Jason Stein: The Story This Time

Jason Stein (clarinet)

The Story This Time (Delmark; 2011)

Keefe Jackson (sax)

Joshua Abrams (bass)

Frank Rosaly (drums)

I know Jason Stein's work more through the projects he has been a member of than his solo material. He has worked with Ken Vnadermark, Rob Mazurek and Keefe Jackson to name a few. His main instrument is bass clarinet. Stein has a style that is big and with an ability to move up and down the scale with ease, he creates a joyful and adventurous atmosphere with each recording.

Stein is quickly becoming an in-demand member as well as confident leader in the Chicago scene since landing there just under half a decade ago. Stein plays rare instrument in genre, but it is coming back in fashion thanks to strong creative performances and releases like his latest, The Story This Time (Delmark).

From the opening, "Background Music" (written by Warne Marsh), you can hear that Stein is out to change things. His tone and the nature of piece has a pile-driver force to it. Almost making it unrecognizable to the original Warne Marsh/Lee Konitz piece. The quartet display a sense of urgency all the while deploying some intricate improvising.

"Little Big Horse" is killer. Stein's seems to have learned a bit from his time with Vandermark about chord changes, timing and orchestration within his own group. There's a Dolphy-esque quality to the performance but you can hear the group bristling with life as the piece moves forward.

"Badlands" has an enveloping quality to it. Abrams bassline capture you at the gut just before then Jackson and Stein come crashing in like theme from Route 66 (U.S. early '60s TV show). Frank Rosaly's timing is to perfection with free-wheeling exchanges with both Jackson and Stein. Stein soon takes over the piece with a number spontaneous jump cuts and fluctuating patterns. It's all really amazing to hear and commands your full attention.

"Hoke's Dream" is definitely the more experimental piece on the album. The composition lays squarely on Stein as he improvises through a number a changes while Rosaly adds unabashed clings and clangs for full effect. Abrams and  Jackson join in towards the end to provide colour and tone but this is clearly a lead into free form that works perfectly in the Monk composition "Work." "Work" I think is a re-imagining of "Nice Work If You Can Get It" and feels completely pulled apart and reassembled into a dark free formed nightmare. I loved it!

The Story This Time is another bullet out of the Chicago scene that must be heard by a wider audience. Jason Stein has proven in just a short amount of time that scene and all of its many musicians have a lot to contribute. And each has their own voice that is distinct and bursting with ideas. The Story This Time is brilliant and invigorating.

Thom Gossage: In Other Words

Thom Gossage (drums)

In Other Words (Songlines Recordings; 2011)

Frank Lozano (sax)

Remi Bolduc (sax)

Steve Raegele (guitar)

Miles Perkin (bass)

I really didn't know of Thom Gossage until I received this CD a few weeks ago. But I have to say, from the moment I heard the opening chords I was pretty hooked.

Gossage, a Montreal native, has been on the scene for over a decade. He has managed to balance his improvising aesthetics in both the areas of music and dance. While working in close association with free form dance ensembles he also takes that experimental edge into his musical collaborations. In Other Words is his 5th release with his ensemble, Other Voices. Encompassing a quartet that he has worked with in various forms over the last few years, In Other Words is a really engaging work from a drummer with many hats and thoughts.

The music on In Other Words originated out Gossage's work with the arts (specifically choreographer Isabelle Van Grimede) instead of music. Therefore this album becomes a real travelogue of ideas.

Opening with the title track, that has an investigative and almost avant garde country twang, Gossage let's the listener know this will not be your ordinary journey into improvised music. "In Other Words" revolves around multiple themes and competing chord changes, all making for an intense but highly enjoyable listen. Gossage has a style that reminds me of Andrew Cyrille or Gerry Hemingway, in the manner which he can switch from complex to simply calming structures without breaks.

The contribution of each member in Other Voices cannot be understated. Steve Raegele's work is on par with that of Marc Ribot. Both Remi Bolduc and Frank Lozano contribute stellar, visceral performances as evident on "Counter Counter Clockwise"--a virtual rollercoaster of alliteration. "Counter Counter Clockwise" encompasses all the aforementioned thoughts of Gossage's composing ability. The rollercoaster switches to a gentle tone poem with sax, electronics and drums creating a haunting but beautiful soundtrack.

"Your Number(S)" is one of my favourite pieces. For me there is a sense of play hidden inside the improvisational aspects on display here. Miles Perkins has a rich but minimal quality that you gravitate to throughout the entirety of In Other Words, but here somehow I was drawn to what was going on just underneath the explorations by rest of group. Perkins reminds me of Drew Gress, who also creates a whole different universe outside of his bandmates that pulls you in but keeps you within the context of the original piece (Drew Gress has also performed with Thom's group). The closing moments of the piece are left to Raegele and Gossage to experiment and work of each other. 

Staying with the "arts" theme, the album closes with appropriately with an actually poem, "Tom Arthurs Dinner", with vocals from critically acclaimed British trumpeter, Tom Arthurs. Arthurs vocals are balanced by a heavy tone of dark atmospherics that give the piece a kind demented, tormented beat-generation quality.

