By Dee Dee McNeil
November 5, 2023
ARUÁN ORTIZ – “PASTOR’S PARADOX” – Cleanfeed Records
Aruán Ortiz, piano/voice/composer; Don Byron, clarinet/bass clarinet/voice; Pheeroan Aklaff, drums/voice; Lester St. Louis, cello; Yves Dhar, cello; Mtume Gant, spoken word.
The power and purpose of Dr. Martin Luther King’s words, spoken some sixty years ago at the March on Washington, are still relevant today. They have become the inspiration for this experimental jazz project featuring the compositions and piano playing of Aruan Ortiz and a host of other respected jazz musicians.
Don Byron’s bass clarinet opens the title tune, “Pastor’s Paradox” and settles the mood down to a thoughtful, but richly dark place. It is sad and heartbreaking that all these years later, the loving words in Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech are still blowing in the wind and dancing on the page, but humanity has not embraced racial, socio-economic justice in our current world. We are still polarized, one human being against another human being; religion against religion; race against race. Cuban-born, Aruán Ortiz, who is currently based in Brooklyn, NY, explores and reflects on King’s 1968 speech, also on “The Drum Major Instinct” speech delivered a few months before Dr. King’s assassination.
This year, Ortiz celebrates half a century on earth. He brings an edginess, a wiseness, and an Avant-garde perspective to his musical interpretation of Dr. King’s frustrations with society. He shares with us Dr. King’s consistent fight for freedom and justice with words and music. During the composition titled, “The Dream That Wasn’t Meant to be Ours” Pheeroan Aklaff soaks up the spotlight on drums. His trap drums tell the story, along with the rich cello of Lester St. Louis. When the voice of Mtume Gant brings prose to the bandstand, words slap us across the face like a wet rag. Gant refers to the ‘Drum Major Instinct’ speech, and I praise the engineer who mixed these instruments and vocals to perfection. We hear every word, every beat, each cello note, in St. Louis’ crystal-clear delivery.
You will feel anger, rebellion, and power in many of these compositions. But you will also hear the tenderness and selflessness of a movement to help others. These musical messages are wrapped like sacred gifts in angel-wing paper.
“He was very revolutionary for this time. He was fighting for not only racial equality for Black America, but also for women’s rights and Latino rights, oftentimes against a very turbulent backdrop. Acknowledging that is where I got the idea for the title, Pastor’s Paradox,” Aruan Ortiz explains in his liner notes.
Throughout “Pastor’s Paradox” the band depicts turbulence and cacophonous sounds of police, brutality, loud sirens, and the desperate cries of a people under siege. You hear it in the music and feel it in your spirit. I was especially touched by the brutal energy and screaming clarinet and arpeggio piano excursions that interpreted “From Montgomery to Memphis (to April 4th).” That date brings back bitter memories for me, because I was alive and conscious when Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968.
Ortiz pushes the political clutter out of his way to hone-in on withering injustice. His improvisational and heavily Avant-garde music has been written for jazz ensembles, orchestras, dance companies, chamber groups and feature films. On this project, as a pianist, violist and composer, Aruán Ortiz has created a 21st century chamber-music/jazz work that celebrates the power of music to represent the enduring influence of history. His compositions represent the never-ending determination of humanity to become more good, than evil; more loving, than hateful; more artistic, than capitalistic. In this work, Aruán Ortiz endeavors to offer us hope for a better future and musical prayers for a more peaceful world.
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TERELL STAFFORD – “BETWEEN TWO WORLDS” – Le Cog Records
Terell Stafford, trumpet/flugelhorn/composer/arranger; Bruce Barth, piano/composer/arranger; David Wong, bass; Johnathan Blake, drums; Alex Acuña, percussion; Tim Warfield, tenor & soprano saxophones.
It’s amazing how the pandemic affected our jazz community. Music becomes a historic reference when you listen-back and recall what you were going through when a certain song was popular. It’s a historic marker when you’re composing music, or when you recall playing music during a certain period in life.. Perhaps Terell Stafford exemplifies this when he explains, in his press package, how he felt when he brought his sextet to the famed Village Vanguard New York jazz club in July of 2020.
“It really impacted me emotionally and spiritually, driving into an empty city with no traffic, to make music at a time when the world was shut down was mind-blowing to me,” Terell recalls.
