Considering how much I despise the original, it’s sort of remarkable what a sucker I am for renditions of the Game of Thrones theme.  The Lenny Marcus Trio is the latest example of jazz musicians turning that piece of coal into a sonic gem.  And it’s not like the trio does much with it.  A simple recitation of the melody sits at the center where wistful blues flourishes and harmonic expansions set the whole thing humming happily along.

But this album is more than just that tune.  However, most of Gloria’s Step builds upon that same approach taken to the HBO show’s theme.  Clear, crisp recitations of a succinct melody become the jump off point for tangents, textures, and deviations that add all kinds of personality to the opening statements.  The tunes never traverse great distances from their starting point, instead choosing to explore a small patch of turf for everything its got.

Bonus points for a rendition of McCoy Tyner’s “Contemplation,” a song that really isn’t covered nearly enough and from an album that is one of the greatest hard bop recordings ever.  A few guests add some depth and colors to the mix.  Brian Mesko‘s guitar accompaniment on “Welcoming” is especially nice.

Marcus and crew develop a real pleasant and engaging conversational tone.  It makes for an easy-to-like recording.

Your album personnel:  Lenny Marcus (acoustic grand piano, flute), Rick Eckberg (double bass, fretless electric bass), Larry Scott (drums) and guests:  Vladimir Espinosa (percussion), Brian Mesko (guitars), Ken Hitchcock (flutes; saxophone).

The album is Self-Produced.

Listen to more of the album at the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Music from Roanoke, Virginia.

Available at:  Bandcamp

Everything about this album screams protest music.  To Those Who Walked Before Us has got an attitude of stand up for what’s right, stand up and fight.  There’s plenty of different directions a musician can take when giving form to that expression.  Certainly an approach of hard-charging, fist-pounding tempos can be the catalyst for an invocation of principles.  There’s also an open to go subtle and work with a melancholy, almost mournful tone, where the thoughts of what’s lost are the gentle whispers that cause the people to rise up.  The Christopher Ali Solidarity Quartet runs with a method of motion, of pairing a dancing groove with anthemic melodies.  It’s where a bit of catchiness offers up the handholds to spur a protest into action, and to carry it forward like a chant, a meditative state of furious activity.

The quartet of saxophonist Christopher Ali Thorén, oudist Filip Bagewitz, double bassist Alfred Lorinius and drummer Anton Davidsson Norén bring together avant-garde, Swedish and Arabic folk musics and modern jazz for a spellbinding force of language.  There’s a unity to it all, even when one influence takes hold over all others and makes its presence felt.

There are moments of ferocity when the concept of structure barely registers.  And then there are moments of effortless groove, and the flow of the music is like a lighted path of the way ahead.  The best moments incorporate both of those extremes, and the fight and the flow become as one… a place where the act of aggression acquires a certain poetry through motion.  This is best embodied by the staggered shuffle of “Al-Maghrib” and how it possesses a motion resembling that of dance, inciting it from others, but still with that fighting spirit that makes it so much more than a means to an end.

This is a pretty thrilling album.

Your album personnel:  Christopher Ali Thorén (tenor & soprano saxophones), Filip Bagewitz (oud, fretless electric guitar), Alfred Lorinius (double bass) and Anton Davidsson Norén (drums).

This album is Self-Produced.

Listen to more of the album on the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Music from Gothenburg, Sweden.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon