Open Skies
Tom Reynolds Trio
Zsan Records (tomreynoldstrio.com)

With the release of this emotionally and spiritually profound recording, noted pianist /composer/arranger Tom Reynolds has fashioned a musical contribution of special beauty. His noted collaborators here include two uber-skilled and versatile artists: bassist George Koller and drummer Lorne Nehring. Co-produced by the trio, there are 13 original tracks – all composed and arranged by Reynolds throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The music itself is a meditation on the depth of our isolation and loss, tempered by faith in the human spirit, and in the words of Reynolds, “we wanted to contribute something hopeful and reflective of the possibilities for resilience, kindness and social change during a challenging and emotional time”.  

The program begins with Far Away Lands, a gentle, Latin-infused ballad with fine performances by the trio, and exquisite piano work from Reynolds. Next up is Butterflies – a gossamer-like work, literally calling out for a Marilyn and Alan Bergman-esque lyric!  A real stand-out is Spring Will Come, which is a jaunty and uplifting tune, replete with a superb bass solo from Koller as well as dynamic, succinct and complex drum work from Nehring. Other fine offerings include Hold On, which has some palpable Gospel-infused motifs, and Prism. The trio literally shines here – moving like a single-celled organism, reflecting the prismatic spectrum of light through their instruments. One of the most psychoactive tracks is Guidance, which has been arranged with an esoteric intro (defined by Koller’s arco work), which segues into a lilting, melodic expression of joy. Also, of special note is the deeply moving Ode to Nova Scotia, which invokes ancient spiritual presences and heady remembrances of home. The lovely title track reminds us all of the joy of life and art, the delicious taste of freedom and our deep connection to all that is.

The Alberta Lounge
Deanne Matley; Taurey Butler; Paul Shrofel; Steve Raegele; Morgan Moore; Richard Irwin
Barbette Records BBR224 (deannematley.com)

This is Deanne Matley’s first album since she bared her soul in 2018 on When I Loved. But although that music was born of sadness, we always had a sense that there was much hope in her questing voice. On The Alberta Lounge, she picks up where she left off, with the ebullient lyricism and joyful swing of this repertoire, which is a proverbial doffing of the hat to Oscar Peterson.     

Matley is an artist of the first order; her silken voice, perfect pitch and gentle vibrato at the top of her range bring a touching vulnerability to the lyrics of the ballads The Land Was White (When Summer Comes), If You Were Here Today and Hymn to Freedom. Meanwhile her control of tone and pitch are on full display on the swinging charts, where she makes adventurous vocal leaps. Everywhere on this album her interpretive responses come in primary colours, tempered by a steady stream of vocal tone which imbues the music with a tricky combination of ethereal and concrete imagery. 

The fact that Matley is bilingual enables her to shine on the English fare as well as the funkified French version of Lionel Hampton and Jeri Jones’ Je Ne Sais Pas, re-christened here as Merci Pour Ça!. Her Portuguese version of Mas Que Nada also gets a passing grade. Matley saves the best for last: a gloriously spiritual vocal version of Peterson’s Hymn to Freedom.

Listen to 'The Alberta Lounge' Now in the Listening Room

Black Lives – From Generation to Generation
Various Artists (including Oliver Lake; Marcus Strickland; Jacques Schwarz-Bart et al)
Jammin’colorS (jammincolors.com)

It is usually difficult to judge albums that contain repertoire by various artists simply because single songs – while representing the best music by a particular artist – may, on the other hand, not suggest consistent artistry on a long-playing album. However, in the case of this Black Lives album, concept trumps compilation not only because the concept of the album is a strong one but because each track is loaded with both artistry and message. 

Credit must, de rigueur, go to the album’s executive producer Stefany Calembert. She says in her booklet notes that she wanted “…to give black lives a voice and to listen to what they have to say in 2021…” something that stemmed from being “…deeply disturbed by the air of superiority and hypocrisy of white people.” Calembert is white and does herself enormous credit for giving voice to these artists. Moreover, she has a discerning taste for Black music. There is a subliminal suggestion that Black music – born in Africa – has spread and been reimagined forever thanks to the blues, jazz rap and hip-hop music of Black American artists. 

Artistic excellence is uniformly evident among the strident voices on both discs. Thus, it would be unfair to single out a select few artists and their songs for appropriate praise. Unrelenting intensity drives every song. The inclusion of African-born artists at the beginning and end of discs one and two was an inspired choice… and an enthralling tone, from end to end.

#Cuban American
Martin Berjerano
Figgland Records FR-003 (martinbejerano.com)

Cuban American is how I would describe many aspects of Miami, and South Florida in general. A true melting pot deeply influenced by Cuban culture, due to Florida’s proximity to the island and the waves of immigration that have occurred from the 1980s onwards. Pianist Martin Bejerano has been a staple on the Miami music scene for decades now – born and raised in the Magic City – possessing an impressive résumé from a career that has taken him across the US and abroad. 

Bejerano’s fourth album #CubanAmerican is an eclectic yet unified collection of compositions and sounds. I was shocked to read that the veteran musician “insists he is not a great Latin piano player.” But this statement may come from a combo of modesty and a desire for authenticity. Jazz and improvised music tend to be broad umbrella terms, and much of the “Latin jazz” one hears on the radio would sound foreign to someone who inhabits the lands this music borrows rhythmic content from. After listening to #CubanAmerican, it seems Bejerano has chosen a very wise path by collecting ample influences and creating something original. The results are exciting!  

The group performs Cuban rhythmic material at a level that is surgically accurate, without losing their sense of heart or vulnerability. Improvised solos are all on par with the cutting edge of modern jazz music, and the album is recorded beautifully at North Miami’s Criteria Studios. #CubanAmerican offers something for everyone, whether your tastes are rooted in traditional jazz, fusion or Latin-based music.

In Common III
Walter Smith III; Kris Davis; Dave Holland; Terri Lyne Carrington
Whirlwind Recordings WR4783 (waltersmith3.com)

Guitarist Matthew Stevens and saxophonist Walter Smith III have been collaborating for some time now, first documenting themselves on the 2018 release In Common. That recording featured a who’s who rhythm section of New York greats, which became a theme with In Common II and this most recent release In Common III.  

Approaching a group this way has many benefits. It showcases Smith and Stevens, since they’re the common denominator on all three albums. It also manages to bring together some less-common pairings of musicians, which keeps the music fresh and creative. 

Pianist Kris Davis sounds quite comfortable providing subtle triadic accompaniment on the album’s first full band track, Loping. A testament to her versatility and deliberate creative wisdom, Davis sounds equally at home showing off chops and avant-garde ideas in an energetic solo on Hornets. 

The bass and drum positions are occupied by stalwarts Dave Holland and Terri Lyne Carrington. In Common III’s liner notes mention a “formula” of one-page songs, and the way Holland and Carrington are able to approach this music gives the listener no doubts as to why the two are some of the most in-demand accompanists in the improvised music world today. 

While the sheet music may consist of one-page songs, the music heard on this album is far from simplistic. Stevens and Smith’s musicality provides the glue to bringing each tune together, and their rhythm section orchestrates the entire album brilliantly. What these 15 tracks have “in common” is ample musicality and professionalism. 

At One Time
John Oswald; Henry Kaiser; Paul Plimley
Independent (henrykaiser.bandcamp.com/album/at-one-time)

This recording is an intriguing experiment in free improvisation created under COVID conditions, advancing a radical notion of the score. The music is developed on the work of an absentee guest: Cecil Taylor, the late pianist and composer who did as much as anyone to shape free jazz and improvised music over the past 65 years. 

Californian guitarist Henry Kaiser, Toronto saxophonist John Oswald and Vancouver vibraphonist (usually pianist) Paul Plimley all worked with Taylor and were closely involved with his methods of building music. Here they have developed the novel idea of each improvising separately with a series of Taylor recordings, heard on headphones, then combining the results. The result is a series of pieces in which we listen to three or four musicians (Scott Amendola plays drums on one track, Tracy Silverman six-string fiddle on another) all responding to the same inflexible duo partner, in effect an insistent composition in which each improviser is impervious to the other “performers” that we are hearing.

The music has a special coherence, based in part on the loyalty to the unheard Taylor, creating empathetic and coherent results. The most remarkable track is also the longest, the 27-minute Oceans Felons Salad with Silverman, the group achieving remarkable levels of illusory interaction through their collective fidelity to a missing inspiration. The quality of the music, as well as the imagination of its methodology, makes this one of the year’s most significant events in improvised music. Unusual as it may be, it’s somehow a great band.

