Small Bridges
Robert Diack; Patrick O’Reilly; Jacob Thompson; Brandon Davis
Independent (robertdiack.com)

Toronto-based drummer, composer and producer Robert Diack has released a scintillating sophomore album, taking the listener on a meandering journey through genres. The record is finely tuned throughout, a true audiophile’s dream; a sonic landscape emerges right in front of the listener and instantly transports them to another musical dimension. All pieces are penned by Diack himself along with occasional co-writers from amongst the band, truly showcasing the young drummer’s compositional talents as well as unique conceptualizations reflected within his music. The cream of the crop of famed young Canadian musicians have been gathered together for this album: Patrick O’Reilly on guitar; Jacob Thompson on piano; and Brandon Davis on bass. A perfect companion to the picturesque scenes and landscapes of autumn, this is a great addition to the explorative jazz-lover’s collection. 

The album draws upon influences from several genres, including both contemporary and traditional jazz, post-rock, fusion and country; blending them together and transitioning between them seamlessly. The result is a poignant hodgepodge, evoking a mix of emotions and images in the mind’s eye within every track. Diack himself has said that with this set of tracks, he “wanted to explore a broader swath of genre and texture” and delve into a diverse musical landscape, which he does brilliantly. Beautiful, captivating melodies layered over complex rhythms make for a must-have for the jazz aficionado who wants a true sonic experience.

The Astrud Project
Anne Walsh
A to Zinc Music (annewalsh.com)

Now that the dog days of summer have passed and the transition into chillier fall weather has occurred, a warm little pick-me-up may be much appreciated. What better way to do that than with a fresh bossa nova album, a time-travelling musical journey back into warmer, joyful times. Massachusetts-native, jazz vocalist Anne Walsh’s latest release transports the listener right to sunny Brazil through blazing interpretations of bossa nova tunes popularized by Astrud Gilberto. The classic mellowness and rhythmic complexity attributed to songs from the aforementioned genre come through incredibly well, brought even more to the forefront through superb audio quality and a certain spaciousness heard throughout the album. A sizeable group of talented musicians boost this record to new heights, featuring well-known names like Mitchell Long, Tom Zink and Kevin Winard. 

Walsh’s excursion into bossa nova began when she penned lyrics to Gilberto’s scatted Não Bate O Coração. This led to her further fascination with Gilberto’s catalogue of songs and so this record, including compositions by the renowned Antonio Carlos Jobim, was born. The talented vocalist’s airy and sweet timbre contribute to her unique interpretation and take on these classic tunes; less rhythmically centred vocals than typically heard in the genre bring to the forefront the more melodious and dulcet facets within the pieces. Fans of bossa nova and jazz will be thoroughly pleased with this album as a whole, a worthy record for any collection.

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Hey There
Jeremy Wong; Ardeshir Pourkeramati; Chris Gestrin; John Lee; Jesse Cahill; Alvin Brendan
Cellar Music CM100321 (cellarlive.com)

With the release of his debut CD, compelling jazz vocalist Jeremy Wong has arrived on the scene with a rather marvelous recording, loaded with content, talent and of course, Wong’s evocative, mellifluous and finely honed vocal instrument. The Vancouver native also wears the producer’s hat here, and his talented ensemble includes Chris Gestrin on piano, John Lee on bass, Jesse Cahill on drums, Alvin Brendan on guitar and gifted arranger/co-writer and tenor saxophonist, Ardeshir Pourkeramati. 

There are ten compelling tracks, all drawn from the Great American Songbook, American cinema, the Broadway stage and the pens of some of the hippest jazz composer/lyricists who have graced our planet. Wong also contributes two original compositions with both melodic appeal and clever lyrics. The opener is Rodgers and Hart’s classic Where or When. A lovely guitar/vocal intro swings into a sumptuous quartet arrangement, and Wong’s sibilant, sensual and perfectly intoned tenor/baritone vocal sound is reminiscent (but not derivative of) Chet Baker, Kurt Elling and Mark Murphy. On Invitation, the band is tight and filled with gravitas, as they move like a single-celled being through this challenging jazz standard, with the vocal line punctuated perfectly by Pourkeramati’s dynamic sax work.

Only a Dream, a charming original waltz that deftly dances us through the sadness of a lost love, features a fine bass solo from Lee. Other delights include a fine arrangement of Frank Loesser’s Never Will I Marry, which clearly displays Wong’s ability to swing and scat. A total standout is the rarely performed gem from Fran Landesman and Tommy Wolf, Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most.  Wong’s maturity as a vocalist is clear here, as he imbues meaning into every word, and effortlessly sails through the rather gymnastic melodic line. A fine debut from a highly talented emerging jazz vocalist!

