” is among my favorite tracks. The foundation is assured by Cameroonian bass player Etienne Mbappe, who astounds in his intervallic expertise and slapping funk technique, and the Indian drummer Ranjit Barot, who also sings in the Carnatic Indian style (konnakol). The quartet is completed with Husband on keyboards.

“Mila Repa” and “Shade of Blue” are two solo piano efforts whose quieter tones break the energetic fusion flow. The former, composed 20 years ago, was first recorded for the album Que Alegria, while the latter is a new creation that reflects our times. 

The guitarist lends solid heat to the proceedings on “Right Here, Right Now, Right On”, a passionate post-bop embrace in which he splits soloing duties with the Egyptian-born pianist Oz Ezzeldin and the British tenor saxophonist Julian Siegel. Chorus after chorus, the bassist Jerome Regard and the drummer Nicolas Viccaro provide stable ground, fully supporting the soloists’ journeys.

The music on Liberation Time constantly lures you in, and it’s great to see that McLaughlin didn’t lose a bit of excitement in his playing.

B+

Favorite Tracks:
01 - As The Spirit Sings ► 03 - Lockdown Blues ► 05 - Right Here, Right Now, Right On

João Lencastre's Communion - Unlimited Dreams

Label: Clean Feed, 2021

Personnel - Ricardo Toscano: alto saxophone; Albert Cirera: tenor and soprano saxophone; Andre Fernandes: electric guitar; Pedro Branco: electric guitar; Benny Lackner: piano, electronics; Nelson Cascais: double bass; João Hasselberg: electric bass, electronics; João Lencastre: drums, composition.

Lisbon-based drummer and composer João Lencastre is known for his Communion project, which garnered a great deal of attention throughout the years and cemented his reputation as an adventurous bandleader. American jazz heavyweights such as altoist David Binney, bassist Thomas Morgan and pianist Jacob Sacks popped in for some time in the past, but this new record features new collaborators from the blistering Portuguese scene such as the saxophonists Ricardo Toscano and Albert Cirera, the bassists João Hasselberg and Nelson Cascais, and the guitarists André Fernandes and Pedro Branco. Rounding up the octet is the Berlin-born pianist Benny Lackner.

Consisting solely of Lencastre originals, the album hits the stride with “Clouds”, which comes immersed in enigmatic atmospherics until a magnetic bass groove stimulates both the horn players and the guitarists, making them loosen up in a profuse communion. It finishes up as it began, with electronics.

“Insomnia” alternates between a contrapuntal kinetic passage that seems inspired by EDM and an equally methodic, if softer, piano-bass-drums flux that supports Toscano’s alto saxophone narration. Our focus is then drawn toward the guitarists, one extemporizing over a more abstract texture, and the other over a vamp that leads to the final theme statement.

“The Mystery Path” offers us the pleasurable mystery of not knowing where the group is taking us. It features passionate piano and saxophone rides skating on top of persistent droning that, in turn, is underpinned by skittering drumming. And near the conclusion, there’s this stealthy indie rock motion that sneaks in and changes the meter from four to three.

Whereas “Mitote” is a fine mixture of afrobeat, avant-jazz and punk rock, “No Filter” plunges at some point into a rockified, asymmetrically divided beat-cycle (encouraging a magnetic piano solo by Lackner) that comes in the sequence of an introductory section with syncopated brushed drums, self-contained piano and breezy reeds.

This musical expedition ends with the title track, “Unlimited Dreams”, whose early dirge-like lament mutates into a rock strut with vamping harmonic shifts and peremptory juxtaposed lines that provoke and stimulate.

Lencastre continues to cull modern aesthetics from his creative mind in a sensational, forceful showcase. My guess is that you’ll be enthralled by his group’s agility, precision and latitude.

A-

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Clouds ► 03 - The Mystery Path ► 06 - Unlimited Dreams

Ivo Perelman - Brass and Ivory Tales

Label: Fundacja Sluchaj, 2021

Personnel - Ivo Perelman: tenor saxophone + Dave Burrell, Marilyn Crispell, Aruan Ortiz, Aaron Parks, Sylvie Courvoisier, Agusti Fernandez, Craig Taborn, Angelica Sanchez, Vijay Iyer: piano.  

The tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman, an unstoppable booster of the avant-garde jazz scene, collaborates with nine modern creative pianists on Brass and Ivory Tales, a 9-disc box release featuring an odyssey of sax/piano duets. This project, which took him seven years to conclude, provides an exhaustive listening that will please lovers of abstract sonic paintings colored in the spur of the moment.

Although the chemistry between Perelman and his guests naturally varies from tale to tale, he maintains ongoing conversations with them with live-wire abandon, creating multi-climactic melodies developed in accordance or opposition to the textures provided.

An outstanding rapport is felt on Tale One, where the veteran pianist Dave Burrell injects a lot of jazz tradition into creative textures and motions - there’s even a tango incursion during “Chapter One”. Almost telepathically, Perelman risks some folk melodies for the sake of this immediate free-spirited communion.

Another example is Marilyn Crispell. She is harmonically bright in the hymnal “Chapter One”, where the melody is king, and optimistically sublime on “Chapter Eight”. However, she can set up dusky (“Chapter Seven”) and brisker moods (“Chapter Two”, “Chapter Eight”) with the same efficiency. 

The third CD pairs up Perelman with the highly rhythmic Cuban-born pianist Aruan Ortiz, who creates a variety of backgrounds - from crawly to eerie to brightly vivid, while Tale Four features Aaron Parks, an agreeable surprise since he’s not a typical astronavigator of the free jazz cosmos. He hits the mark here, responding with nuance to Perelman’s tenor cries and moans. 

The altissimo range is regularly visited by the saxophonist, taking climaxing peaks on Tale Nine/“Chapter One” with Vijay Iyer and also on Tale Seven/“Chapter Five” with Craig Taborn. On the latter piece, he also dives in the lower registers with dramatic force, as well on Tale Six/“Chapter One”, in which he imposes lyrical vibratos alongside Spanish improviser Agusti Fernandez. The latter employs percussive prepared piano on “Chapter Five”.

Yet, prepared piano never sounds as dreamy here as when managed by Sylvie Courvoisier (“Chapter Three”). She begins Tale Five with a slowly-driven cadence that exudes a mix of tension and pathos but jolts you out of reverie with the off-kilter pulsation of “Chapter Eight”. All these tracks have Perelman focused on timbre and following a logic sense of phrasing.

Finally, it's Angelica Sanchez who engages in rubato conversations with Perelman, going from dreamy and fluid to fierce staccato articulations. Her chordal movement on Tale Eight/“Chapter One” arrives with elation, inviting Perelman to consider a more folksy line of action.

Whether operating in lyrical restraint or irrepressible ebullience, these duos always flow with an indefinite direction, choosing ambiguity to define every sound imprint - pure joy for followers of spontaneously created music.

B+

Favorite Tracks:
CD1/Chapter One (with Dave Burrell) ► CD2/Chapter One (with Marilyn Crispell) ► CD4/Chapter Two (with Aaron Parks) ► CD5/Chapter Eight (with Sylvie Courvoisier) ► CD7/Chapter Five (with Craig Taborn)

Gordon Grdina's Square Peg - Klotski

Label: Attaboygirl Records, 2021

Personnel - Gordon Grdina: guitar, oud; Mat Maneri: viola; Shahzad Ismaily: bass, Moog; Christian Lillinger: drums.

The Vancouver-based guitarist and oud player Gordon Grdina is frequently involved in interesting projects (his recent duo recording with the drummer extraordinaire Jim Black is a highlight of 2021) melding experimental jazz and rock, free improv and eclectic-flavored new-music. As expected, the Square Peg quartet is planted on the left side of the jazz spectrum, featuring violinist Mat Maneri (David S. Ware, Matthew Shipp), bassist Shahzad Ismaily (Marc Ribot) and German drummer Christian Lillinger (Punkt.Vrt.Plastik).

Released on Grdina’s own label and presented as a continuous suite of modular pieces, Klotski kicks off with “Impending Discomfort”, whose patient, minimal and airy preamble insinuates indistinct directions. That’s until a repetitive, pulsating bass figure consolidates with a hi-hat/snare pattern, having the rock muscularity of the guitar granting space for beautiful viola dissonances. The ensemble roots for an art-rock stratosphere here.

