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. 

Richard Nelson – Dissolve
Makrokosmos Orchestra
Adhyaropa Records AR00053 (richardnelsonmusic.bandcamp.com/album/dissolve)

The realms of modern jazz and new-age classical, improvisation and composition mix and mingle for a unique sonic experience on composer, guitarist and bandleader Richard Nelson’s latest musical endeavour. Featuring a lineup of 15 talented musicians, including co-leader saxophonist Tim O’Dell, this record is the debut for a new and adventuresome group called Makrokosmos Orchestra. The album is set up essentially as a contemporary classical-jazz fusion symphony in three movements, each of them having their very own distinctive flavour and story. Not only do we see Nelson’s talents as a bandleader highlighted throughout the record, but also his experimental and progressive compositional style. 

What fascinates listeners is how Nelson has masterfully navigated both jazz and classical genres and brought aspects of both into his compositions, which are a completely seamless blend of the two. Take Dissolve as an example: winding bass lines and catchy drum grooves paired with a full, powerful orchestral sound, with feathery flute melodies and strong horn lines taking us into a world where new possibilities and opportunities of combining the old and the new are found. Improvisational sections with syncopated solos contrasted with beautifully written and thought-out cohesive parts within the pieces are what keeps the listener captivated, just waiting to hear what’s around the next curve. This disc would be perfect for those looking for an album that excites and draws in, that both energizes and allows for contemplation and reflection.

Disaster Pony
Disaster Pony
Love Town Records LTR-003 (disasterpony.com)

Remaining sonically and aesthetically consistent while taking continual risks can be a difficult balancing act, yet Gordon Hyland’s Disaster Pony project seems to thrive on this razor’s edge. Much like the narrative one can glean from scanning its wonderfully bemusing track titles, Disaster Pony is equal parts pleasurable and unpredictable. Tracks like Fruit Flies in Cola are imbued with an infectious sense of humour and yet in the same breath will dismantle conventional wisdom on the dynamic range of a cello, completely rendering any timbral distinctions between instruments non-existent until all the ear is left with is a disarming, uncannily human cry. This instance of cellist Liza McLellan’s counterpoint with Hyland’s saxophone completely commands the listener’s undivided attention in a way the rest of the soothing ambient track does not and yet this climax was not reached abruptly. The old (scientifically-debunked) allegory about a frog in gradually boiling water applies to this album very well, as it is easy to get lost in the head-nodding grooves and gorgeous repeating sections, to the point where any drastic changes to the music are almost imperceptible as they occur. For the music to constantly operate on stealth-mode and flow this organically means that the hypnotic effect extends even to repeated listening.  Grab a book, hit the loop button and feel an afternoon slip away. Or, simply lean forward. Foreground or background, Disaster Pony is a form of time travel.

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Transfiguration
James Brandon Lewis Quartet
Intakt CD 400 (intaktrec.ch)

Putting an individual stamp on a common jazz grouping, tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis and his quartet of pianist Aruán Ortiz, bassist Brad Jones and drummer Chad Taylor stretch the configuration’s parameters, but maintain steadying cadences that balance exploratory flights.

Backed by bass pops, supple percussion chops and keyboard dynamics, like John Coltrane before him, Lewis is free to open up improvisations that undulate and advance to reed cadenzas that roar, ripple and reverberate into split tones and harsh smears. Yet no matter how many textures he crams into his solos, as on the session defining Per 6, other players’ timbres are there not to harness invention, but to mix tradition with transfiguration. Ortiz outlines melodies as often as his modal time suspensions or rhythmic note sprinkles impressively challenge the saxophonist’s pivots to double-tongued altissimo on the balladic Trinity Of Creative Self or to preaching glossolalia on the intense Empirical Perception.

Never exceeding tasteful boundaries, Lewis’ saxophone control means that his onomatopoeic cries, bites and peeps are harmonized as well as transformative. He harmonizes with the others throughout, constantly returns to the theme by tunes’ conclusions and somewhat manages to quote Rhapsody in Blue during his solo on the title track.

Transfiguration is the band’s third outing, each of which is sturdier and tighter and more coordinated than the previous one. If this trend continues this may become the most significant jazz quartet of the beginning of the 21st century.