Meditations on Mingus
Ethan Philion
Sunnyside Records SSC 1666 (ethanphilion.com)

Just in time for iconic bassist/composer Charles Mingus’ centennial celebrations, noted Chicago-based bassist and arranger Ethan Philion has released Meditations on Mingus, a stunning collection of Mingus’ most seminal compositions, arranged by Philion and featuring a talented all-star tentet of which the core trio is Philion on bass, Alexis Lombre on piano and Dana Hall on drums.

Mingus was a complex and contradictory individual – an eccentric genius, a poet, a powerful, muscular bassist, a social activist and also someone who coped with severe mental health issues – and it was all part of his unique, creative mojo. Philion, has said: “My goal was to put together a program of pieces that speak to current events; racism, prejudice, identity, economic inequality are all still relevant in the world today.”

The opening salvo, Once Upon a Time There Was a Holding Corporation Called Old America, begins with trumpeters Russ Johnson and Victor Garcia’s legato intro, which morphs into a paroxysm of angst followed by bold, chordal configurations and ultimately a swinging and joyous romp that then descends into chaos.  Lombre’s exceptional piano work here is both skillful and breathtaking. Other highlights include Self Portrait in 3 Colors – a reflection of Mingus’ feelings about mental health, replete with a gorgeous solo from Johnson; Meditations for a Pair of Wirecutters – a flag waver for Mingus’ noted mid-1960s sextet (the band that propelled Philion into this project), and the final track, Better Git It In Your Soul, which is a superb interpretation of Mingus’ funky, soulful anthem, rendered here with all of the swing and heart possible.  Mingus would be proud.

Dedicated to You
Joe Coughlin; Bernie Senensky; Neil Swainson; Terry Clarke; Ryan Oliver
Cellar Music CM120121 (cellarlive.com)

Before you even play this recording – Dedicated to You by Joe Coughlin – you will find that the repertoire is wonderfully chosen, and just the right length so as not to be “too much of a good thing.” When you do play the recording you will discover the best thing about it: the voice of Joe Coughlin, sounding like the rustle of raw silk. 

Coughlin’s admiration for Johnny Hartman – who created benchmark interpretations of these charts – is sometimes palpable. But these charts also speak in a very personal way of Coughlin. Surprises come by way of his applying raspy glissandos to words in a phrase here and there, and poignant dallying with the word “love” in a beautifully sculpted line. Listen, with the heart, to On Green Dolphin Street, It Could Happen to You and My One and Only Love. 

When lyrics speak to a vocalist in the secret of the heart the song that emerges can come with an evanescent magic. Coughlin pulls off quite a few of these moments on this album. The first is Lush Life, Billy Strayhorn’s most intimate presciently autobiographical composition. Coughlin makes every utterance a poetic one, shaping the character of the song with so much pathos that it is almost too painfully beautiful. And then there’s My Ship and Nature Boy... 

All of this music is made immeasurably better by Coughlin’s accompanists, pianist Bernie Senensky, bassist Neil Swainson, drummer Terry Clarke and saxophonist Ryan Oliver.   

Séances
Trevor Dunn’s Trio-Convulsant avec Folie à Quatre
Pyroclastic Records (store.pyroclasticrecords.com)

Trevor Dunn has an eclectic profile, ranging from playing electric bass in the experimental rock band Mr. Bungle to composing and recording a set of chamber music pieces, Nocturnes, in 2019. He first formed Trio-Convulsant in the mid-1990s, then reformed it briefly in 2004 with then unknown, now celebrated, guitarist Mary Halvorson and drummer Ches Smith, both present for this 2022 reunion. Folie à Quatre fleshes out Dunn’s complex compositions and adds additional improvising heft, with violinist Carla Kihlstedt, clarinetist Oscar Noriega, cellist Mariel Roberts and flutist Anna Webber.

The compositions are challenging in both their subject matter and musical complexity. Dunn draws inspiration from a bizarre and banned 18th-century French religious cult called Les Convulsionnaires de Saint-Médard, matching the chaos of their sado-erotic hysterical practices with compound time signatures (15/4, 9/4) and overlays of different tempos and keys. In the CD’s opening moments, Webber’s piping, elusive flute is joined by abstracted strings; others gradually enter and then Dunn and Smith suddenly introduce a pounding rhythmic pattern, shifting from Debussy to Megadeth in a minute. The later Eschatology, in contrast, is a subtle string-weave of Halvorson, Kihlstedt and Roberts in which disparate rhythms and tonalities achieve a continuous flow.