“Sulfur City” draws special attention. Maneri’s bowed ostinato works well with the countermelody offered by Grdina, which also serves as harmonic reference. Everything is enclosed by the eerie atmospherics of Ismaily’s bass and the flapping sounds of Lillinger’s drumming. The piece then evolves into a noir indie rock with improvised guitar and Moog eruptions at the fore. 

Dark tones are also spotted on “Bacchic Barge”, which plays like an atmospheric ballad spiced by microtones (viola and oud) before shading its texture through murky bowed bass; and “Sore Spot”, an elliptical ride with an insistent guitar outline and unobstructed improvisation. The eerie substratum of the latter differs from the lightness and looseness of the following track/section, “Joy Ride”, an electrifying 14-beat cycle fusion of progressive rock and Eastern sounds.

Another portion of music worthy of mention is “Kaleidoscope”, a polyrhythmic effort with a guitar ostinato in seven supporting thoughtful viola cries, and counting on some mesmeric, spasmodic rhythms laid down by Lillinger. It ends with a slower-than-expected pace.

Always with an inherent sense of lyricism and willing to build something meaningful, Grdina’s Square Peg explores abstract paths with musical clarity.

B

Favorite Tracks:
04 - Sulfur City ► 05 - Kaleidoscope ► 08 - Joy Ride

Irreversible Entanglements - Open the Gates

Label: International Anthem Recording, 2021

Personnel - Camae Ayewa: spoken word, synth; Keir Neuringer: saxophone, synth, percussion; Aquiles Navarro: trumpet, synth; Luke Stewart: double bass, bass guitar; Tcheser Holmes: drums, percussion.

The strong collective energy and the urgency in the message of the Philadelphia-based group Irreversible Entanglements are both kept alive on Open the Gates, its third full-length outing. It’s more than one hour of angular, funk-inflected, modal and agit-jazz music played with spiritual discipline and infused with Camae Ayewa (a.k.a. Moore Mother)’s left-field poetry.

On the title cut, she speaks without hesitation, having an invigorating afrobeat, a bass figure in six, and consensual horn agreement running in the background.

“Keys to Creation” mixes ambient synth waves, a driving funk pulsation on the bass, muted trumpet and a cool syncopated beat. The flow then becomes groove-driven, incorporating kinetic drumming, convulsive saxophone contortions and attentive trumpet observations. A second transformation occurs, and the group essays another turn with the help of a clattered rhythm in three.

For a brief moment, “Lagrimas del Mar” juxtaposes the predominant 6/8 time with a brief lurching 4/4 swing. It’s a crying song delivered with emotional intensity and themed with a simple five-note horn ostinato. “Storm Came Twice” plunges directly into turbulent avant-garde jazz seas, lending the spotlight to the drummer Tcheser Holmes as he accompanies Ayewa’s spoken word. This track catches fire halfway, when the saxophonist Keir Neuringer blows his horn with spartan austerity. He seems OK with Aquiles Navarro’s more relaxed trumpet lines intersecting his.

Clocking in at 20 minutes, “Water Meditation” first advances with folk innuendos, drones, effects, and then a bass statement that inspires Ayewa’s spiritual verses. Later on, she professes “We are sounding for peace. Healing for peace.” This journey doesn’t end without a vibrant sax-trumpet conversation over a sturdy rhythmic underpinning.

The group endows the nourish “The Port Remembers” with an undercurrent of quizzical tension. Luke Stewart’s arco bass turns pizzicato, and there’s multiphonic saxophone shouts, appeasing trumpet and odd-metered grooves that shift seamlessly.

This passionate music is passionately played.

B+

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Keys to Creation ► 03 - Lagrimas Del Mar ► 04 - Storm Came Twice

Esperanza Spalding - Songwrights Apothecary Lab

Label: Concord Records, 2021

Personnel - Esperanza Spalding: bass, vocals; Aaron Burnett: saxophone; Leo Genovese: piano; Matthew Stevens: guitar; Francisco Mela: drums + guests include: Corey King: vocals, acoustic guitar; Phoelix: synth, piano, vocals; Ganavya Doraiswamy: vocals (#1,2); Wayne Shorter: saxophone (#3); Thrive Choir, and more. 

