Project Earth: The Blue Chapter
Iris Trio
Centrediscs CMCCD 33924 (cmccanada.org/shop/cmccd-33924)

Newfoundland is poetry and birds and surf, rocks and accents and music. This disc, from the Iris Trio, performing the music of jazz pianist Florian Hoefner, and including the poems of Don McKay, provides a window opening into the experience of being there, reminding the listener to seek what is wild or untainted, if anything of that nature remains to be found. 

Artistic activity that attempts what Blue Chapter does, whether effectual or not, always makes me sad. Fortunately in this instance, it doesn’t also provoke grumbles; rather, I can just listen and forget that the world these artists want to help us appreciate may already be gone. Consider the lament McKay has written for the now extinct Great Auk, whose calls were described in words by naturalists; they died out before the advent of sound recording. Spoken word followed by a musical soundscape, both words and musical cries make us lament what we missed. The sadness isn’t that we don’t know what the cry was like, but that we never will. In Song for the Song of the Great Auk the pathos is undeniable. Kudos to all three players (Christine Carter on clarinet, violist Zoë Martin-Doike and pianist Anna Petrova) for their confident and calm expression. 

In his note in the liner material, McKay ruefully comments on his approximate success in staying “on cue” (“with the beat” for the musicians among us). It’s fun to imagine him struggling on the learning curve with the band, and managing at a far better rate than his self-assigned 70%. 

And there are fun tracks too, there are joyful expressions, there’s a Newfie kitchen party among the nesting birds on the islands. Forgive me for feeling Blue, but that is the colour of this chapter, the first, says the publicity material, of three. We look forward to the next two.

Walter Kaufmann – Piano Concerto No.3; Symphony No.3
Elisaveta Blumina; Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin; David Robert Coleman
CPO 555 631-2 (cpo.de)

After fleeing Nazism in 1934, Czech-Jewish Walter Kaufmann (1907-1984) composed and conducted for radio in Bombay and films in London, then became the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s first music director (1948-1957) before teaching ethnomusicology at Indiana University. When I reviewed the first-ever CD of his music (The WholeNote, September 2020), performed by Toronto’s ARC Ensemble, I wrote, “(I) hope that this superb CD will inspire more recordings of Kaufmann’s music.”

That’s exactly what happened! That CD so “fascinated” Berlin-based conductor David Robert Coleman that he decided to record four works selected from Kaufmann’s manuscripts in Indiana University’s library. Three of these works reflect Kaufmann’s studies of Indian ragas, melodies and rhythms, admiringly incorporated into his essentially European, late-Romantic compositions, just like the pieces recorded by the ARC Ensemble.

Symphony No.3 (1936) and An Indian Symphony (1943) date from Kaufmann’s years in India. Soulful woodwind solos, pulsating strings and dramatic brass and percussion recall the music of solemn Hindu rituals and jubilant dances that I heard during three trips to India. Six Indian Miniatures (1965), dominated by long-lined, wistful woodwind melodies over slowly throbbing strings and percussion, ending in boisterous revelry, testify to Kaufmann’s enduring love of India’s music. 

There’s nothing “Indian” about Kaufmann’s colourfully exuberant, Ravel-like Piano Concerto No.3 (1950), two extroverted, percussive movements framing a contemplative Andante, brilliantly performed by Elisaveta Blumina. Conductor Coleman, echoing my 2020 review, hopes this CD will help Kaufmann’s music “find the recognition it deserves.” So do I.

Ebony Chants
Paolo Marchettini
New Focus Recordings FCR402 (newfocusrecordings.com)

Ebony Chants, featuring the music of clarinetist Paolo Marchettini, is a day in the life of the second-most listenable woodwind (after bassoon). It opens with the first of Due Canti: Il canto del giorno, and closes, after much business and play, with the suitably named counterpart, Il canto della notte.

  For several works Marchettini is joined by  Meng Zhang and Ka Hei Chan on clarinet and Tommy Shermulis on bass clarinet. The parts are rotated democratically (if the listing order on the jacket indicates what it seems to). They are all excellent, and the material is mostly in brief segments lasting in the range of one to three minutes. Most delightful are his Cinque Fanfare Napoletane, which reference popular traditional melodies with affection and humour. Nothing is ever trite, although on the overly-serious side I am less of a fan of Nec Clari, a somewhat foggy multi-track overdubbing of the composer’s own playing. At over six minutes I lose attention (a product of my times, I admit), and I find his tone on bass clarinet to be less than compelling. Shermulis, by contrast, sounds terrific both as ensemble member and soloist for Entrée, a tough-sounding solo work. I’d love to hear him take a swing at Soft, Franco Donatoni’s work for the same instrument. 

