Susan Alcorn Quintet: Pedernal

  Pedal steel guitar is generally associated with country music, but the instrument’s characteristically malleable sound is well-suited to improvisation. Susan Alcorn has provided the evidence for a while now, beginning with Uma, a 1999 trio date and continuing with collaborations that include luminaries of progressive music, including Joe McPhee, Ken Vandermark, and Nate Wooley. (I recommend reading her musical journey here). Her latest project is the Susan Alcorn Quintet with frequent collaborators Mary Halvorson on guitar, Michael Formanek on bass, and Ryan Sawyer on drums, plus violinist Michael Feldman. The band’s enthusiasm on Pedernal, a program of five original compositions by Alcorn, is infectious. Starting out with the mellow (at first) title track, it’s obvious that this is a string band with a difference. There’s plenty of mutual history among the players, and their level of comfort is integral to the music’s success. No matter where the improvisations take them, the common bonds ensure that the music will never fly off the rails. I’m captivated by the blended sonorities of violin, pedal steel guitar, electric guitar, and bass. Alcorn’s music is quieter than you might expect from a quintet, forcing close listening from musicians and audience alike. That kind of concentrated attention pays off in unexpected nuances and surprising juxtapositions. Violinist Feldman, with an amazing list of past associations in improvised music circles, is prominently featured here. His rich tone and thoroughly lyrical approach are perfect for Alcorn’s sturdy melodies. There are times when I feel like the music would benefit from a little more rhythmic vitality, in the vein of the closing Northeast Rising Sun. This perky number features a curiously muted guitar solo by Halvorson, some hip fiddling by Feldman, and a masterful bass solo by Formanek. It might be my favorite piece on the disc, but there is plenty of exquisitely honed music to come back to again and again. Recommended. 

Relative Pitch RPR 1111; Michael Feldman (vln) Susan Alcorn (pedal steel g) Mary Halvorson (g) Michael Formanek (b) Ryan Sawyer (d); Brooklyn, NY, November 12, 2019; Pedernal/ Circular Ruins/ R.U.R./ Night in Gdansk/ Northeast Rising Sun; 42:00. relativepitchrecords.com

JD Allen: Toys/Die Dreaming

  Bassist Ian Kenselaar and drummer Nic Cacioppo draw you in immediately on You’re My Thrill, the opener on the latest album from tenor saxophonist JD Allen, the immensely satisfying Toys/Die Dreaming. When Allen enters the fray, with his powerful sound and boundless energy, the effect is riveting. Sax, bass, and drums is a challenging format, but Allen and his latest trio more than rise to the occasion on their second outing, after 2019's Barracoon. I’ve been listening to a lot of late-Fifties Coltrane recently, and I hear echoes of Trane both in Allen’s soulful sound and in the way he constructs his solo statements. The team of Jay Gorney (music) and Sidney Clare (lyrics) wrote You’re My Thrill in 1933, and over the decades, it’s been a favorite blowing vehicle for plenty of saxophonists, including Ben Webster, Zoot Sims, Archie Shepp, Benny Golson, and Charles McPherson. Allen and his trio take a fresh attitude towards this standard, and somehow make it sound like it was composed just last week. There’s one more standard in the set, a rapturous crawl through I Should Care, an extraordinarily popular tune from 1944 with music by Paul Weston and Axel Stordahl, and lyrics by Sammy Cahn. The balance of the disc is given over to Allen’s robust, blues-oriented originals, plus Red Label, a composition by trombonist Peter Lin. Allen first recorded this song on Lin’s New Age Old Ways, in a late 2018 session self-produced by Lin that included Kenselaar and Cacioppo as the rhythm section. It’s a straight-forward swinger with a late-night bluesy feel, played here with the kind of down-home groove that sounds like they could play until dawn without losing the intensity. Kenselaar and Cacioppo are beautifully matched, with an uncanny relationship that has them utterly in sync with one another and with Allen at the same time. On an Allen original like Die Dreaming, they shift instinctively from a stop-time feel to open swinging and back again, provoking rich declamatory playing from Allen. Toys, a slowly paced and bittersweet ballad, is just one of the standout tracks, with a wistful Allen supported by Cacioppo’s vaguely martial drumming and Kenselaar’s tender bass parts. Another highlight is the closing Elegua (The Trickster). The track opens with a forceful drum solo by Cacioppo, then Allen states the melody with his signature broad tone before Kenselaar joins in to give the piece a firm foundation. Toys/Die Dreaming, a genuine highlight of a horribly dismal year, is heartily recommended. 