Esperanza Spalding - a wonderful bassist, vocalist and fusion experimenter - releases Sonwrights Apothecary Lab, a 12-track album with healing consciousness and conceived with a team of neuroscientists, ethnomusicologists and music therapists. The combination of exuberance, refinement and some eccentricity is on display, and the musicians that surround her are outstanding. Yet, not every track does that magic. There are moments of pure genius, especially on the second half of the record, contrasting with those not so interesting during the first.

Grappling with the recent stressful times, “Formwela 1” opens the record strongly, displaying layers of vocals, clever chromatic moves and natural falsetto singing. The bass lines fuse with the lyrics, and the piano adds more color to the setting with its pendulum-like movements before the Thrive Choir take us to a final sustained note that leads directly to the ethereal “Formwela 2”. 

The three tunes featuring the singer/songwriter Corey King (Formwelas 4, 5 and 6) didn’t appeal to me significantly; one of them, in which he plays acoustic guitar, verges on folk-pop. The same indifference transpired on “Formwela 3”, whose contemporary theatrical spin comes mixed with shades of jazz standards and R&B, ending up with atonal lines delivered by saxophonist Wayne Shorter and the excited piano runs of Leo Genovese.

If I didn’t always feel that positive energy during this earlier part of the journey, then I was much more impressed with the last six pieces. “Formwela 7” surprises with offbeat rock impulses; the mantric 12-beat cycle chant “Formwela 8” works as an anxiety antidote in the spiritual line of Alice Coltrane; “Formwela 10” arrives in a lovely jazzy wrap that makes it uncompromisingly sensual; and then there’s “Formwela 9”, a protective amulet in which the group fearlessly explores extravagant territories. I love the singing here, the blistering avant-garde explosions, and when saxophonist Aaron Burnett and guitarist Matt Stevens work closer together.

The record might be uneven, but no one can deny the singularity of this music.

B-

Favorite Tracks:
08 - Formwela 8 ► 09 - Formwela 9 ► 10 - Formwela 10

Wadada Leo Smith / Jack DeJohnette / Vijay Iyer - Love Sonnet for Billie Holiday

Label: TUM Records, 2021

Personnel - Wadada Leo Smith: trumpet; Vijay Iyer: piano, Fender Rhodes, Hammond B3, electronics; Jack DeJohnette: drums.

Wadada Leo Smith is a heavyweight of the trumpet, one of the most emblematic figures in the 21st century avant-garde jazz. Beautiful things happened when, in 2016, he gathered with two other jazz giants and reliable partners, the pianist Vijay Iyer and the drummer Jack DeJohnette. The result is Love Sonnet for Billie Holiday, a five-track album with compositions of each plus one collective improvisation. DeJohnette and Iyer played with Smith in two different versions of his Golden Quartet, but never together. 

Masterfully introduced by the drummer, whose tom-tom work balances wet and dry sounds in perfection, “Billie Holiday: a Love Sonnet” is one of Smith’s many dedications to the iconic American jazz singer referred in the title. The trumpeter begins his emotional phrases with pensive deliberation, but the colors drawn from Iyer’s opulent harmonies encourage him to hurl us into a vertiginous sequence. Whether subdued or zestful, DeJohnette’s drumming is unceasingly fantastic.

Smith makes another dedication with “The A.D. Opera: A Long Vision with Imagination, Creativity and Fire, a dance opera”, which was written for the pianist Anthony Davis, a long-time collaborator and also a member of his above mentioned quartet. The piano comes dressed in folk and avant-garde outfits, the trumpet is beautiful in tone and pinpoint in the attacks, while the reassuring drum work completes the poetic scenario. At some point, Iyer switches to organ, probing more mysterious tones, and then reverts to piano again for the hyper section that precedes an unruffled finale. 

Iyer’s “Deep Time No. 1” features an excerpt of Malcolm X’s 1964 speech “By Any Means Necessary” over a pastoral-like texture spangled with electronics and organ, while DeJohnette’s “Song for World Forgiveness” is a poignant, selfless hymn of peace. This latter piece is taken to a broad spiritual sense, with the pianist and the drummer entangled in textures over which Smith towers his horn with certainty. It all ends in a liberating vamped sequence.

