Here are Andrey Henkin’s monthly picks, coming to you the last Wednesday of the month.
Tommy Crane/David Binney, The Isle (Mythology/Elastic)
The simple cover of this new collaboration between drummer Tommy Crane and saxophonist Dave Binney hardly prepares one for the contents. The pair, who both used to call New York home but now live in Montréal and Los Angeles, respectively, are joined by Dave Gossage (flute), Levi Dover, Jordan Brooks and Logan Kane (bass), Parker Shper (piano and keyboards) and Thomas Carbou (guitar) on a mix of the co-leaders’ compositions (and one co-write, “L’air Du Temps”).
Things start placidly enough with “The Plateau,” twisty keyboards and plaintive, echoey sax festooned with a jangly drumbeat. That feeling continues, albeit with a tropical glaze, on “Immuable.” Then it gets spacey, limpid, cinematic, smooth, monastic, funky, funereal and more in quick succession, ending with the solo keyboard track “Snow in Verdun.” Binney’s saxophone is often drenched in various effects, making it sound larger and functioning like a musical David Attenborough, guiding listeners through the various soundscapes. With keyboards being the most prominent element of the album, this is firmly modern jazz for the gamer set.
Theon Cross, Affirmations: Live at Blue Note New York (New Soil/Division 81)
Is there a nobler instrument than the tuba? Of course not. It can also be the hippest thing on the bandstand, especially in the hands of Britain’s Theon Cross. This album is a document of his New York leader debut, recorded at the titular club with saxophonist Isaiah Collier, London-based Greek guitarist/bassist Nikos Ziarkas and Collier’s regular drummer James Russell Sims.
Those who know Cross’s work with Sons of Kemet will find a similar brew of space jazz and house grooves, with Collier’s deep spirituality an especially tasty frosting. Cross’s remarkable facility with his instrument, including use of multiphonics, allows him to inhabit all layers of the music, whether in sync with Sims, floating against Collier and Ziarkas or in short, improvised a cappella moments as introductory material to the longer pieces. The 80-plus minutes are presented with almost no break, so it is hard to imagine how the Blue Note, notorious for cramming in its audiences, could contain them from getting up and dancing to these sounds, which demand plenty of room for movement.
Alan Niblock/John Butcher/Mark Sanders, Tectonic Plates (577 Records)
If your latest blood test showed a deficiency in classic British free jazz, take a dose of the new set from bassist Alan Niblock, saxophonist John Butcher and drummer Mark Sanders (and call Evan Parker in the morning). Butcher and Sanders have been collaborating for three decades, including as a duo, while Niblock, hailing from Ireland, is a newer figure, at least on record.
This mix of old and new relationships creates delicious tension across five pieces. Niblock has a huge tone and preference for using his bow, both for ominous arco draws and percussive col legno flourishes, adding unusual textures to an established format. Butcher (on tenor and soprano) and Sanders can be loosely assigned to the minimalist school, so continental-style blowouts are rare, the prevailing mood dark and skulking. The bulk of the album is the nearly 30-minute opener “Mountains,” the other four tracks pithy by comparison, yet no less impressionistic and far-ranging.
Dino Saluzzi, El Viejo Caminante
(ECM Records)
Argentine bandoneon master Dino Saluzzi turning 90 this past May and still putting out new records is fabulous. After Astor Piazzolla, he is his country’s most prized player of its national instrument, but his work has embraced far more than tango and included an international cast of collaborators. This is his 16th album for ECM since 1982. His deft touch makes him a perfect artist for the warmer side of the label’s catalogue.
Two things make El Viejo Caminante of particular interest. First, Saluzzi is flanked by two very different guitarists: son José María Saluzzi providing the more traditional nylon-string accompaniment, and the much younger Norwegian Jacob Young, also part of the ECM roster, includes both acoustic steel-string and electric, becoming a kind of hybrid of John Abercrombie/Ralph Towner. Second, there is no elder ego, as all three players contribute material, the set filled out by two standards and a song by Karin Krog. The feel is dappled, wistful in places, buoyant in others, gentle as the breeze yet rich as the soil. JT