Jet Black
Satoko Fujii Tokyo Trio
Libra Records 203-073 (librarecords.com)

The paint chips and the frame splinters, allowing the textures to deepen, the gradient to sharpen. The level of tonal and timbral depth that has been achieved on this recording is incredible; you can constantly sense the impact of strings on neck, finger upon key, hammer upon trembling copper and reverberations within receptacle. So strikingly vibrant are the gestures of each musician, each exchange of spontaneous notions leaves the impression of rainfall on one’s shoulders. 

Yes, Satoko Fujii is a legend in the field of improvised music, but her playing and creative direction here pushes that stature into something that feels more meaningful and interpersonal. This is dialogue that lays the processes of its interlocutors bare, enticing the listener to guess and guess, but never making the anticipation laborious, only subliminal. 

During the first few minutes of Sky Reflection, Takashi Sugawa takes a simple extended technique – the act of dragging the horse hair of the bass bow perpendicular to the string rather than across it – and whips up a feast for the ear, a roaring sound vacuum populated with a bouquet of rasps and scrapes. It is out of this jagged tranquility that a secondary drone materializes, one that is low and drawing ever nearer. Ittetsu Takemura’s first drumstick drops, suddenly assuming the form of that tension created, while Sugawa’s arco dusts your spine. The paint deepens and the frame sharpens, allowing the textures to chip, the gradient to splinter.

Temporal Waves
Temporal Waves
People Places Records PPR | 051 (peopleplacesrecords.bandcamp.com)

Montréal-based Shawn Mativetsky, one of Canada’s foremost tabla players, is an accomplished performer of Hindustani classical music and a sought-after tabla educator. He’s equally at home in genres as diverse as world music, jazz, pop, composing and performing for dance and theatre productions and working with contemporary Canadian concert composers. Nicole Lizée, Tim Brady and Dinuk Wijeratne have all included his tabla playing in their work.

Featuring production and performance contributions from Jace Lasek (Besnard Lakes), the eponymously titled Temporal Waves reveals yet another side of Mativetsky’s musical persona. Here sonic atmospheres are dominated by retro analog synthesizer sounds and aesthetics, by drum machine and electronic effects, all framing his masterful tabla playing.  

Rooted in Mativetsky’s demoscene community involvement in the 1990s, Temporal Waves is a touching nostalgic look back to his youthful days steeped in the DIY electronic music scene that congregated around “tracker” software and the music of early video games. All these features are reflected in the album, with Mativetsky’s un-ironic tabla upfront in the mix, and skillfully integrated musically too. 

Listening to Temporal Waves occasioned numerous surprises. Luminous Objects for example is in a five-beat rhythmic cycle outlined by a delightful diatonic sequenced melody, while the next track is in seven. Importantly, both odd meters give plenty of opportunity for tabla displays.

Mativetsky was a member of the Montreal group Ramasutra 25 years ago, and recently has collaborated with live coder David Ogborn. This attractive new release is yet another step in his Indo-electronic journey, one which has substantial crossover appeal.

Migrant Voices
Itamar Erez; Hamin Honari
Independent (itamarerez.com/itamar-hamin-duet)

Free improvisation requires trust and understanding, qualities not often found within long-held national political divides, and yet this is very much present in the music made by Israeli-Canadian guitarist Itamar Erez and Iranian percussionist Hamin Honari on Migrant Voices.   

The opening track, Departure, defines the difference and commonality between Erez’s accomplished guitar and Honari’s finesse on the tombak (Persian hand drum). With nods to Spanish and classical western styles, Erez’s guitar leads Honari’s drum in a counterbalanced union. 

The title track, Migrant Voices, the only composed work, displays in Erez’s hands, Middle Eastern elements and sounds I associate with the oud, while adding western classical trills and ornamentation. It takes the migrant on a wandering journey over hills and through valleys requiring attention to the path. Honari’s drumming enriches the landscape, while suggesting its dangers.  

After its slow opening Embrace, one of the strongest tracks on the recording, finds a delicate interplay when Honari’s drumming enhances Erez’s expressive lead. The multiple turns and transitions surprise and delight and occasionally recall the American John Fahey’s always inventive improvisational guitar fingerpicking. 

Another highlight, Forgotten Sands, offers a Spanish style bolero where Honari’s finger drumming leads the dance and Erez’s guitar provides elegant pomp and flourish in their combined movement across the majestic dance floor. 

Throughout the excellently produced recording the musicians bring together two nations under one music-making roof and speak with understanding and coherence.