The empty room was startling. Four cameramen were there to capture the concert for posterity and livestream. Those four human beings were the only ‘live’ audience. Surrounded by an all-star band, the title tune composed by Victor Lewis spoke to Stafford in a way that inspired this album and embraced that time in our lives. A time when we lost over one-million American citizens to COVID. Three years after this unforgettable plague, we are still shell-shot, like victims of war, with masks in our dresser drawers that remind us of a shut-down, grievous time. “Between Two Worlds” is Stafford’s emotional, musical response to a terrifying time.
The band comes racing off my CD player like the Indianapolis 500; full speed ahead. On this Victor Lewis opening tune, you meet each music master in Stafford’s sextet. The group is furiously propelled forward by Johnathan Blake on trap drums and Alex Acuña on percussion. Stafford’s trumpet bolts out of the gate with full force. Each of his ensemble steps energetically into the lonesome spotlight with kick-ass solos. I feel the anxiety and release in this arrangement as these master musicians, all masked up and ready for battle, musically reflect the beauty of the music and the terror of the times.
The next tune that wraps arms of sincerity around me is one written by Terell titled “Two hearts As One.” It’s a very sensuous ballad with a stunning solo by David Wong on double bass. The Straight-ahead composition that follows is also written by Stafford and swings its way into my listening room like Jackie Robinson when he smacked the ball out the stadium. You can tell on that July 2020 evening; those jazz musicians came to play their blues away and kick down the isolation door. “Room 608” quickly becomes another favorite with Bruce Barth offering a swinging piano solo richly embellished by Blake’s demanding drums. Billy Strayhorn’s “Blood Count” tune is beautifully played and arranged by Bruce Barth. Barth also contributes his composition, “Manaus at Dusk,” where Tim Warfield puts his tenor saxophone down and picks up his soprano saxophone to deliver a memorable solo. Acuña shines on percussion.
Terell sounds absolutely gorgeous interpreting McCoy Tyner’s tune, “You Taught My heart to Sing.” There’s an old saying, accompanied by a wink, and spoken in music circles that says: “You can’t lose with the blues!” Terell and his group remind us of this truth with their final original tune, “Wruth’s Blues.”
“Between Two Worlds” clearly describes the life of Terell Stafford in a wider way than just the pandemic. It reflects the dual roles in his personal life, sometimes as sideman, other times as bandleader; as musician and educator, serving as Chair of Instrumental Studies and Director of Jazz Studies at Temple University. He’s a husband and father, administrator and teacher, composer, arranger, and a trumpet player with a strong perspective. Yes, this album title seems appropriate on many levels, as Terell offers music that will move you, invigorate you and rejuvenate life’s importance. With his music, Terell Stafford reminds us that in some ways, we are all life-jugglers carefully balancing “Between Two Worlds.”
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BOWMANVILLE – “BOWMANVILLE” – Stoneagle Music
Ethan Adelsman, violin/composer; Graham Nelson, vocals/harmonica; Mason Jiller, guitar/composer; Oliver Horton & Ethan Phillion, bass; Noah Plotkin, drums.
The “Bowmanville” group, based in Chicago, offers us a totally unique sound of their own that combines aspects of Django Reinhardt’s style from the Hot Club of France days, with their gutsy Chicago Blues history. It’s quite captivating. The use of harmonica and violin in close harmonic arrangements, along with mason Jiller’s strong guitar technique, transports us to another space and time. Mason has composed track #2, “Metal Bird” carefully mixing Latin music, swing, and a bluesy, country/western-two-step-kind of music style into the arrangement. Like a quilt of many cultures, this music covers me with a warm, happy feeling. Ethan Adelsman’s sweet violin opens “Don’t Forget It” and he has also composed this tune. Ethan, along with Mason Jiller on guitar, hold a short conversation until Graham Nelson’s harmonica joins the conversation. This is a very lovely, melodic song.