What makes it successful is Dunn’s intense musicality. His sudden contrasts arise organically from his subject matter, and his musicians, masters of both execution and improvisation, celebrate the challenge and the interaction.

Émigré Canadian pianist Kris Davis’ Pyroclastic label is developing a remarkable record for releasing music that’s both conceptually imaginative and brilliantly realized. This one is no exception.

Universal Tonality
William Parker
Centering Records CENT 1030 (williamparker.bandcamp.com)

Bassist and composer William Parker has long been a major figure in New York City, leading ensembles from small to large and making free jazz an activist instrument of community. Universal Tonality, heard here in a 2002 performance from New York’s Roulette, is a major composition: its six movements run to 110 minutes and merge orchestra, soloists and song. Singer Leena Conquest, a frequent collaborator, brings warmth and immediacy to Parker’s words and melodies, reminiscent of the rich contribution of Abbey Lincoln to Max Roach’s music or June Tyson’s to Sun Ra’s, while a 16-member band articulates the shifting sonic materials and developing layers of Parker’s conception, often merging composed and improvised elements in seamless ways in a graphic score. 

Parker has an expansive vision of a global sound palette that can be glimpsed in just the instruments involved. Here he includes strings (komungo, koto, dilruba, donso’ngoni), percussion (balafon) and winds (shakuhachi and chiramía) from multiple Asian, African and South American sources as well as violins, various brass and reeds and percussion. It’s also a band of distinct instrumental voices, including trombonists Grachan Moncur III and Steve Swell, violinists Billy Bang and Jason Kao Hwang, saxophonists Rob Brown and Daniel Carter, and guitarist Joe Morris, all fitting their individual strengths into Parker’s larger schematic patterns and poetry.

Universal Tonality is constructed on a grand scale, but there’s nothing particularly daunting about it; its constantly shifting and evolving textures, voices and moods are generally fresh, inviting and accessible.  

Walls Made of Glass
Gentiane MG
Three Pines Records TPR-009 (gentianemg.com)

Gentiane Michaud-Gagnon (known as Gentiane MG) is a pianist and composer who has released her third album, Walls Made of Glass, with Levi Dover on bass and Louis-Vincent Hamel on drums. Walls Made of Glass is also this group›s third album together and their intimate communication adds subtlety and nuance to every track. 

MG’s influences are classical composers such as Debussy and Chopin and jazz masters like Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea. The Moon, the Sun, the Truth opens with a minor repeating pattern on piano which moves into a more strident chordal section supported by drums and bass. In this, and other compositions, MG moves between written and improvised sections and it is sometimes difficult to separate the two. This strategy gives her jazz pieces a more classical structure where freer sections alternate with repeated themes. Flowers Laugh Without Uttering a Sound has a swirling solo piano intro, then the bass and drums enter to nail down a solid backbeat, the solo piano repeats, then the jazz beat and angular piano chords give way to a more traditional piano solo. Eventually the piece builds into an intense drum solo before the swirling chords come back to fade into the distance. 

Walls Made of Glass is highly original music and deserves our thoughtful listening.

Rich in Symbols II – The Group of Seven, Tom Thomson & Emily Carr
Chet Doxas
Justin Time JTR8636-2 (justin-time.com)

Chet Doxas is a composer and saxophone player born in Montreal and currently living in Brooklyn. His 2017 album called Rich in Symbols  was dedicated to New York’s Lower East Side art movement of the 1980s. With this current album, Rich in Symbols II, Doxas has composed musical interpretations of seven Canadian paintings from the Group of Seven, Tom Thomson and Emily Carr. Doxas spent a great deal of time with each painting and took music manuscript paper and a notepad to record his thoughts. Rich in Symbols II has elements of jazz and improvised music supported with environmental “field recordings,” Joe Grass’ pedal steel guitar and banjo, Jacob Sacks’ piano and mellotron. Each piece sounds like a sonic journey reminiscent of Pictures at an Exhibition (we also hear footsteps and other environmental sounds throughout). Doxas’ melodies are both whimsical and beautiful and lead to sparse, frenetic improvisations. For example The Jack Pine begins with a faint tinkling piano, some minimalist guitar and a saxophone which sounds like it is being played through a staticky radio that is down the hall in another room. The piece becomes quite gorgeous when we hear the full sax sound after the three-minute mark. 