Sad to say, the online jacket material includes only Marchettini’s bio details, not those of his collaborators, a detail I mentally file alongside other examples of sub-optimal digital publishing.

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Kamala Sankaram – Crescent
Kamala Sankaram; Andie Tanning; Ludovica Burtone; Joanna Mattrey; Mariel Roberts
Neuma 187 (neumarecords.org)

Listening to Crescent by Kamala Sankaram it is important not to be blinded by her use of post-production techniques and devices. Focus your attention instead on the theme of the programme: the all-too-prescient demise of humanity by its own hand raised as if in a defiant gesture aimed at mastering the fate of spaceship earth.

The programme is divided into two works – Crescent, a hypnotic and lyrical chronology of the destruction of the beautiful ecology of the planet that has forgotten its celestial creation, terrestrial beauty and artful history. Cue the poetry of W.B. Yeats here. This is en route to destruction by manufactured scientific pseudo-progress. This demise is tracked by Sankaram’s mesmerising narration of her Heat Map series, to show how over the past hundred years or so the planet is hurtling towards destruction by global warming. This part of Sankaram’s programme ends with the clairvoyant, vocal-and-percussion driven song Crescent delivered in a sotto voce wail.

The second part of the programme features Sankaram’s voice emerging through a tremendous arco introduction by a string quartet. This work is entitled 5 Rasas (rasa means essence or taste). The pregnant vibrancy of the bowed introduction redolent of bells, electronica and field recordings of the twittering songs of birds, has a mystical pastoral quality. Sankaram’s vocals emerge from this prerecorded passage like an electrifying polytonal scherzo, performed with an almost mesmeric processional rhythm.

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Takács Assad Labro
Takács Quartet; Julien Labro; Clarice Assad
Yarlung Records YAR59691 (yarlungrecords.com)

The Takács Quartet was formed almost 50 years ago in 1975 in Hungary. Now based in the United States, original member András Fejér (cello) is joined by Edward Dusinberre and Harumi Rhodes (violins) and Richard O’Neill (viola). World-renowned for their performances of traditional mainstream string quartet repertoire and some contemporary works, here they expand outside the classical realm with guests Julien Labro (bandoneon/composition) and Clarice Assad (piano/vocals/composition).

The seven compositions jump around stylistically yet still connect. Circles by Bryce Dessner begins with Labro’s calming bandoneon changing to fast florid virtuosic lines supported by contrasting strings with detached ascending/descending lines and rhythmic shots. Labro composed Meditation No.1 during the pandemic. The lyrical bandoneon plays held notes above string lines, tight conversations with strings, bellows shakes and tango stylings referencing Labro’s respect for Piazzolla and Saluzzi. 

Multi-talented Clarice Assad is represented by three works here. She composed and performs Luminous from Pendulum Suite for solo piano where the fast percussive piano start leads to modulating lines drawn from Brazilian jazz supporting her rhythmic scat-like vocalizations. Constellation is a three-movement work for piano and violin to be played in any order. The final track, Assad’s Clash, is inspired by society’s stressful social tensions. Intriguing strings at times sound like solos yet all fit together. A great mix of snippets of styles and tempi, I like the accents and string plucks making a “clash” effect, and the closing dark, grim cello and bandoneon interchanges. Intriguing works by Milton Nascimento and Kaija Saariaho are also included, making for a brilliant, wide-ranging and colourful disc.

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Summertime in Leith – In Concert at the Historic Leith Church
Paul Novotny; Robi Botos
Triplet Records TR10026-ATMOS (tripletrecords.com)

When two of Canada’s finest, most skilled and internationally acclaimed jazz musicians come together in a performance of phenomenal symbiosis, it is an occasion worthy of celebration. As the title of this fine recording would suggest, bassist/producer Paul Novotny and pianist (and Oscar Peterson protégé) Robi Botos graced the stage of the Historic Leith Church in Annan, Ontario on Georgian Bay and performed much loved compositions for an enraptured audience. With exquisite production, all of the electricity and spontaneity of the live event has been captured here. 

Six dynamic tracks are included in the recording – each one a rare jewel. Appropriately Gershwin’s Summertime opens the programme. The arrangement begins with a deep, languid bass pizzicato, which intertwines with diaphanous upper register piano keys as the tune morphs into a sensual, timeless journey. Novotny’s solo is lyrical, facile and loaded with emotional colours, and Botos answers with deeply rhythmic ideas, never overplaying.

