Sep 16 2013
Jon Crowley – “At the Edge”
One of the nicer albums to get released in 2011 was by trumpet player Jon Crowley. At the Edge is most remarkable for its melodic comportment… these are songs that swim in the melodies. But what makes the album click is that it doesn’t treat the rhythm section as merely an afterthought. Crowley binds the melodic and rhythmic sections together not through their commonalities but, instead, through the strength of their contrasting qualities.
The duo of Ziv Ravitz and Julian Smith on drums and bass maintain an agitated presence throughout the recording, stirring waters from which the bright notes of Julian Pollack’s Fender Rhodes can bob along the surface. And it’s with that rhythmic foundation that Crowley and Jeremy Udden can launch off into one lovely melody after the next.
Your album personnel: Jon Crowley (trumpet, Fender Rhodes one track), Jeremy Udden (alto sax), Julian Pollack (piano, Fender Rhodes), Julian Smith (bass), and Ziv Ravitz (drums).
There’s a patience to the cadence with which melodies are expressed… unhurried as if they have all the time in the world, and play each note like its their last. Crowley’s trumpet often soars, though he switches up the altitudes at which this happens. “Find Me” has him skimming just over the surface of the rhythm, whereas title-track “At the Edge” sees him lifting off to greater and greater heights.
Most tracks take a linear path from first note to last. The shifting “Sadness Suffering Hope Triumph” is a series of solos set to emotional changes altered through tone and tempo. “These Four Walls” have Crowley and Pollack almost within reach of one another on trumpet and piano, as they follow complementary parallel melodic lines… a lesson in the partnership of light and dark in a game of shadow play.
“Shine” is the one track on the album that accentuates the angles more than the curvature of melodic lines, but even here there are times of beautiful melodic sighs. “Progress” takes it to the other extreme, with melodies that circle back onto themselves in hypnotic pattern that occasionally breaks free from its flight pattern for lovely harmonic expressions.
Half of the album tracks are no longer than two minutes long, affording Crowley the opportunity to add further melodic texture to an album already strong with it. “And then one day it’s all over…” is melancholic trumpet set against the murmur of bass… an interlude that can stand on its own in terms of creative statements, but also provides a sufficient lead-in to subsequent track “At the Edge,” which also has a somber side to its personality, though expressed with an abounding warmth that overcomes its darker side.
It’s a warmth that attaches to each of these songs, in each expression of melody. It’s a big reason why this is such a winning album.
This album is Self-Published.
Listen to more of the album at the artist’s Bandcamp page.
Jazz from the Brooklyn scene.
Available at: Bandcamp | Amazon CD | Amazon MP3
Sep 17 2013
Barra Brown Quintet – “Songs for a Young Heart”
A tuneful debut album from drummer Barra Brown, whose Songs for a Young Heart proves that he knows how to tie an idea to a strong melody. Mixing in heavy doses of indie-pop influences, Brown and quintet offer up a series of tunes that have the presence of an epic soundtrack and the affecting simplicity of expertly crafted folk songs.
Your album personnel: Barra Brown (drums), Thomas Barber (trumpet), Nicole Glover (tenor sax), Adam Brock (guitar, mandolin), and Jon Lakey (acoustic & electric basses).
The quintet comes out swinging on the opening track “How the West Was Won.” Brown’s punchy rhythms provide a driving cadence, accentuated by melodic development that keeps in touch with the percussion unit. Throughout this album, as he does here, Brock’s guitar does its best work when it shades the lines in between the rhythm and the harmony… when he spreads out notes like droplets of sunlight, it envelops many aspects of the song and brings them all together.
Track two begins with a mournful ballad, but grows into a leviathan of a tune, becoming more intense as it goes along and resembling nothing of its melancholy origins. Glover’s sax has a delicious weariness that just sings with a light heart, creating the kind of emotional contradiction that makes it fascinating to hear.
Third track “Poem” is a lullaby of gentle intonations and the exhalation of a soothing melody. Barber and Glover serve up some beautiful harmonies that possess a hell of an evocative punch. Slow patient notes that have the time to breathe and bloom at just the right moment.
The brief interlude of “Mandolin Song,” a jumping piece that has mandolin synching up with percussion for a brisk run, serves as an interesting transition piece between tracks that hang their hat on the build of tension.
“On This Day” begins with yet another beautiful simple melody right out of the gates. Stated with patience and care. Glover and Barber take turns expressing it on sax and trumpet before expanding upon its theme, guitar shading at the edges, Lakey and Brown keeping it on a leash so it doesn’t fly away into the clouds. Even when the song explodes with a powerful saxophone solo, drums thundering loudly, the melody still pervades every note.
No track may better reflect this album’s mix of jazz and indie-pop than sixth track “King of the North.” A languorous melody that builds right up to a roar, then right back down to calming tones… every statement given with a celebratory tone. It’s a song that goes through the changes several times through, switching up tempos and tones, all the while a foot in jazz and rock territories.
Seventh track “Song for a Young Heart” cements in place this album’s cinematic quality. The song’s melody echoes that of earlier melodies, both in its progression and its delivery, and acts a binding agent of the album’s latter tracks to its opening and establishing a sense of a long road traveled… a quality that any good soundtrack will possess.
This trend continues with the album’s final track, a reprise of fourth track “Poem.” This alternative view of the composition is a cheerful tune expressed with a sunny disposition, lifting the pervasive melancholia of its initial expression.
An impressive debut, and the kind of tuneful album of songs that’s always nice to go back to for more.
Released on the PJCE (Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble) Records label.
Jazz from the Portland, OR scene.
Available at Bandcamp CD/Digital | Amazon MP3
*****
Some additional notes:
Trumpeter Thomas Barber was mentioned on this site a little ways back, when his album Snow Road was covered in the Safety Net review series. Here’s a LINK to read that review. Also, it appears Amazon was the only retail option at that time, but you can grab his album on Bandcamp now and, I’m pretty sure, eMusic, too.
Also, the PJCE label has been putting out some solid albums this year, about one a month. It’s worth your time to check them out.
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By davesumner • Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2013 Releases • 1