Rich in Symbols II is an intriguing and highly original album with many subtle colours throughout. 

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Cha-Ran
Robert Lee
Independent (robertleebass.com)

Even before reading the notes, it is clear that Robert Lee is a storyteller. Every composition has a clear arc to it. The energy rises and falls, paced with patience and purpose as if choreographed. Structurally, the music possesses an enthralling contour that twists and detours, evoking major plot points. Metric modulation is consistently used in this sense, as a means of strongly distinguishing sections and establishing new scenery. Additionally, adding further intrigue, there are indelible moments of great specificity to be found in every track. One such example is the sudden clapping break in the middle of Peaks and Spires of the Summer Clouds, bridging the first two verses with a moment of ingenuity while simultaneously introducing a new layer to the rhythmic feel of the arrangement. Elsewhere you have the tranquil epilogue of Seun-Sul, where seemingly any other bandleader in existence would have opted for a fadeout ending after the blazing guitar climax. 

Lee’s writing process on this album pulls from the narrative styles of folktales and Studio Ghibli films, managing to do so without feeling derivative for a single second. Along with form, dialogue also plays a central role in the music. Lee’s bass tone is perpetually tuned into Tetyana Haraschuk’s ride cymbal, creating a textural foundation that simmers and makes for natural transitions between pieces. The fullness of Carolina Alabau’s voice as a constant factor creates space for subtextual counterpoint in the rhythm section.

Journey to the Present
Sheila Soares
Independent (sheilasoaresmusic.com)

On this fittingly titled album, Sheila Soares reaches back, drawing from her influences to create an exhilarating blend of nostalgic and contemporary jazz. The album’s vision is immediately evident from the opening line, “we will drive in no direction/but away from what we know,” foreshadowing the stylistic explorations that ensue. The title track itself is a microcosm of this concept, for while it’s not anything that overtly challenges the conventions of improvised music, it balances this familiarity with ethereal production and Soares’ interpretive vocals. Her usage of longer phrases lends great weight to her lyrics, particularly as they reflect the album’s overarching theme of remaining grounded in the moment. 

Also adding to this picture is the brightness and urgency of Alison Young’s saxophone tone, the immediacy of which demands the listener’s attention from the downbeat. From this track, the album’s promise of resolute directionlessness is fulfilled. The tributes take numerous forms, from country-folk balladry, to rhythm and blues jam sessions and earnest reharmonized Rush covers, but the concept manages to remain constant throughout. The lyrical qualities of the music aren’t confined to the lyrics themselves – the ensemble plays with a wistful reflectiveness that provides a perfect soundtrack to Soares’ expressive verse. 

It is a testament to the attention and care put into this work that Rush’s Limelight doesn’t feel thematically jarring despite not being penned by Soares. It mirrors this album’s central quest: the search for meaning within the tangible.

Six-ish Plateaus
Triio
Elastic Recordings ER 004 (alexfournier.bandcamp.com/six-ish-plateaus-elastic-recordings)

Committed to expanding sound boundaries, but only as far as they avoid atonality, Toronto bassist Alex Fournier expands his Triio to six to interpret his compositions. He ensures that individual improvisations fit his strategy, but without curtailing creative improvisation.

Besides Fournier’s fluid pulse, tunes are anchored by drummer Stefan Hegerat’s careful crunches; guitarist Tom Fleming’s strokes ranging from finger-style echoes to percussive hammering; while vibraphonist Michael Davidson sprinkles lyrical colour around the themes. Saxophonist Bea Labikova and clarinetist Naomi McCarroll Butler frequently harmonize, but also contribute overblowing honks, shrill screams and intense split tones.

Balance is key. So if Fleming’s string shakes introduce unneeded harsh speediness, lyrical vibraphone shading swiftly moves the exposition back on track. Similarly, a cornucopia of altissimo cries and airy multiphonics from the reeds are sometimes meshed with distinct bass thumps. At the top of Tragic Leisure, for example, wistful woodwind  harmonies are intensified with melodic string glissandi. As tough bass strokes quicken the pace, percussion smacks and guitar reverb quickly join in, only to have buoyant clarinet trills float the narrative back to reflect its Arcadian introduction.

Fournier’s concluding Saltlick City expresses its astringency with raspy saxophone bites and jagged arco swipes. But the contrapuntal buzzing timbres are combined with warm clarinet expressions that precede a crescendo of group vibrations that confirm the equitable direction of the piece and of the album itself.  

In his tenth year as bandleader Fournier has undoubtedly attained a desired plateau.