Savant SCD 2184; JD Allen (ts) Ian Kenselaar (b) Nic Cacioppo (d); Astoria, NY, January 2, 2020; You’re My Thrill/ The G Thing/ Die Dreaming/ Red Label/ Toys/ I Should Care/ Elegua (The Trickster); 45:05. www.jazzdepot.com

Matt Moran Trio: Return Trip

The Matt Moran Trio offers a relatively rare instrumental lineup of Moran’s vibes, Gary Versace on Hammond organ, and Tom Rainey at the drums. Return Trip is their second outing, after 2018's Play Ball, which both introduced the band and inaugurated Diskonife, a label that Moran started with saxophonist Peter Hess. When drummer Rainey was first contacted for the band, he told Moran that he “always wondered why that instrumentation didn’t get explored more,” noting that one of his very early gigs as a teenager was in such a group. Clocking in at just shy of 36 minutes, this compact compact disc is heavy on atmosphere and dynamic interaction. The Hammond organ is a versatile beast, and Versace clearly knows his way around it with a sound that veers from the light-hearted swells he employs on Ripples to the funky lines and subterranean bass of Effish. Moran, who wrote all the pieces, favors a dark sound on vibes, and he tends to keep to the middle of the tonal range of the instrument. Rainey has proved his mettle in a broad range of situations since his recording debut in 1980 with keyboardist Mike Nock, and his robust yet understated style is just right for this trio. Moran also leads the nine piece Slavic Soul Party!, so the introspective attitude expressed by the trio is, as he notes, “a much-needed complement to that energy.” At times, on trifles like Sometimes That’s OK or Peace and Integration, the mood is a little too relaxed and dreamy. But late at night, with the lights turned low, Return Trip is just the thing to help you unwind. 

Diskonife 006; Matt Moran (vib) Gary Versace (Hammond B3 org) Tom Rainey (d); Brooklyn, NY, June 10, 2019; Ripples/ Spring/ Chord Conversation/ Lush/ Sometimes That’s OK/ Effish/ Peace and Integration; 35:45. diskonife.com

Dave Askren & Jeff Benedict: Paraphernalia: Music of Wayne Shorter

Dave Askren & Jeff Benedict co-lead a quartet on Paraphernalia: Music of Wayne Shorter. Guitarist Askren and saxophonist Benedict are joined by bassist Jonathan Pintoff and ace percussionist Chris Garcia for a satisfying program of Shorter’s material largely drawn from his Sixties compositions for the Miles Davis group and his own Blue Note albums. To be successful, a tribute album like this one needs to engage the listener on two levels. First is the obvious one of enjoying the music. Second, and a bit trickier, is evoking the original versions without suffering in comparison. The Askren-Benedict group is a winner on both scores. Maybe that’s due to the presence of a guitar, which Davis didn’t use in this period and Shorter rarely used on any of his Blue Note albums. Or maybe it’s Benedict’s fluent saxophone work, seldom sounding anything like Shorter. All I can say for sure is that the quartet plays very well as a unit, and they do justice to this well-selected sample of compositions by one of the most important jazz composers of the era. Benedict and Askren have been playing together for decades, and their duet performances of Miyako and Infant Eyes are especially lovely. Recommended. 

Tapestry 76029; Jeff Benedict (saxes) Dave Askren (g) Jonathan Pintoff (b) Chris Garcia (perc); Pasadena, CA, March 30-31, 2019; E.S.P./ Yes and/or No/ Iris/ Mahjong/ Fall/ Paraphernalia/ Miyako/ Harlequin/ Tom Thumb/ Infant Eyes; 53:09. www.caprirecords.com

Alan Broadbent Trio: Trio In Motion

  The Alan Broadbent Trio proudly swings into Wonder Why as Trio In Motion begins. Pianist Broadbent, widely experienced as an arranger and composer who has worked with an array of artists from Charlie Haden to Natalie Cole, is joined by a pair of veteran improvisers in Harvie S on bass and Billy Mintz on drums. The program is a well-chosen set of ten relatively uncommon songs, one Broadbent original, and Moonstones, a group improvisation which ends the set. Fittingly, in Charlie Parker’s centennial year, the CD includes two of his classics, Relaxin’ at Camarillo and The Hymn. Part of the success of this outing is the juxtaposition of songs from different eras of jazz and the way the disc has been so expertly sequenced. It’s a distinct pleasure to hear, in succession, Lennie Tristano’s Lennie’s Pennies, Lil Hardin Armstrong’s Struttin’ With Some Barbecue (to a samba beat!), and Paul Desmond’s Late Lament. Another highlight is the trio’s rapturous version of John Coltrane’s Like Sonny. This listener’s delight in the trio’s instrumental interplay and their lively musical conversation within each song is enriched by the flow of the disc as a whole. Trio In Motion is happily recommended. 

Savant SCD 2188; Alan Broadbent (p) Harvie S (b) Billy Mintz (d); NYC, no dates specified; Wonder Why/ I Hear You/ Lennie’s Pennies/ Struttin’ With Some Barbecue/ Late Lament/ Relaxin’ at Camarillo/ One Morning in May/ I Love You/ Lady Bird/ Like Sonny/ The Hymn/ Moonstones; 56:01. www.jazzdepot.com