The trio wraps up with “Rocket”, a four-and-a-half-minute collective improvisation which, suggesting a blues progression, contains psychedelic Hammond, a sparkling rhythmic routine made of hi-hat, snare and bass drum, and explorative trumpet.

Smith, Iyer and DeJohnette bring their signature warmth and authenticity to music whose structure is not in disagreement with open-ended strategies.

A-

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Bille Holiday: A Love Sonnet ► 04 - Song for World Forgiveness ► 05 - Rocket

Mehdi Nabti & Prototype - Code Source

Label: Self released, 2021

Personnel - Mehdi Nabti: alto saxophone; Joy Anandasivam: electric guitar; Nicolas Lafortune: electric bass; Bertil Schulrabe: drums, tabla; Kullak Viger Rojas: timbales.

There are remarkable musicians who, deeply reverent of their roots and influences, bring them into modern jazz aesthetics with successful outcomes. Examples include Rudresh Mahanthappa, Rez Abbasi, David Virelles, Hafez Modirzadeh and Amir ElSaffar. 

The Montreal-based saxophonist Mehdi Nabti also claims a space for himself, whether applying his Afro-Berber continuum or specific patterns associated with geomancy, as it is the case with this new recording, Code Source. He has been using this latter method intermittently for a decade now, fostering it to further development here with the help of his pliant Prototype group.

“Anzar” boasts a punchy funky rhythm and a bass groove in 10 on top of which a melodic figure suggests an Eastern dance form. Also progressing with odd-meter, “Barca” follows a similar recipe but with an infectious groove that feels very particular. Nabti’s phrasal and timbral agility are noticeable as well as the collective staccatos meant to impart a certain rhythmic stimulation.

“Chronos” puts on show a nimble, deliberate funk work on the core, featuring guitarist Joy Anandasivam in a tasteful solo uttered with the right amount of distortion and effects. The nature of this piece contrasts with “Gurzil”, a relaxing exercise that, gradually adding layers of sound, culminates with a melodious pop song feel. Exquisitely introduced by electric bass, the piece sees its well-developed backbone enriched with chordal guitar playing and percussion, after which Nabti rounds it out with expressive melody. Also infused with melody, “Teryel” denotes a different vibe but a similar meter signature when compared to “Mencey”.

The bass-drum foundation of Nicolas Lafortune and Bertil Schulrabe has a sextuple groove moving on “Beneharo”. Noticeable aspects here are: the guitar performing harmonic and rhythmic tasks, the sinuous eloquence and dancing quality of the Orient and sub-Saharan Africa in the saxophone trajectories, and a final vamp for the drummer.

Drawing stimulating ideas from the concept, Nabti and his peers engage in progressive rhythmic schemes that will keep the ears of fusion devotees well-glued to the music. 

B+

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Barca ► 04 - Chronos ► 06 - Gurzil

Dave Meder - Unamuno Songs and Stories

Label: Outside in Music, 2021

Personnel - Dave Meder: piano, vocals; Marty Jaffe: bass; Michael Piolet: drums. Guests - Miguel Zenon: alto saxophone (#6); Philip Dizack: trumpet (#4,9).

Dave Meder, a rising pianist from Tampa, Florida, releases his sophomore album on the New York City-based imprint Outside in Music. The followup to Passage (), his positive debut, is called Unamuno Songs and Stories and it's inspired by the work of Spanish philosopher and author Miguel de Unamuno. The latter's words serve as an analogy for the current threats against democracy in America.

Featuring him alongside bassist Marty Jaffe and drummer Michael Piolet, the album sparks with the guest presences of altoist Miguel Zenon and trumpeter Philip Dizack, who, never appearing side by side, push the group to a quartet on three of the nine tracks.

“Song of Secret Love” immediately dives into post-bop lightness with a fine burnish and a touch of poignancy. The pianist works his instrument with melodic development and dramatic tension on top of the leisurely feel of the drums. And we have the bassist and the pianist soloing prior to the latter's vocals are added. 