Moves
Eucalyptus
Independent (eucalyptusjazz.bandcamp.com)

There’s a long history of jazz embracing popular culture, another of it pursuing experimentation. Sometimes the impulses converge, creating some very interesting moments. Toronto alto saxophonist/ composer Brodie West embraces both traditions with Eucalyptus, an octet with three percussionists that’s devoted to complex moods, 1950s Martin Denny exoticism and occasional free jazz expressionism, suggesting both Don Cherry’s forays into World Music and, more specifically, Sun Ra’s creation of dream states suggesting mid-century lounges suspended in space. 

The miracle of Moves, available as LP or download, is that Eucalyptus compresses such dreams into pieces less than six minutes in length. The opening Infinity Bananas has a drum pattern that is at once repeated and internally erratic, holding the angular shards emitted by West and trumpeter Nicole Rampersaud tightly in place. It’s in a Move resembles a film noir nightclub scene, West and Rampersaud weaving wobbly melodic leads through an underbrush of Kurt Newman’s trebly guitar, Ryan Driver’s clavinet and a languid Latin conga drum. Dust in the Wind is very lush, its repeating melodic pattern lapping over itself like waves on a beach. Rose Manor, more languid still and with a burnished brass trumpet solo, ends with a mysterious upward glissando, like an ascending sci-fi spacecraft. The concluding Lookie suggests a band lost in time and space at the end of New Year’s festivities, poised between the lachrymose and the parodic.  

At times an ironic flirtation with background music, Moves is always more than entertaining, never less than art.

Zurich Concert
Punkt.Vtr.Plastik
Intakt CD 380 (intaktrec.ch/380.htm)

Punkt.Vrt.Plastik consists of three of Europe’s most active and creative free jazz musicians in their mid-to-late 30s; Slovenian pianist Kaja Draksler, Swedish bassist Petter Eldh and German drummer Christian Lillinger. Eldh and Lillinger are active in numerous bands together (Amok Amor, Koma Saxo), each one an intense, complex, highly interactive, high-speed musical affair. Punkt.Vrt.Plastik is the traditional piano trio format placed under that same pressure, and Draksler is an ideal partner, similarly precise, technically brilliant, highly inventive and capable of being witty at the same time. Zurich Concert takes compositions from the group’s two previous studio CDs to the stage, opening them up to further elaboration while maintaining a certain taut discipline.

The set opens and closes with compositions by Lillinger, several of them brief, mechanistic complexes that can suggest drum solos transcribed for trio or fragmented Thelonious Monk compositions, repeated patterns developing more and more internal detail. Traditional melodic figures are common here, from each musician. Body Decline – Natt Raum combines two of Eldh’s compositions, moving from a rubato, trance-like longing to an insistently repeated traditional dance figure that eventually disintegrates. Similarly, Draksler’s Vrvica II develops tremendous tension through repetition, eventually giving rise to explosive free play.

Those repeating patterns arise in each of the members’ compositions, a shared insistence that can assume both manic and comic dimensions, an ongoing examination of the military band, the folk dance, the classical etude. It assures Punkt.Vrt.Plastik’s music a human dimension, making the results more stimulating than exhausting.

Dave Douglas – Secular Psalms
Dave Douglas; Berlinde Deman; Marta Warelis; Frederik Leroux; Tomeka Reid; Lander Gyselinck
Greenleaf Music (greenleafmusic.com)

Trumpeter/composer Dave Douglas’ Secular Psalms is a suite commissioned to commemorate the 600th anniversary of Jan and Hubert van Eyck’s Ghent altarpiece, Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, completed around 1432. Begun in 2018, Douglas’ creation was soon affected by the COVID-19 lockdown, necessitating online recordings including some collective improvising with Douglas, cellist Tomeka Reid and six young European musicians. It’s a multi-faceted work, with composed, improvised and quoted materials, even considering the court of Philip the Good of Burgundy in which the van Eycks worked; other artists present included the composer Guillaume Dufay and the poet Christine de Pisan, and Douglas has gone so far as to echo their works in the suite. Those 15th-century artists aren’t the limits of Douglas’ reach. In one brief lyric, he patches together Marvin Gaye’s phrase “Mercy, Mercy, Me” (twice), “Kyrie Eleison” and Psalm 59’s “but I will sing” with nine words of his own.

Leaving aside questions of taste and appropriateness, it’s an ambitious, insistently egalitarian work, with Douglas creating some expressive textures that mix chamber music sonorities with other instrumental voices. The merger includes the Agnus Dei with Douglas’ central, dark-toned trumpet variously counterposed to ruggedly rhythmic cello, percussively dissonant piano and jarring, fuzz-toned electric guitar. The collective improvisation of Instrumental Angels is accomplished, and there are moments of real synergy created under difficult conditions.   