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Gravity Without Airs
Kirk Knuffke Trio
TAO Forms 10 (aumfidelity.com/collections/tao-forms)

Concentrating on cornet and with only bass and keyboard backing, Kirk Knuffke attains not only graceful but hard-driving improvisations on this two-CD set. New Yorkers Knuffke, bassist Michael Bisio and pianist Matthew Shipp bridge the drumless gap by concentrating rhythmic power in the pianist’s pedal-point pressure, plus the bassist’s subtle core resonations. This gives the cornetist space to free flow techniques ranging from triplet slides heading to screech mode, descriptive grace notes or half-valve smears. Used judiciously, the motifs lock in with the rhythm section’s expression to create 14 tunes that don’t swing conventionally, but are presented with both dexterity and dynamics.

From the brassy portamento expositions, bass string pops and measured chording of the introductory Gravity Without Airs that is resolved with a potent groove, until the concluding Today for Today, where slurs and shakes blow and bounce the program to a unified and unique ending, three-part textural control is always evident. Staccato bugling, rolling keyboard forces and arco string power are part of some tracks’ progress in the same way that walking bass strokes, brash open horn flutters and rhythmic keyboard chording dipping into honky-tonk effects animate other tunes. Tracks like Birds of Passage appear as if aviary yips and evacuated inner-horn slurs are going to dominate, then paced piano single notes and modulated bowing confirm the ongoing horizontal flow.

Without putting on airs, the trio establishes that improvisational gravity can be simultaneously intense and convivial.

The Equation of Time
Charke-Cormier Duo with Celso Machado
Leaf Music LM260 (leaf-music.ca)

Featuring Derek Charke on flute and bass flute and Eugene Cormier on guitar, this CD takes its title from Charke’s composition The Equation of Time, which occupies the last four tracks and refers to the fact that it is composed of an equal number of fast and slow sections. Arguably, however, the CD might better have been called The Equations of Time, not only because of tempos, but also because the compositions found on it were written in four different centuries, and the two older compositions include contemporary additions and variations seamlessly incorporated by the composer-performers themselves. This in itself adds yet another temporal dimension, the composer-performer, a rarity in our day, but typical earlier in the life of western music.

Added to all this are percussionist Celso Machado’s contributions, six pieces of Brazilian dance music, adding a musical sensibility at least as remote from contemporary Canadian music making as the much older compositions on the disc by Frescobaldi (17th century) and Wilhelmine von Bayreuth (18th century). The result is a strange and intriguing series of juxtapositions of new and old, familiar and unfamiliar, expected and unexpected musical experiences, a sort of musical surrealism, evocative of the artistic ferment of the second and third decades of 20th-century Europe, but with a vitality coming from real artistic expression and not imitation. I should add as well that the performances are infused with an equal vitality and artistry.

Charke, Cormier and Machado have reinvented the CD as a work of art in itself, more than just a concert program frozen in time.

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Remember the Audio
Monkey House
Alma Records ACD62422 (almarecords.com)

Thirty years is a long time for a band to be together and it’s an even longer time to keep coming up with fresh, inventive songs. But Don Breithaupt, the songwriter, keyboardist, lead singer, producer and all-around driving force behind Monkey House, has done it again. As with their five previous releases, Remember the Audio hits the sweet spot between familiar and fresh and sophisticated and accessible. 

For those unfamiliar with the band, Breithaupt has been up front about his love for and emulation of Steely Dan’s sound. And this latest work has that same super tight pop/rock/jazz feel (courtesy of core members Justin Abedin, guitar, Mark Kelso, drums, Pat Kilbride, bass and Lucy Woodward, backing vocals) that SD did so well, while also being very original. 

Every one of the 11 tracks is strong and very Monkey House but each has its own charms, too. The title track is a catchy homage to the powerful nostalgia of the music of one’s youth; Skin in the Game has some funky New Orleans nuances (and NOLA resident, Chris Butcher, guesting on trombone); and the beautiful, bittersweet ballad, New York Owes You Nothing, haunts. 

Breithaupt explained that although most of the music was written pre-pandemic, some of the lyrics were written during the first dark months of lockdown, so there’s an understandable sense of foreboding to some of the songs, in particular the punchy opener, The Future Is Almost Gone and The Last Days of Pompeii (“Will the last one out of L.A. kill the light”). The closing track wraps things up fittingly: Mose Allison’s Ever Since the World Ended, although penned in 1987, could have been written last week the way it wittily evokes our current times.

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