A stand-out is the duo’s take on Wheatland from Peterson’s Canadiana Suite. Novotny and Botos capture the majesty of central Canada, grooving à la the iconic Peterson and yet putting their own, contemporary and harmonically complex stamp on it. Novotny uses the full scope of his bass to create fluid, gravitas-laden tones that are imbued with a profound sense of rhythm and joy, and Botos is just simply breathtaking.  

Another highlight is The Flick which comes from Earl VanDyke (Motown’s “Soul Brothers”). This track is pure adrenaline, excitement and elation, with Novotny relentlessly laying it down while Botos fearlessly dives deep into blues and American soul. On this brilliant and well-produced project, the pair have created not only an auditory delight, but healing music for our very souls. Bravo!

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Oh Mother
Andrea Superstein
Cellar Music CMR082823 (cellarlive.com)

Despite often deifying our mothers, as men we tend to allow ourselves to – wittingly or unwittingly – either ignore motherhood or push it so far into the background as to forget it might even be “a thing.” On her wonderfully lyrical jazz recording Oh Mother, and after sharing her experiences as a mother of course, Andrea Superstein reminds us of both the potent struggles and unfettered joys of motherhood.

The album comprises mostly originals, except for Everywhere by Christine McVie, May You by Ayelet Rose Gottlieb and So In Love by Cole Porter. The apogee of this fine record is, however, Superstein’s The Heart Inside, with its long, sculpted lines, arranged by Superstein and Elizabeth Shepherd, delivered with uncommon grace and beauty by Superstein. Here, as elsewhere, her vocals are light, plaintive and display a colourful, many-splendored sonority. 

Superstein’s introspective vocal exhortations are boosted by inspirational instrumentation that lift the songs into a higher realm. Best of all these are honest sounds of love, joy, and serenity – all of which are de rigueur the province of a woman who has made a life in which art and parenthood are aglow with success and pride.

The performers inhabit the songs with idiomatic allure, and a children’s choir adds charming recitations which are spliced into Superstein’s memorable vocals. This is a musical treat not simply for mothers – young or old – but for lovers of fine vocal music everywhere.

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Available Light
Daniel Janke Winter Trio
Chronograph Records CR-104 (danieljanke.com)

Daniel Janke has had a varied career over several decades as pianist, composer, filmmaker and more. He is based in the Yukon where you might see him composing for and conducting the Problematic Orchestra, recording in his studio, playing jazz in a local lounge or directing a film. But a month later he could be in Berlin as the Musical Director for a Bowie retrospective, performing at a new music festival in Kitchener, Ontario or taking part in a music residency in France, which is where he met Basile Rahola (bass) and Ariel Tessier (drums). 

Available Light is his second album using the name Winter Trio and it contains original and traditional pieces emphasizing Janke’s gospel roots. For example, the final song Gospel for Betty is a gorgeously deliberate piece named for his mother who sang gospel songs. The traditional Blessed Assurance receives a beautiful treatment beginning with a sparsely improvised solo piano building into the full trio and then lightens into a modestly stated melody. Available Light is an elegant and subtle album that contains jazz and new music sophistication while never straying too far from its gospel fundamentals.

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Magpie
Sarah Jerrom
TPR TPR-0019-02 (sarahjerrom.com)

The incredible Sarah Jerrom’s 2024 suite Magpie shows her heading – with a superbly orchestrated large ensemble – into the countryside of her (ostensible) childhood, making friends with the fabled magpie (and other birds) in the Canadian forest. I have long been an unabashedly dyed-in-the-wool admirer of the songwriter and vocalist; now I have decided that I would like to sojourn into the wilds of her interior landscape with her.

On the eight sections of Magpie, you will hear the sense of freedom in her voice as she remembers the birds of the Canadian Rockies and the elk of the forest, while the elegance of her voice and visionary music and the superbly rehearsed big band become part of a sweeping landscape that mixes beauty and danger, and the sounds of animals and birds, in particular the flight of her magpie. 

But should I journey with Jerrom, I couldn’t match the brilliance of her travelling companions: among them the inimitable flutist Laura Chambers, oboist Cheih-Ving Lu, saxophonists Tara Davidson, Mike Murley, Kirk MacDonald and Shriantha Beddage, trumpeters James Rhodes and Kevin Turcotte, trombonists Olivia Esther and William Carn, the magical pianist Nancy Walker, bassist Rob McBride and drummer Ernesto Cervini.