“I Look For Religion at War” attempts to bring Unamuno’s controversial ideas to the fore. Its mournful tones - carried by a piano ostinato, bowed bass and Dizack’s trumpet - are subject to modulation, passing by a classical ascendancy inspired by the Post-Romantic Spanish pianist Isaac Albeniz. This is before Jaffe (with arco) and Meder articulate phrases in mutual agreement. Although the ending is more energetic than the beginning, this tune is never more potent than “The Lake and the Mountain”, on which the seasoned saxophonist Miguel Zenon lends his distinctive voice with grit and energy. A sextuple meter, periodic Latin-tinged envelopment, expressive dynamics and tightly synced movements are other aspects that make this one a highlight.

Both “Augusto’s Dilemma” and the Sir Roland Hanna-penned “Century Rag” operate closer to the mainstream jazz. The latter gets ahead with stride piano and walking bass lines for a swing ride that feels deeply bluesy, while the latter, in a more flamboyant reading, includes rhythmic mutations that lean into avant-garde jazz. 

A sense of connection and sharing centers this program, which includes another cover - the Lerner/Loewe ballad “If I Ever Would Leave You” (from the Broadway musical Camelot) - and ends in a sad note with Meder’s “Exile”, featuring dusky arco bass at the outset, pushing-forward brushwork, sweeping piano and the crystalline intensity of Dizack’s trumpetism.

Some elegant, mature stuff is found here.

B

Favorite Tracks:
04 - I Look For Religion at War ► 06 - The Lake and the Mountain ► 09 - Exile

Kuba Cichocki / Brandon Seabrook - Brisk Distortions

Label: Self released, 2021

Personnel - Kuba Cichocki: piano; Brandon Seabrook: electric guitar.

The Polish pianist Kuba Cichocki joins forces with the American guitarist Brandon Seabrook in this ferocious, highly improvisatory collection of duets enveloped in a bubble of kinetic energy. 

Three of the 21 tracks tracks have the signature of Cichocki, and the opener, “Scribbles” is one of them. Melodically strenuous, expressive and hectic, the music speeds up with an impressive left-hand piano continuum and steep accents. This sort of angular vitality is briefly put on halt for atmospherics but it’s transported to the following number, “Push”, where the stabbing guitar of Seabrook plays with timbre and effects. This is also clear on “Solid”, where torrents of cascading piano notes collide with frantic guitar pointillism and chordal fluxes.

While “Bounce” is driven by contrapuntal rhythmic figures, “Field Trip” clearly leans on warped folk before presenting some ambient washes and playful interplay. Cichocki’s “Rays” seems to have been drawn from danceable electronic music with quiet pauses in-between frictions and a nod to traditional jazz. The responsiveness of the duo here can be compared to “Chitchat (aka The Gloves)”, an ad lib that gets denser in the final section via the eruptive and disruptive distortion of the guitar.

Jagged but interesting, “Spikes” feels like we’re hearing toy music made with percussive prepared piano - sometimes emulating miniature artificial fireworks - and guitar dissonance. In turn, “Vabling” is a bustling, pressurized chamber of timbral and pitch combinations where you can expect murmuring and mantra-like activity.

The briskness is put to rest on the short-lived “Bubbles” and also on the concluding piece, “Breathe Out”, whose gentler temperament comes shrouded in nearly cherubic beauty.

Cichocki and Seabrook are admirably daring in their condensed, hard-nosed duo playing.

B

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Scribbles ► 05 - Field Trip ► 21 - Breathe Out

Michael Hudson-Casanova - Echoes of Thought

Label: Self produced, 2021

Personnel - Michael Husdon-Casanova: saxophones; Elliot Bild: trumpet; Nicholas Lombardelli: trombone; Lucas Brown: piano; Sandy Eldred: bass; Steven Perry: drums.

Echoes of Thought, the debut full-length album from Michigan-born, Chicago-based saxophonist Michael Husdon-Casanova offers a sprawling combination of tradition and contemporary views expressed in the sextet format. The members of this combo hail from Philadelphia, where the bandleader lived from 2017 until a few months ago.

The album is bookended by two playfully disorienting short pieces that are directly connected - “Spin the Context” and “Spin it Back”. Suggesting the force of rock and boasting the horn players in joyful communion, one can only regret these pieces weren’t made longer.

