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Fresh sounds…

Anchors
Jason Stein, bass clarinet; Joshua Abrams, bass; Gerald Cleaver, drums; guest artist/co-producer Boon.
TAO Forms (TAO 16), September 2024

Musicians who dedicate themselves solely to the bass clarinet are not legion. In jazz, it is possible to count them on the fingers of one hand; one thinks mostly of European reedmen, like Rudi Mahall, Thomas Savy, or the late Michel Pilz. Jason Stein is a rare American clarinetist who practises only the bigger horn, but he’s not exactly a newcomer. Twenty years ago, he was already teaming up with Ken Vandermark in the Bridge 61 quartet. The trio on Anchors, however, is relatively recent: Stein has rubbed shoulders with bassist Joshua Abrams in his ensemble Natural Information Society (in which Stein plays since 2017) but Anchors is the first time drummer Gerald Cleaver and the bass clarinetist have collaborated. The album is described as Stein’s “most personal to date,” as it deals with themes of injury and healing. Opening and closing with two delicate duets with the enigmatic guitarist/producer only designated as Boon (no other name), titled Anchor and Anchor II, the album often finds Stein in conversation-like mode with his partners. While using the bow, Abrams often becomes an equal partner, merging his sound with that of the bass clarinet. Similarly, Cleaver is much more than a timekeeper, fully participating in the three-way conversation, such as on Crystalline. The trio is in full free jazz mode for the 6½-minute Cold Water which, like the 12-minute (and more pointillistic) Holding Breath, explores the themes of pain, suffering, deprivation and distress. But a bit after the five-minute mark the latter piece settles into a more melodic, swinging groove that (perhaps unconsciously) quotes Dave Holland’s serene Conference of the Birds.

Listen to excerpts and/or purchase Anchors on Bandcamp.

To March is to Love
Janel Leppin, cellist/composer; Ensemble Volcanic Ash: Anthony Pirog, guitar; Luke Stewart, bass; Larry Ferguson, drums; Sarah Hughes, alto saxophone; Brian Settles, tenor saxophone
Cuneiform Records (RUNE 529), June 202

The cello is still a relatively uncommon instrument in jazz, but we have come some ways since the days when Oscar Pettiford or Fred Katz were relegated to the “miscellaneous instrument” category in yearly polls. Contemporary creative cellists also tend to be more eclectic than their forebears, and certainly musicians like Erik Friedlander, Okkyung Lee or Tomeka Reid can’t exactly be pigeonholed; it’s also the case for Washington, D.C. cellist, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and composer Janel Leppin. Some of her work is downright unclassifiable, as a matter of fact—a case in point being her duo project with her life partner, The Messthetics guitarist Anthony Pirog, christened Jamel and Anthony (their latest, New Moon in the Evil Age, also came out on Cuneiform this summer). With two saxophones, guitar (Pirog again, of course), bass and drums added to her cello (Leppin also plays piano), Ensemble Volcanic Ash (or EVA) seems to occupy a space somewhere at the juncture of avant-garde jazz (or, as one reviewer put it, “ahh-vant garde”) and R.I.O. (Rock In Opposition), a sound that seems especially designed for the Cuneiform label! Released in 2022 on the Maryland imprint, Leppin’s band’s self-titled debut received mostly glowing reviews. The follow-up, To March is to Love, opens on an Ode to Abdul Wadud, the legendary cellist being one of Leppin’s unmistakable influences. The asymmetric rhythmic pattern here is undoubtedly a reference to Wadud’s lines from Julius Hemphill’s 1972 classic Dogon A.D. (Hemphill’s description of jazz as As Wide As All Outdoors gives its title to another track, while Wadud’s spirit seems to inhabit the groovy Union Art). The brief waltz Sateatime is a playful interlude before the ominous-sounding, two-part title track. Leppin closes To March is to Love with an evocation of another of her major influences with Casals’ Rainbow (played as a solo piano piece). Decidedly, Ensemble Volcanic Ash’s newest effort is full of surprises!

Listen to excerpts and/or purchase To March is to Love on Bandcamp.

…and warhorses

Lotus Blossom
Alex Hendriksen, tenor saxophone; Fabian Gisler, double bass; Paul Amereller, drums
ezz-thetics (1054), May 2024

While Swiss saxophonist Alex Hendriksen has a resolutely modern phrasing, he seems to have that kind of old-fashioned sound that goes particularly well with playing standards. That was already in evidence on his 2019 duet album with bassist Fabian Gisler (also released on ezz-thetics), the 11-track The Song is You. For this year’s Lotus Blossom, Hendriksen and Gisler are joined by drummer Paul Amereller for a trio excursion through 12 additional standards and jazz classics, from the Harry Warren-Mack Gordon ballad I Wish I Knew, to Thelonious Monk’s quirky Introspection. Hendriksen also adds four Billy Strayhorn interpretations to the four he had already chosen for The Song is You (maybe a tribute album soon?). Apart from the achingly beautiful title track, the tenorist offers subtle readings of A Flower is a Lovesome Thing and Day Dream, and romps through Johnny Come Lately. The sax-bass-drum format for playing standards inevitably conjures up the sounds of Sonny Rollins (A Night at the Village Vanguard), Lee Konitz (Motion), Warne Marsh (The Unissued Copenhagen Trio Recordings) or Joe Henderson (The State of the Tenor). These are tough standards to live up to, certainly, but Hendriksen’s trio effort is more than worthy; and to add another (recently departed) giant’s influence to those already mentioned, listen to the Swiss tenorist’s version of Benny Golson’s I Remember Clifford.

Listen to excerpts and/or download Lotus Blossom on Bandcamp.

Together
Eric Alexander, tenor, soprano and alto saxophones; Mike LeDonne, piano
Cellar Music Group (CM072023), July 2024

Together is very much a pandemic-era type of project. “We both had some solo pieces together and had started playing duo over the COVID period,” says Mike LeDonne in the liner notes, “Then Eric got some studio time, he called me, and we just went for it.” But even though this isn’t a great “concept” album, it doesn’t mean it should be considered without substance—quite the contrary when you’re in presence of two such experienced players. Eric Alexander has been one of the most distinguished mainstream-to-modern saxophone players on the scene for the past 35 years; even though he hails from the Midwest, he has been a protegé of two great Memphis men: the late pianist Harold Mabern and master saxophonist George Coleman. His elder by more than a decade, pianist Mike LeDonne is also comfortable in both classic (he played with Benny Goodman in the early ’80s) and modern jazz. On Together, the two are featured both in duets (Round Midnight takes an unexpected turn, Alexander is on alto for I’m in the Mood for Love) and solos (Alexander tackles Autumn in New York on soprano). But the set is not only a collection of old favourites: LeDonne contributes dedications to Mabern (For Mabes) and to his disabled daughter (Mary), as well as the solo Lost But Not Forgotten, while Alexander brought the closer Two in One (an alto solo) and a fairly spontaneous Mutation—“Eric mentioned that he had a concert part and we just played it down as a first take,” says LeDonne. In a world that seems to spin faster all the time, it’s great that those two took the time to just sit down and play; that’s what jazz is about, after all.