In such songs as Circling Feathers, or The Mountain Cries, and in Jerrom’s ethereally beautiful vocals everywhere – whether evocative of freezing nights or long rainy days – each track takes us into some wild place with trusted and inspiring musical friends.

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Mike Downes – The Way In
Mike Downes; Robi Botos; Ted Quinlan; Joaquin Nunez Hidalgo; Davide di Renzo
M Music (mikedownes.bandcamp.com/album/the-way-in)

Versatility and the ability to bend and cross genres are valued qualities in musicians. Multi-JUNO award winning, renowned bassist Mike Downes is the embodiment of these qualities. His newest release is a great showcase of his prolific talents as a unique and captivating musician and composer. The track list is chock-full of songs penned by the bassist himself and his lyrical compositional style is accessible  and able to be enjoyed and appreciated. Downes himself says the album showcases his “deep gratitude to the long lineage of extraordinary bassists who blazed the way forward.” There’s a certain beauty and humbleness there when a musician who so many look up to pays homage to his idols in such a way. 

These pieces are such a fitting example of Downes’ sensitive and melodious style of playing, he makes his instrument truly “sing.” What is exceptional is how he draws out such emotions and creates a truly clear imagery in the listener’s mind; he has a way of making the bass into a storyteller, almost as if we’re listening to it speak and sing to us. Coming back full circle to the versatility mentioned earlier, each song has a completely unique and distinct feel, even very specific textures which come to the forefront through the different ways in which Downes creates sounds and layers them; from bowing to rhythmic tapping and melodious pizzicato. A must-add to your music collection!

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Reflections (for Paul Horn)
Bill McBirnie
Extreme Flute (billmcbirnie-extremeflute.bandcamp.com/album/reflections-for-paul-horn)

At the beginning of his liner notes McBirnie acknowledges flutist Paul Horn as “…unquestionably the earliest, the strongest and the most enduring of all my influences on this instrument.”  What touched him about Horn’s playing was his “…use of space, coupled with …often stark – but heartfelt – phrases to communicate musically. …now, a decade after his passing, I decided to take some time and make an effort to acknowledge all he has done for me... and so many others...”

In this recording we hear McBirnie’s similar use of space and stark, heartfelt phrases, particularly in his alto flute improvisations, like track three, Masada Sunrise. It is especially in McBirnie’s sound that I hear something of his feeling for Paul Horn. There is an openness, a spaciousness that he conveys through the sound, that I know could not be conveyed in any other way.

Speaking of the spaciousness of his sound, however, I do have one small quibble. While Horn released a couple of dozen albums and most were not in exotic locations, he famously recorded in some acoustically extraordinary spaces, like the Taj Mahal and the Great Pyramid at Giza. In these locations the acoustic properties of the spaces participated, so to speak, in the improvisations. McBirnie’s recordings were made in a studio, with the “acoustics” added after the fact. What is missing for me is the Horn’s interaction with the environment in this handful of extraordinary spaces. I found myself wistfully thinking of buildings in and near Toronto that offer acoustical environments which could have been co-participants in these recordings – Holy Trinity Church in Toronto, and the Foster Memorial north of Uxbridge, for example – thereby keeping the artistry in the hands of the artist himself, and not those of a recording engineer.

That being said, kudos to McBirnie for keeping the memory of Paul Horn so resonantly alive – a worthy reminder of Paul Horn and the tremendous influence he had “back in the day” on Jazz. This album is a real labour of love.

unPacked
Susanna Hood Trio
ambiences magnetiques AM 278 CD (actuellecd.com/en/accueil)

In certain cases, a collection of music can live multiple lives. One such incarnation is that initial blind exposure, where the listener purely immerses themselves in the way an album sounds, sometimes without even a glance at the artist’s name or album cover. This allows the music to at once have a sense of anonymity to it, but also enables it to create meaning entirely for itself, free from the burden of its association with symbols, description and faces. Another such incarnation exists nearly at the opposite end of the spectrum, which puts the agency for meaning-making in the hands of the listener. 

Some projects become more compelling as one gleans more information surrounding its process. unPacked is a prime example of this, as Judith Malina’s words carry even more weight upon realization that they are giving voice to the often text-less compositions of Steve Lacy, as Susanna Hood’s endlessly expressive vocalizations feel even more like they’re touching upon new ways to communicate with the human soul upon discovery of the improvised dance dimension of this work. Hearing “...can be transfii-ii-igured” when you find the extremely thorough Kickstarter campaign for the recording process that details the entire background of the project, which prompts you to return to the original Lacy Packet suite, starting the exploration cycle anew. unPacked, in all its multitudes, is absolutely stunning and warrants the deepest of dives.