The title “The Old Days, Whenever they Were” is not misleading, with the group brandishing an elated swinging motion that is delivered with shifting meter as well as hard-bop and post-bop pushes. The soloing time is split by trumpeter Elliot Bild, who blows vigorously like Freddie Hubbard; pianist Lucas Brown, whose articulation and integration of harmony and melody are spot on; and Hudson-Casanova, who finishes with a thoughtful speech over a ultimately horn-filled sequence in six.

Waltzing with lushness, “K.W.” evokes trumpeter Kenny Wheeler’s unique ethos, while the living legend Wayne Shorter is presented with a nod on “Droogs”. There’s also “Abandoner”, which flows with a straight eight feel, displaying a contemporary grit amidst influences of the past and the familiar sounds naturally brought in it.

The short-lived “Yea, Exactly” broadens the palette with repetitions of a figure and fast kinetics that take us to a more avant-garde setting. Before closing out the album, “Ravensong” allows a soaring soprano saxophone to ride a mutable rhythm that goes from a more 4/4 dynamic spin to the balladic 3/4 linearity that sustains the bandleader’s improvisation. 

This album shows the skills of Hudson-Casanova as a composer and saxophonist, giving sufficient indications that he can expand his musical vision and explore his creative side even more in the future.

B

Favorite Tracks: 
02 - The Old Days, Whenever they Were ► 05 - Abandoner ► 10 - Ravensong

Adam Rudolph's Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra - Resonant Bodies

Label: Meta Records, 2021

Personnel - Adam Rudolph: conduction, composition, arrangements, handrumset (#9); Liberty Ellman: electric guitar; Nels Cline: electric guitar; Miles Okazaki: electric guitar; David Gilmore: electric guitar; Kenny Wessel: electric guitar; Joel Harrison: electric guitar, national steel guitar; Marco Cappelli: acoustic guitar; Jerome Harris: electric guitar, bass guitar, lap steel guitar; Damon Banks: bass guitar.

This music composed and spontaneously conducted by the acclaimed American percussionist Adam Rudolph for his Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra is atypically enchanting. The high-wire interplay between nine widely different but compelling New York-based guitarists gets to an unconventional sonic escapism that’s equally beguiling and provocative. Resonant Bodies is the 12th installment in Rudolph’s Go: Organic Orchestra series, launched in 2001, and uses his prototypical approach with interval matrices, cosmograms and ostinatos of circularity. The titles of the tracks are the names of stars in the Cygnus cluster.

“Parallax” begins this journey with jagged guitar specks and electronic effects before a rhythmic motion becomes noticeable. The bass follows the idea creating a 10-beat cycle figure that gradually spreads among the crew of musicians. This one is immediately followed by “Albireo”, in which a two-way guitar conversation give the music an abstract shape before rock-infused solos take place over a trance-dancing Eastern pulsation.

The virtuosity of the guitarists involved are occasionally hidden behind the discreet, minimal and spacious foundations. “Mira” serves as an example, where airy chordal elongations support foreboding distorted sounds. Resonant, full-bellied bass notes are added both near the beginning and before the end.

Despite the feast of ostinatos engraved on “Dolidze”, there’s this guitar plasticity that avoids rigidness. Actually, the latter piece is deliciously polyrhythmic, an electro-acoustic psychedelic outfit with occasional parallel trajectories between bass and acoustic guitar, funky wah-wah sounds, samba groove and wild, simultaneous soloing, before ending in pure ecstasy.

Including vibrating drones and scintillating fluxes, “Cygnus” embraces a similar experimental electronic ambiance found in the music of some 20th-century avant-garde composers, like Stockhausen, Varèse and Xenakis. By contrast, “Fawaris” features animated jazz dialogues and contrapuntal figures liable to create atonal configurations of sound as they collide.

The closing piece, “Deneb”, is the only one featuring Rudolph’s percussion as he plays an Afro-centric rhythm on his handrumset, surrounded by a counterpoint of texture. 

Rudolph stands at the vanguard of his productive generation of music creators. His methods and impromptu ways managed to make guitars sounding like if they’re not, and there’s definitely something new here worth exploring. 

B+

Favorite Tracks:
 02 - Albireo ► 06 - Dolidze ► 09 - Deneb