Violinist, Ethan Adelsman has performed gypsy jazz, bluegrass, rock, classical and Latin jazz before forming this “Bowmanville” group. I hear all those musical styles within this production. On “Boiano Campobasso” they are back to the Django Reinhardt’s influence and the group swings hard. “Fly Me To the Moon” is that old familiar standard we all know and love, featuring Graham Nelson on sometime off-pitch vocals. I prefer the group as an instrumental ensemble and enjoy Nelson’s talents on harmonica. On “Caravan” the arrangement sounds very Middle Eastern. “La Vie En Rose” is presented sweetly featuring Adelsman’s violin and then surprises me by moving into a spirited swing groove. This unforgettable production is both well-written and the musicians present a tight, entertaining, instrumental package. The vocals probably work in ‘live’ performances, but they don’t add to the musical quality of Bowmanville as a complete recorded package.
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RUSS JOHNSON QUARTET – “REVEAL” – Calligram Records
Russ Johnson, trumpet/composer; Mark Feldman, violin; Ethan Philion, bass; Timothy Daisy, drums.
To “Reveal” is to make previously unknown or secret information known. Trumpeter Russ Johnson has written nine compositions for this project that he is sharing with his listening audience for the first time, unveiling his composition skills along with his trumpet mastery. This is a quartet without piano or guitar, often referred to as a chord-less ensemble. The string master of mark Feldman’s violin and Ethan Philion’s bass create a unique rhythm section with Timothy Daisy on drums. This quartet embraces Avant-grade jazz and freedom with the same pulse of breathing in and out.
They open with “Skips” a tune that conjures up happy children skipping down the avenue. Track #3 is titled “Long Branch (for Jamie Branch)” and is seven minutes of the trumpet and violin sharing a creative and continuous conversation, with Ethan Philion’s bass supporting their musical speeches. I might note that Jamie Branch, who died in August of 2022, was a well-respected avant-garde trumpet player. She blended Punk Rock intensity with her commitment to experimentation and invigorated the music scene of both New York and Chicago. She was only thirty-nine years old when she passed.
“My entire career has been built on playing music in the cracks between ‘modern jazz’ and more ‘improvised’ music,” explains bandleader, Russ Johnson, who tributed a tune to young Jamie.
“Mark Feldman is obviously one of the great violinists and improvisors of our time. We met in New York, but only played together a couple of times. When Mark moved to Chicago, I knew I had to create a new project around him,” Johnson, a Chicago based musician shared.
“Veiled Invitation” gives a platform to bassist, Ethan Philion where he blends with the violin to set mood and tempo, then steps into the spotlight with a solo that dazzles. This tune is quite beautiful, with a melody that appears like a rainbow after the other stormy tunes have played-out. It shows the tender side of Russ Johnson’s trumpet. On “Dog Gone It” Daisy brings the funk to the party on his drums, locking hands with Philion’s bass line. Mark Feldman let’s his violin tremble and fly above the funky groove, while Russ Johnson’s trumpet scats emphasis and energy, singing along with the violin, at times in unison and other times harmonically pleasing.
If experimental music is something you treasure, this is a crucial work of fluid improvisation and modern jazz to please your ears.
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KEVIN SUN – “THE DEPTHS OF MEMORY” – Endectomorph Music
Kevin Sun, tenor saxophone/composer; Adam O’Farrill, trumpet; Dana Soul, piano; Walter Stinson & Simon Willson, bass; Matt Honor & Dayeon Seak, drums.
This music by Kevin Sun, developed during the pandemic lockdown, reflects on life, healthy living, and metamorphosis. In a double disc album set, Sun opens with seven tunes. The first suite is titled “From All This Stillness.” The composer and tenor sax man, Kevin Sun, opens with “Frozen in Profile” featuring his saxophone as the central instrument. Soon, Dana Soul joins on piano, playing the upper register like a lovely tune from a music box. Track #2, “Interior Choruses” is rooted deeply in modern jazz and experimental music, as the players shift from space to space, solo to solo, each gives the other room to expand and explore.
The “Eponymous Cycle” consists of three compositions simply titles 1, 11, and 111. All the compositions are over seven minutes long and the first is quite beautiful and nearly nine minutes in length. I look up the meaning of the noun ‘eponym.’ It reflects celebration of a name or word derived from a person or a discovery or an invention. In this case, his press package explains that the person he is celebrating is Charlie Parker. Sun was inspired by a live 1950 Charlie Parker recording that featured Bird’s extended solo, dancing atop the changes of the blues tune, “Fine & Dandy.” Sun enjoyed pulling the raw material from the Bird solo and expanding on the great man’s creativity to compose these three nameless songs.
