Jazz and Improvised

Nick Fraser: Areas - Nick Fraser; Tony Malaby; Kris Davis; John Kameel Farah

Nick Fraser – Areas
Nick Fraser; Tony Malaby; Kris Davis; John Kameel Farah
Elastic Recordings ER 026 (nickfraserthedrummer.bandcamp.com/album/areas-2)

Expressing both his improvising and compositional prowess, veteran Toronto percussionist Nick Fraser ingeniously operates in two areas here. Three brief tracks find him inserting textures from drums and the so-called piano harp into soundscapes created by the processed electronics of local John Kameel Farah. Lengthier, the remaining four tracks highlight the simpatico interaction between Fraser’s drum patterns and the distinctive narratives of American tenor/soprano saxophonist Tony Malaby and New York-Canadian expat, pianist Kris Davis.

Scene setting bagatelles, the Fraser-Farah tracks mostly outline how quickly and with what invention the drummer responds to the textural manipulator’s sometimes otherworldly sounding flanges, purrs and echoes. Meantime the key takeaway from the trio selections is how strikingly strategic drum patterns blend with and amplify the others’ input. This involves Davis’ playing which encompasses pedal pressure and individual keyboard extensions and Malaby’s reed elaboration which often emphasizes looming split tones and vibrated shrieks rather than horizontal expositions.

Sketch 57 is the most telling instance of this. Solidifying piano soundboard echoes and the saxophonist’s measured honks are perfectly timed drum slaps. With this backing Davis creates a distinctive linear theme that is further solidified by mellow reed work and the drummer’s woody stick pops.

An ancient Doublemint gum TV commercial used to tell the audiences to “Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun” with its product. Similarly, Fraser replicates that dual promise musically by expressing his carefully honed skills in two distinct and distinguished areas.

In Search of… - Virginia MacDonald

In Search of…
Virginia MacDonald
Cellar Music CMF020124 (virginiamacdonald.bandcamp.com/album/in-search-of)

While jazz remains a niche artform in broader pop culture, it’s saturated enough to be tough for emerging artists to “break through.” Publicity and social media can help, but it is even rarer to do this organically like Virginia MacDonald is doing. In Search Of is the clarinetist’s highly anticipated debut album, and it’s a captivating listen whether you’re familiar with her work or not.

Newcomers to MacDonald’s music can expect a playful yet assertive approach to both melodies and improvising. A bevy of historical and modern influences are present, including aesthetics shared with her father, saxophonist Kirk MacDonald. Her musical voice is heavily inspired by other instruments, and the way she applies this to her clarinet playing requires ample technique.

In Search Of offers listeners eight tracks, six of which are originals by MacDonald. The liner notes, penned by veteran trombonist Michael Dease, mention Last Call at Dimitri’s as MacDonald’s first composition. Her writing is intriguing and intricate, feeling deliberate and inevitable without boxing in her bandmates musically.

MacDonald is joined by pianist Geoffrey Keezer, bassist Ira Coleman, and drummer Curtis Nowosad for the majority of the album, with Laura Anglade contributing vocals to two tracks. Anglade’s voice is utilized in a melodic capacity, creating interesting timbres with the clarinet. MacDonald’s personnel choices reflect her grounded yet contemporary style, as do the album’s two “cover” tracks; Duke Ellington’s Sound of Love by Charles Mingus, and Stardust.

Waiting Music - Open Thread

Waiting Music
Open Thread
Earshift Music EAR 120 (openthread.bandcamp.com/album/waiting-music)

Open Thread, created in 2023 and continuously productive since then, could be an exemplar for any joint Australian-Canadian government agreement. Consisting of Vancouver drummer Dylan van der Schyf, who teaches part time at Melbourne’s Conservatorium of Music, it includes fellow Conservatorium professor tenor saxophonist Julien Wilson, and has now expanded when joined by the drummer’s partner, cellist Peggy Lee and Aussie guitarist Theo Carbo.

Wilson has worked with everyone from the Australian Art Orchestra to Will Guthrie and younger Carbo with a cross section of down under improvisers. Meanwhile singly or together the Canadians have partnered a swath of international and local players including Jöelle Léandre, John Butcher and Gordon Grdina.

Encompassing atmospheric, jaunty and intense themes composed by all group members, the four are as apt to build an exposition around tough drum smacks, enlarged guitar flanges pieced with sul ponticello cello lines and reed bites as on God’s Little Prefect, and the multi-themed Travelling Home. There wispy sax slurs harmonized with continuous guitar strums and drum paradiddles are reduced to a thinner interface until cadenced reed puffs connect with massed string sweeps for tones both complementary and individual. Pocket Rocket also demonstrates how an introduction made up of cello squeaks and saxophone spetrofluctuation can be superseded by a relaxed duet of guitar picking and drum shuffles.

Metaphorically these group linear narratives are not only fine music but suggest how joint Oz-Canuck deals should proceed in the future.

Black New Moon - Steve Koven; Pedro Orrego

Black New Moon
Steve Koven; Pedro Orrego
(blacknewmoon.bandcamp.com/album/black-new-moon)

After working together on instrumental film cues, Torontonians Steve Koven and Pedro Orrego agreed to collaborate and create music together. Self-titled Black New Moon is their innovative, improvised/composed 12-track release of eight instrumental and four vocal pieces, linked by their self-described “mode of reflection, openness and quiet yearning.”

Koven is a jazz pianist, composer, performer, producer and educator. Orrego is a guitarist, director, producer, writer of documentaries, TV series and specials. They improvised then layered/composed, performed (on many instruments), produced and mixed these 11 tracks. Orrego sang and wrote three of the songs. Guest Aron Slipacoff contributes lyrics and vocals on one track.

