Jacob Wutzke - You Better Bet
Jacob Wutzke; Rachel Therrien; Lucas Bubovic; Bryn Roberts; Ira Coleman
Cellar Music CM090224 (jacobwutzke.bandcamp.com/album/you-better-bet)
Tony Williams (1945-1997), not only made a spectacular impression as an innovative jazz drummer when he debuted with Miles Davis’ Second Great Quintet at the age of 17, but the songbook of sophisticated compositions that he left behind means that both his music, as well as his dynamic drumming, continues to be mined by subsequent generations of jazz players. On You Better Bet, Jacob Wutzke’s terrific second recording following 2022’s Show Yourself, the Montréal, now New York-based, drummer and composer, explores Williams’ creative legacy, not only in terms of his percussive approach, but his ensemble style and compositions.
Although it would be logical to think then that the catalyst for this recording would be Williams’ ongoing influence on the young Wutzke, the story does not end there. Instead, things crystallized when longtime Williams bassist Ira Coleman relocated to Montreal and took a teaching job at Wutzke’s alma mater McGill University, from where he graduated with a Masters in 2022, and the two musicians began to collaborate. Using some of the original charts that Coleman had kept from his tenure with Williams, written in the late drummer’s hand no less, a group was formed, along with an idea to compose some additional stylistically synchronous music and record the proceedings. Enter the immensely talented Rachel Therrien, Lucas Dubovik and Bryn Roberts, on trumpet, tenor, and piano respectively, and this fine new hard-hitting recording is the result.