With time on his hands during the pandemic, Sun explained, “What I really wanted to do was get together with my friends and play, but we couldn’t do that. So, my imagination ran wild.”
To further explain this two-disc release he said:
“I wanted the feeling of being swept along on a current of musical thought over a long period of time. I was hoping to capture that relatively rare feeling of just taking a long walk when it’s nice out, looking at leaves and trees, feeling the wind. It should be a transporting experience as opposed to the more normal daily experience, where we live with a virtual world full of constant interruptions, disruptions, and notifications.”
This is a conceptual explanation, but I did not always feel this way while listening to Sun’s music. Admittedly, music affects different people in different ways. Like the title of this column, I did find the music unusual.
Disc #2 “The Depths in Slow Motion” continues with music that is improvisational and gives Sun’s modern jazz musical ensemble an opportunity to step center stage and share their talents with us, using individual solo opportunities. Many of the Disc Two compositions, and the resulting arrangements, left me feeling a bit perplexed. I missed the lyrical beauty and warm grooves that I’m drawn to, music that makes me tap my toes or makes me smile. Disc #2 did not encourage my smile to appear. It was, at times, repetitious and reminded me of the new era of Hip Hop ‘loops.’
Kevin Sun has performed extensively in China and served as Artistic Director of the Blue Note China Jazz Orchestra.
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CARLOS HENRIQUEZ – “A NUYORICAN TALE” – Independent Label
Carlos Henriquez, bass/chorus; Jeremy Bosch, flute/vocals; Robert Rodriguez, piano/chorus/ Fender Rhodes; Anthony Almonte, congas/chorus; Obed Calvaire, drums; Melissa Aldana, tenor saxophone; Marshall Gilkes, trombone; Terrel Stafford, trumpet; Mike Rodriguez, trumpet/ chorus.
The choir pumps the joyful music of Carlos Henriquez into my listening room, as they sing with gusto, “Nuyorican Soul.” Henriquez, a Bassist, and composer, is deeply rooted in the Nuyorican culture. One purpose of this album is to shine a light on the complexity of Puerto Ricans who relocated to New York City, bringing their happy music and colorful culture to the shores of America.
Carlos is the bass player for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. One of his musical goals has been to record the wonderful stories of the Puerto Rican People, and for that he has received wide acclaim. “A Nuyorican Tale” becomes a history lesson that documents, with musical anecdotes and composition titles, stories of his people. All music is composed by Carlos Henriques and Track #2, called “Bodegas Groove” has a slow sexy pulse, plush with percussion. Henriquez takes a bass solo that’s rich and provocative, using his bow to coach the melody from his instrument. What I love about the Carlos solo is his ability to swing hard, keeping the groove alive-and-well, making me shout “Yeah” like I’m in a club. The trumpet solo soars and Jeremy Bosch struts his stuff on flute. Each song rolls off this very energy-driven project with ebullience. The bass of Carlos Henriquez spurs the original music ahead and the horn section adds color and power to the production. Henriquez tributes Thelonious Monk with his “Afro Monk” original tune. Carlos takes a creative solo and then gives Robert Rodriguez an opportunity to have his piano spotlighted with the keys splashing Latin, African, and swing rhythms. Henriquez’s composition “My Isla Bonita” is a sweet ballad with a lyrical melody.
Following in the footsteps of his GRAMMY-nominated 2021 album, “The South Bronx Story,” Henriquez’s latest album is reflective of his Puerto Rican roots and his egalitarian cultural life stories are reflected in the compositions on this album. When you hear “Robert’s Red Line” a joyous sounding song with the choir singing and led by Jeremy Bosch, the lyrics are actually not so happy:
“ Red-line in the city, that’s incomplete. The prouder you are the harder you fall to succeed. Look down by the riverside and you’ll see. They’re breaking us down, building as far as you see.”