David Leon – Bird’s Eye
David Leon
Pyroclastic Records PR 32 (pyroclasticrecords.bandcamp.com)

Captivating and distinctive aspects of the music of two cultures on opposite sides of the world unite and intertwine on Miami-born, Brooklyn-based saxophonist and reedist David Leon’s latest album. Experimental yet cohesive, freeing yet still grounded, this record is a musical experience that brings both the casual listener and avid contemporary, avant-garde jazz fan into a whole new world of storytelling and imagery. Leon is debuting a new trio on this release, bringing in percussionist Lesley Mok and Korean-born gayageum player Do Yeon Kim. All songs are composed by the saxophonist himself and highlight his skills as a composer very well. 

Perhaps the most intriguing part of this album is how Leon manages to bring together Afro-Cuban and Korean traditional music and intersperse jazz-esque riffs and, at times, grooving rhythms within his compositions. Listening to Nothing Urgent, Just Unfortunate for example, the Korean flavour is brought in with plucked traditional yet modern sounding rhythmic bits courtesy of Kim, soaring melodious saxophone riffs harken back to experimental jazz and Mok’s propulsive drumbeats underpinning it all unite it into a unique whole. The Afro-Cuban influence is why this album is so rhythmically focused, since that is a significant part of that traditional music scene. An interesting aspect that really jumps forward throughout the pieces is how each musician brings their culture and heritage into the compositions. The record is literally an outward reflection of these talented individuals.

Un Sortilege
Jonathan-Guillaume Boudreau Quartet
Independent (jonathan-guillaumeboudreau.bandcamp.com/album/un-sortil-ge)

Spellbinding as its name suggests, Un Sortil​è​ge presents a fresh take on many old favorites, while showcasing the full potential of group improvisation as a medium for conveying emotional and even narrative depth. When the quartet is playing together, one can not only clearly sense the deep consideration and respect each musician’s ideas carry within the ensemble, but also how much room they are given to flourish. Make no mistake, as much as the quartet sounds like the embodiment of symbiosis, this is definitely a bassist’s group. 

Jonathan-Guillaume Boudreau’s impeccable, fluid and velvety time feel is absolutely everything, all the time. His bass lines are often simple, laid back and spacious, but provide a deeply satisfying cushion upon which everything constantly rests. The pocket on S.L. could not be deeper, and as the lush strumming of Jon Gearey and shimmering ride cymbal acrobatics of Vincent P. Ravary sink into these rich wells of honey; saxophonist Richard Savoie sounds as if he’s flying. Savoie himself mixed the album and emphasized only the warmest attributes of Boudreau’s bass tone, nary a single note allowed to die without being fully digested and cherished by all. As the melodic phrases taper off and feed into each other, and Ravary switches to hand percussion, Boudreau remains the raging bonfire in the midst of a blizzard. Those of us who are not there physically are invited to share the space.

Laugh Ash
Ches Smith
Pyroclastic Records PR 31 (pyroclasticrecords.com)

Proof positive that New York’s Ches Smith is more than an exceptional percussionist who plays with, among others, Marc Ribot and John Zorn, is this great sprawling CD highlighting his skills as composer and electronic programmer. 

Seconded by subsets of nine musicians, Smith’s tunes sew together a patchwork quilt of all of his interests encompassing voodoo; jazz and rock drumming; notated music harmonies from three string players; inventive use of studio samples and synthesis; improvisational passages from trumpeter Nate Wooley, clarinetist Oscar Noriega, flutist Anna Webber and saxophonist James Brandon Lewis; and singular or multi-tracked vocals from Shara Lunon that range from bel canto embellishments to sprechgesang.  

Constructed with faultless logic, disparate impulses are sutured without fissure so that on a track like Sweatered Webs (Hey Mom) string scratches are overlaid with reed flutters while Smith’s vibraphone reverberations harmonize with lyrical vocal recitation. Climax is reached when altissimo saxophone screams and triple tonguing is contrasted with a thick, processed bass and drum groove.

Clarinet riffs are prominent throughout. Noriega’s jaunty flutters add to the airiness of drum paradiddle and wordless scatting on Minimalism with the same clarity that his harsh clarion smears join trumpet triplets, programmed overdubbed vocals, unison strings and intense drum beats on Disco Inferred to inflate the resulting sound to almost orchestral capacities. 

Without neglecting percussion comprehension and connections, Smith provides another instance of how drummers’ rhythmic architecture also often make them sensitive and inventive composers.