After repeated listening, the work’s structure and contours may still feel unfocused, but one can salute an artist working under challenging circumstances to connect such diverse impulses. It may be the muffled, mutating cries and penetrating lyricism of Douglas’ trumpet that reverberate longest.

Tags
Joane Hétu
Ambiances Magnétiques AM 268 CD (actuellecd.com)

Tags enters with the tranquil, yet perhaps slightly uneasy droning double stops of bassist Nicolas Caloia and the half-whisper, half-growl of Lori Freedman’s sound poetics. The intro is immediately suggestive of a gradual build, while also operating as a self-contained space between intentions, or even different media for sound-creation. This entire project of Joane Hétu’s “orphaned” compositions (as she puts it in the liner notes), often feels like it operates in various gray zones, or lost in the middle of listener preconceptions and musical conventions. For example, Freedman and Hétu at numerous points are either simultaneously vocalizing while playing, or at least constantly threatening to cross over into the other means of communication at will. 

Members of Hétu’s string section commonly opt for a percussive approach to playing arco, which creates a consistent textural effect that beautifully complements the fragmented phrasing of the soloists. These explorations of instrumental function give the music a more nuanced relationship between melodicism, texture and speech than would be otherwise present, creating greater optionality to the realization of Hétu’s compositions. The most impressive aspect of Tags is perhaps how the four tracks feel cut from the same tapestry, despite not having the same personnel, and all of said compositions being unreleased strays. This unexpected uniformity is aided by the prevalent relationship between instrumentation and silence. More specifically, as more instrumentation is added, silent passages are increasingly used as a key aspect of form.

L’Échelle du Temps
Yves Léveillé
Effendi Records FND165 (propagandedistribution.com/products/yves-leveille-lechelle-du-temps-cd)

Yves Léveillé’s L’Échelle du temps is an exploration of form and interactivity; one that makes patient use of its parts while laying down a profound mosaic of musical lineage. As a writer of chamber music, the emphasis Léveillé gives to the lower voices is particularly notable, allowing for a unifying sense of melodicism throughout the ensemble. 

After the piano ostinato is established in the title track, the first statement of the main theme is given to Étienne Lafrance’s upright bass, which creates a mesmerizing effect aided by the fullness of tone. The piece itself takes Léveillé’s simple rhythmic figure and stretches it across eight engaging minutes, with each instrument responding while the others operate in the margins. Repetition is a tool Léveillé uses to great effect compositionally, getting mileage out of a handful of set ideas largely by never allowing the music to stagnate dynamically. Each restatement functions as a recontextualization, perhaps with slightly different notes to complement a new arrangement of moving parts. The passages have incredible cohesion, and no element of the overall product is given precedence over the others. This is in part due to Léveillé’s arranging choices; as well, the mixing has quite the feeling of intimacy to it, with every aspect constantly at the forefront. 

While much of L’Échelle du temps sounds hypnotically consonant and interlinked, dissonance is equally embraced. This symmetry finds a perfect equilibrium constantly, but especially on Encodage 2.0.

Dual Unity
Jay Yoo; Mark Kazakevich
Independent (distrokid.com/hyperfollow/markkazakevichjayyoo/dual-unity)

Sometimes, two musicians sharing a space can be more than enough to convey volumes of information. This is certainly the case with the partnership between Toronto-based guitarist Jay Yoo and pianist Mark Kasakevich, for whom the label “natural pairing” would be a tragic undersell. Six out of nine of these tunes are composed by the pair, and they all put the “tune” in tuneful, as well as the “sing” in singable. 

The set was largely inspired by contemporary/Brazilian jazz forms, and it is a testament to Dual Unity’s writing talents that the works of the likes of Jobim and Tania Maria feel perfectly in place. As for the renditions of Insensatez and Quero Não, they are so deeply interpretive that the context of the actual composers feels nearly superfluous. Dual Unity leaves their own imprint on every song they tackle, and this sonic palette owes itself entirely to Yoo and Kasakevich. There are so many moments of sudden unison, where a melodic or harmonic line is relayed by the strength and precision of their tandem. However, perhaps even more compelling are those of the divergent. Having an arrangement of two comping instruments allows for expressive elasticity during the solo sections, freely flowing between monologue and dialogue. Yoo’s interjections, in particular, blend seamlessly into walking basslines that both punctuate and provide support. It would be a disservice to not highlight More to It, a Sistine Chapel of melody and interactivity.