This is actually the story of “red-lining” by the powers that be, when urban planner, Robert Moses, declared a mostly Puerto Rican neighborhood a slum, causing residents to find it impossible to get loans to help them relocate when city planners came to restructure their neighborhood. This is one of my favorite compositions by Carlos Henriquez on this album. I love the horn harmonics on the “Ritmo’s 53” tune, featuring a demanding trumpet solo and a bass line that walks briskly beneath this production, making this tune Afro-Caribbean, Straight-ahead, all at once. Marshall Gilkes shows off his mad talents on trombone. This quickly becomes another favorite. The ensemble closes on a hopeful note, with “Winds of Change” blowing a hopeful melody through the bell of the horns and featuring a delightful solo by Melissa Aldana on tenor saxophone, accentuated by Anthony Almonte’s congas and Obed Calvaire’s power-driven drums. This is a musical experience that brings history, culture, and jazz together as a well-written package of Puerto Rican pride and ethos.
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GREGORY LEWIS – “ORGAN MONK GOING HOME” – Sunnyside Records
Gregory Lewis, organ/composer; Kevin McNeal, guitar; Nasheet Waits, drums.
What a wonderful surprise to discover this “Organ Monk Going Home” album of Gregory Lewis interpreting the compositions of Thelonious Monk on his organ. He offers us seven arrangements of Monk’s tunes and one original that he composed called “Jaclyn’s Eyes.” Lewis called on the powerful talents of Nasheet Waits on drums and Kevin McNeal on guitar to join him in this creative exploration of Monk’s genius.
Gregory Lewis recalls first discovering Thelonious Monk music in his father’s stack of LPs. Even as a child, he was fascinated by Monk’s unique and unforgettable music. Years of practice and patience has led to this recording. Lewis has long been fascinated by his African roots and the historic music of jazz, developed by Black Americans to represent freedom in a country that consistently has denied them. Consequently, a trip to Zimbabwe inspired his CD cover. Returning to his motherland of Africa was a long-term dream that finally came to realization after the COVID pandemic subsided. Now with his roots solidly planted in Monk music and his visit to the Zimbabwe community, Gregory Lewis has named this musical exploration “Organ Monk Going Home.” He embraces the history of both a continent and a jazz man whose music changed the complexion of America’s classical and original music called jazz! You will enjoy the Gregory Lewis interpretations of familiar tunes like “Evidence” and “Brilliant Corners” and some more obscure compositions by Thelonious like “Brake’s Sake” and “Gallop’s Gallop.” This is a fresh and satisfying album of Monk’s music, using an organ perspective to interpret the great composer’s music in Gregory’s own remarkable way. Kevin McNeal’s guitar accompaniment, and Nasheet Waits on drums bring their own sense of urgency, style, and brilliance to this project.
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ELSA NILSSON, SANTIAGO LEIBSON, MARTY KENNEY, RODRIGO RECABARREN – “PULSES” – Ears and Eyes Records
Elsa Nilsson, flute/FX/composer; Santiago Leibson, piano; Marty Kenney, bass; Rodrigo Recabarren, drums.
The haunting beauty of a flute announcement stuns the silence. Santiago Leibson tinkers with the piano keys, answering the reed instrument and encouraging conversation.
“A Rock, a river, a tree,” recites Maya Angelo from her poem “On the Pulse of Morning.”
Her voice surprises and warms me.
“Hosts to species long since departed, marked the mastodon, the dinosaur, who left dried tokens of their sojourn here on our planet floor, any broad alarm of their hastening doom is lost in the gloom of dust and ages. But today, the rock cries out to us,” she continues.
The piano plays unison with Angelou’s poetic warning. The drum enters and it beats out a percussive message, encouraged by Rodrigo Recabarren. This is a project of message and moods, a protest for freedom. It’s an exploration into experimental music and improvised solos from each musical participant. Arrangements that carefully support the poem and the poet. Angelou’s poem speaks of war, peace and promise. It is broken up into pieces, and these musicians sing it wordlessly, imploring us to listen, LISTEN!
“The African, the Native American, the Sioux, the Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the Greek, the Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest, the Sheik, the gay, the straight, the Preacher, the privileged, the homeless, the teacher. They hear. They all hear the speaking of the tree,” Maya reminds us of our humanness, our frailness, our warmongering amidst all creation.
Here is a heartbeat on disc, a march without feet that beats and stomps like a caged man. It’s also a lovely way to introduce the unread to the work of grand poetess, Maya Angelou, and to seal her work in vinyl, in cardboard, and in plastic. Elsa Nilsson and her band are keeping it safe for the next generation and all those to follow. This music is meant to open us up, like a can of truth, and spill over into the ever-after, onto the rock, and soak into the roots of the tree.
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