Jazz 1: By Tony Hillier

ALBUMS: Jazz 1

BY TONY HILLIER

MATT CARMICHAEL MARRAM Edition

Dormant for decades, the Scottish jazz scene has ignited like a volcano in the past couple of years via the emergence of virtuosic young conservatoire educated players who take inspiration from Celtic folk heritage and Caledonian landscapes. Fast rising saxophone star Matt Carmichael follows the footprints of the widely lauded pianist Fergus McCreadie and BBC award-winning fiddler Charlie Stewart, his co-leads on this sophomore recording. In the titular air, Carmichael’s beautiful tone takes the breath away. In the up-tempo ‘Dune’ he lets loose with aplomb, aided and abetted by his brilliant buddies. Another humdinger, ‘Horizon’ showcases McCreadie’s scintillating keyboard chops. Carmichael’s compositions and arrangements emit an impressive range of emotion and energy.

ESBJÖRN SVENSSON HOME.S

ACT/Planet

An unexpected bonus for Esbjörn Svensson’s many fans, HOME.S comprises improvised solo recordings made by the late superstar Swedish pianist just weeks before his tragic death in mid-2008 and discovered by his widow on a computer hard drive nearly ten years after. Adding value to this belated release is the fact that Svensson had focused almost entirely on his work with the trio e.s.t for the decade prior to his passing. The nine solo pieces in

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question reflect the artist’s flair as an improviser and his ultra soulful and deeply melodic style. The influence of classical music on the Swede’s virtuosic playing and composing are perfectly exemplified by the session’s shortest tracks ‘Delta’ and ‘Theta’, which are both under three minutes in duration.

ALLY DRUM JUNK

Spare Parts

This is one of a couple of dynamic albums masterminded by Sydney bandleader and saxophonist Gai Bryant and her right-hand man, trombonist extraordinaire James Greening, late last year. In some ways a companion work to Caribé’s Distant Waters, ALLY’s Drum Junk balances hot Afro-Peruvian festejo dance rhythm and Brazilian experimentalism with the coolness of Latinised Thelonious Monk compositions, notably ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat’, and the sway of a North-eastern Brazilian maracatu. The title track emits raw organic energy generated by the lead horns, in conjunction with piano pushes, bass ostinato and a compelling percussion base. The more meditative ‘Jelly Bean’ features solos from the band’s pianist Daniel Pliner and bassist Max Alduca. Elsewhere, quirky harmonies, improvisation and seamless arrangements pervade.

BUTCHER BROWN TRIPLE TREY

Concord Jazz

On paper, rap and big band jazz might seem somewhat strange bedfellows, but in the hands of Butcher Brown these diverse elements fit together surprisingly snugly. Ironically, Triple Trey was originally written and produced by the band’s resident MC and multi-instrumentalist Marcus “Tennishu” Tenney as a hip-hop album. It evolved into the Virginian collective’s own eclectic tribute to a more mainstream form of jazz with the addition of the bizarrelynamed R4ND4ZZO BIGB4ND, a side project of the group’s bassist and arranger Andrew Randazzo. Some tracks don’t gel or contain too many expletives for wide consumption, but the more soulful and funky numbers — such as ‘Crusian’, ‘Lawd Why’ and ‘Unbelievable’ — are irresistibly catchy, striking a balance between the seemingly disparate elements.

JUDITH OWEN COME ON & GET IT

Twanky Records

The innuendo posed by the title perfectly represents an album that celebrates the songs of the so-called “unsung badass” ladies of jazz and blues. Bodacious as much as it is audacious, Come On & Get It proves an ideal vehicle for the powerhouse Welsh singer and pianist Judith Owen as she fulfils her childhood fascination via some of the salacious songs she first heard in her father’s 1940s/50s record collection. Backed by a crew of the finest jazz players from her current base of New Orleans, including Jason Marsalis, Donald Harrison Jr, Nicholas Payton and veteran Duke Ellington and Count Basie sideman Charlie Gabriel, Owen successfully emulates the sexual swagger and saucy aplomb radiated by the likes of Blossom Dearie, Julia Lee and Nellie Lutcher and others of their ilk in such suggestive numbers as ‘Snatch and Grab’, ‘Big Long Slidin’ Thing’, ‘Nice Girls Don’t Stay For Breakfast’ and, of course, the title track itself.

THE HOT CLUB OF SAN FRANCISCO DON’T PANIC

Panda Digital

While they might have been the first American group to perform at the famous Festival Django Reinhardt in France, The Hot Club of San Francisco are no jazz manouche purists. For the past three decades the Californian combo has peddled its own style of gypsy swing. The opening title track of their latest album — propelled impressively by la pompe, the rhythmic driving force of the genre, and featuring riveting exchanges between founder member and former Dan Hicks guitarist Paul Mehling and his violinist Evan Price — is as close as ‘The Hot Club’ comes to capturing the compelling 1930s/40s’ groove of Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli. Other tracks echo ersatz sambas, waltz, 52nd street swing and other disparate influences.

YOSEF GUTMAN UPSIDE DOWN MOUNTAIN

Independent

As an acoustic bass guitarist bandleader, South African-born, New York-schooled and now Jerusalem-based Yosef Gutman is arguably unique in jazz. Throughout Gutman’s first trio recording, the beautiful bell-like tone of his unusual lead instrument engages in an absorbing dialogue with Omri More’s and Ofri Nehemy’s similarly sensitive piano and drum playing on lyrical instrumentals such as ‘Wedding Song’, ‘Jericho’s Siege’ and ‘Poltova’, frequently as the lead melodic voice.