Dance With Me
Barbara Hannigan; Lucienne Renaudin Vary; Berlage Saxophone Quartet; Ludwig Orchestra
Alpha 790 (naxosdirect.com/search/alpha790)

Music and dance are rooted deep in the human condition. Canada’s favourite soprano-conductor Barbara Hannigan, directing the musicians of the Ludwig Orchestra and Berlage Saxophone Quartet, celebrates the popular music of the 20th century on Dance with Me. Covering 12 dances ranging from Viennese waltz to foxtrot, tango to quickstep, rumba to one-step, from slow dance to samba, salsa and jive, this well-recorded album is engineered to get your feet shuffling.

In some ways it feels like a follow-up to their 2018 Grammy Award-snagging Crazy Girl Crazy, the collaboration with composer-arranger Bill Elliott. This music has a personal resonance tinged with nostalgia for Hannigan, who stated that she “was thrilled to go back to this aspect of my musical roots, to reawaken special memories of singing and playing keyboards with a dance band in Nova Scotia.” 

Hannigan sings four songs on the card. She brings a girlish charm to I Could Have Danced All Night, emotional drama to Moonlight Serenade and a pouty sexuality to Fluffy Ruffles. One of her signature near-operatic interpretations takes centre stage: Kurt Weill’s dramatic, wistful minor-key tango-habanera, Youkali, is an ideal vehicle for her portrayal of the universal yearning for paradise lost.

I should mention Elliott’s accomplished orchestral arrangements for the Ludwig Orchestra. This fun album tickled my latent ballroom genes. Trigger warning: it may well tickle yours too.

Zahava
Jordana Talsky
Independent (jordanatalsky.com)

I really admire artists who evolve and embrace new styles and technologies. Taking a risk is never easy, and with Zahava, Jordana Talsky has made the leap from more traditional music-making to relying solely on her voice, using vocal looping to produce a whole EP. As is true for a lot of developments, Talsky stumbled upon looping by accident. She was trying to find a quick way to capture musical ideas and found that doing a recording was faster than notating. 

Having a strong voice, big range and a variety of vocal colours to draw on certainly helps, and Talsky has it all, plus exceptional songwriting skills and an ear for arranging. Collaborating with talented multi-instrumentalist Justin Abedin – here lending a hand with producing, recording and songwriting – also helps. The six songs on the EP are all very accessible in that they follow traditional verse-chorus structures and have relatable themes about self-exploration and relationship struggles. The general musical style is more in the pop vein than Talsky’s earlier jazzy releases and tinges of the blues show up on Trouble Up and there’s a soulful edge to City Lights. Oh Yeah has hit written all over it. 

There are plenty of artists out there using looping and other technologies to one degree or another and, of course, lots of great music is being made by singers recording the old fashioned way, in a studio with a band. I just really appreciate it when artists mix it up a bit, and Zahava is a fine example of that.

Forever Lecuona
Luis Mario Ochoa
Independent (luismario.com)

Ernesto Lecuona, known as “the Gershwin of Cuba,” is the subject of the latest release by singer-guitarist Luis Mario Ochoa. Since Lecuona wrote both music and lyrics during his prolific and celebrated career, I suppose he’s both George and Ira Gershwin. Indeed, his most famous work was done in the field of operetta and film (for which he was nominated for an Academy Award), and Ochoa includes several of those tracks, lovingly reproduced here.

You couldn’t find a more authentic interpreter of this music than Ochoa, who was born and raised in Cuba and studied the great masters during his musical education at the University of Havana. Cuba’s loss was Toronto’s gain when Ochoa emigrated here in 1990 and became a bandleader and regular feature on the club circuit. Ochoa has drawn on the deep Toronto talent pool for the world-class musical support on this album, including gifted multi-instrumentalist Louis Simao on bass, fellow countryman Hilario Duran on piano (no electronic keyboards here!) and Luis Orbegoso and Chendy Leon on percussion.  

With songs dating back to the early 1900s, this is a nostalgic but still relevant collection of classic Cuban sounds. Themes of heartbreak and longing never go out of style, do they? Neither does dancing, and this album will surely inspire you to get on your feet and take a turn around the floor. This may be especially true for non-Spanish speakers, as all the songs are in that language, of course. But everyone speaks the language of uplifting rhythm and Ochoa’s beautiful guitar playing and bright, plaintive singing clearly convey the message.