Opening Lotus Rising introduces their compassionate music with a slow held note, keyboard lines and chords, and a multitude of atmospheric sounds. Falling Prey has very tonal repeated pop-like passages with clear vocals and sound splashes, with suddenly slower guitar lines, sound washes and percussion beats. Alternating tonal and new music sounds accompany Orrego’s vocals like “I never knew now.” Change of feel in Slipacoff’s Something Mystic with repeated shorter instrumental lines, colourful melodica interludes, and emotional tonal vocals “I’m lost, but I’m optimistic.”

The title track has slower legato lines, keyboard, guitar, electronic sounds and passionate Orrego vocals. “Traditional” harmonic modulations lead to a reflective instrumental ending. From the Water… has held notes, percussive taps like water dripping, high-pitched keyboard staccato notes and chords, and volume changes.

Innovative compositions and intriguing performances make Black New Moon an unforgettable experience. The recording is dedicated to the late Henk Melles, who created the artwork for the album.

The Sorceress - Audrey Ochoa

The Sorceress
Audrey Ochoa
Chronograph Records (chronographrecords.com/releases/the-sorceress/)

There are very diverse influences, arrangements and compositional approaches to be found on Edmonton trombonist and composer Audrey Ochoa’s The Sorceress. Sonically, the album runs the gamut from hypnotic beats reminiscent of IDM to breezy infusions of funk and everything in between. The depth of each groove, intricacies of every melody and nuances in the mix make for a uniformly engaging listening experience. Ochoa as soloist and writer acts as a curator of moods, whether it is transporting you to The Green Place or instigating the extrapolation of an entire dynamic between the characters of Petra and Schoobie. Sequencing wise, one track may provide levity, the next may provide clarification and then the next a release of accumulated tension.

The music itself sounds impossibly buttery and smooth without ever being predictable. Feeling is conveyed, but always somewhere along a spectrum rather than one that is easily defined. Organic coalesces into the synthetic, creating something entirely novel, yet never gimmicky. Ochoa’s trombone playing glides effortlessly and freely across whatever foundation is laid down by the graceful rhythm section, colouring in the lines hues of blue and green, much like those that can be found on the album art.

It is wholly satisfying to observe art where there is palpable intent behind every detail, and yet in the realm of improvised music intent or premeditation is not necessarily the enemy of spontaneity. Above all else, this album could be described as thrilling and adventurous, through channels both pervasive and earnest.

No Goats - Finely Tuned Elephant

No Goats
Finely Tuned Elephant
Independent (finelytunedelephant.bandcamp.com/album/no-goats)

When looking for ways to describe contemporary jazz fusion releases, “whimsical” is not a word that often comes to mind, but Ottawa’s Finely Tuned Elephant approach their craft with refreshing levels of humour and self-reflexivity. Case in point, are sampled noises from the titular animal in Chunky Monkey coming out of a face-melting solo section. Ensembles not taking themselves too seriously are one thing, but when the degree of musicianship is this high, the broader picture opens up to something truly wonderful. The ingredients are the aforementioned tongue-in-cheek aspect, bass, drums, keys and guitar playing together with pinpoint precision, all with a penchant for wild experimentation thrown in.

At 48 minutes the album has an addictive quality to it, being that rare combination of accessible and categorization-defying. The title track finishes off proceedings in a deliriously moshable foray through about a dozen complementary groove switches, physics-defying ostinatos and countless cues from subgenres under the progressive umbrella. It shreds at its quietest and entrances at its most brash. In general, the album seems self-aware of how dangerously it dances on the razor’s edge between intrigue and smooth jazz muzak, because every time there’s any sort of let up, new contrasting flavors are thrown into the stew. In squaring the circle of the Finely Tuned Elephant experience, one can obsessively count along or simply enjoy the ride – there’s truly something here for anyone.

In the Wonder of the Night - Angela Verbrugge

In the Wonder of the Night
Angela Verbrugge
Independent DEX101025 (angelaverbrugge.com/in-the-wonder-of-the-night)

Luminous chanteuse, lyricist, composer and producer, Victoria-based Angela Verbrugge has already created quite a stir with the success and international touring in support of her three previous recordings. For the release of her fourth studio release, she presents an inspired, deeply moving duo album with noted New York City based pianist, Ray Gallon. This new project carries the mystical theme of the enchantment of the wee, small hours and the inevitable enhancement of the mystical/intuitive nature of our collective unconscious and shows us how music can be the key to entering that sacred, night-time zone. The recording features five of Verbrugge’s original compositions, as well as beloved standards from iconic tunesmiths Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Jimmy Van Heusen and more.

Verbrugge has a crystalline pure and inveigling voice (in the cool 50s style of Joanie Summers or Chris Conner) which lends itself perfectly to the luscious and tasteful piano duets presented here. Verbrugge is an artist who respects melody – not some overheated diva who pumps mindless “originals” into the music-sphere that lack interesting chord progressions, a bridge or a complex lyric.

Of the 11 gems here, of special note is Verbrugge’s Paradise Defined – a clever and ironic lyric with a delicious melody, reminiscent of the great Fran Landesman. Gallon’s solo here is delightfully sparse and rhythmic, celebrating each nuance of the melodic line. Also, I’m 99% Sure of You (her collaboration with multiple JUNO winner Caity Gyorgy) is a tasty confection of a zesty swing interwoven with an ironic and contemporary lyric. Also of note is the inspired medley of Burke and Van Heusen’s Moonlight Becomes You, with Verbrugge and Gyorgy’s title track In the Wonder of the Night. It’s a sheer, jazzy delight.