In Other Words is a deep, thoughtful and complex mixture of structures from both theater and improvised music. While both have a lot in common it is quite often difficult for many musicians to meld the two together into a work that is cohesive and tangible. Thom Gossage has done that perfectly. This session feels like a chamber ensemble that decided to throw away the notes and perform from the heart not the page. This is a journey that is emotionally effective on your stereo as it would on the stage. A real pleasure of a discovery.

Jon Crowley

Jon Crowley (trumpet)

I really stumbled onto Jon Crowley through a search on the web for new music. I was looking for new trumpeters to check out in New York city and his name kept popping up. So I listened to a couple of tracks I found online, watched a couple of videos and was really captured by the quality and personality of his performances.

A young trumpeter who has already cut his chops up and down the Northeast and Mid-East corridor with gigs from Philly, NYC to Boston. There are a series of live recordings that document his growth on his site but you really should take a good listen to his most recent records that really give you a more in-depth picture.

Crowley's first effort, Connections (Lonely Crow Records; 2009) is a bright young artist with an articulate voice and vision showing that he is more than just a trumpet player but also a gifted composer. The blistering nature of the title track has shades of Freddie Hubbard with a growing inner beauty that could reflect later-period Chet Baker.


Crowley's confidence in his band shines through as he allows the group to dominate and challenge each other for a good portion of the latter half of the piece. The duel between Yayoi Ikawa (piano) and Peter Schwebs (bass) is an intense listen but probably even better to watch live.

"Momentum" does pull things back a little with Crowley coming to fore. Crowley has a strong tone and sensuality that fills the space with passion and a heavy heart. Ikawa adds a well constructed post bop map for the rest of the quintet to follow. This sound is very New York. A confident quintet delivering a sense of excitement and adventure in a tradition reminiscent of early One For All.

"Tabula Rasa" while inhabiting a Middle Eastern to Sub-Asian feel, doesn't get caught inside the usual traps of American musicians trying to create an Eastern atmospheric piece. Crowley has arranged a lot of room for his band mates to improvise and experiment. Nick Anderson (drums), Beatty and Schwebs really are the highlights here with delicate notes that become more detailed as the piece carries onward.

"Right Now" is probably the one piece that comes the closest to being study in hard bop. The performances are crisp, hard driving and affective. Connections is more downplayed with emotional movements, "Icarus" and "City Mood," demonstrates Crowley as a romantic with serious thematic ideas. Similar to larger scale moments presented by Terence Blanchard, Crowley appears to be eyeing larger but also insular concepts.

That grandness would become fully apparent on his second album, the recently released, At The Edge (Lonely Crow Records; 2011). Crowley circles himself with an entirely new quintet that is just as exciting as the one on his debut. They are challenging but also more exploratory. This is mainly due to the advancement of Crowley's experiences and writing.

Opening with the brief, Philip Glass tonality of "In Real Life" which quickly shifts to Hancock-Headhunters era fusion with "Find Me", you can hear Crowley has grown and is looking beyond just the notes on the page. "Find Me" is soulful, funky, experimental and still bouncing with 21st Century originality. The addition of Ziv Ravitz on drums adds a harder edge and muscle to the session. Julian Pollack's performance on both fender and piano are creative and moving in the same way fellow New York pianist, Bobby Avey has quickly risen within the local jazz scene.

"Sadness, Suffering, Hope, Triumph" is filled with deep melodic passages but those movements are not on the dark side. On the contrary, it is more like celebration in mellow tones. Crowley, Jeremy Udden (sax) and Pollack produce some lovely, complex themes and colours allowing this piece to beam with a sense of bright introspection.

"Shine" is my favourite track on At The Edge. It hearkens to the more contemporary pieces by Dave Douglas. It's peaceful passages are bold and romantic. There's a real lush sense of closure in the piece. It holds the listener's attention and really brings you into the fold of the album's main theme--what happens once you are at the edge?

The session closes with "These Four Walls," a ballad that beautifully encapsulates the maturity of Crowley's writing; the forward thinking sensibility that an artist can move back and forth through both fusion and hard bop in one session while still sounding original and moving with every note.

At The Edge is a more intense adventure but shows a huge leap in compositional excellence from Jon Crowley. He is a voice that is worth your discovery now rather than later. Connections and At The Edge are documents of a great leader and composer in the making. Highly Recommended.

The Necks: Mindset

The Necks (group)

Mindset (ReR; 2011)

Chris Abrahams (piano)

Lloyd Swanton (bass)

Tony Buck (drums)

The Necks have been on the rise the last few years. The recent global tours and wider availability of their music has helped spread the news of one of the worlds best kept secrets. The trio have a very specific and unique blend of minimalism and improvisation that rises above both jazz and experimental music.

Sometimes hard to describe to friends, I try to get them to imagine, Cecil Taylor, Philip Glass, Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins locked in room to see what would evolve. Sometimes you can bring up the E.S.T. comparison but I have started to feel that the Swedish legends were actually only starting to reach the abstract heights The Necks have been creating for decades.

Built on two extended pieces, the new album, Mindset (ReR), continues their original aesthetic of slow building, highly intense, introspective pieces. But this time out there is more purpose and a heavy drive, with melodic and emotional moments that you can grab onto at various periods. The pieces settles into polar opposites - one of intense wrestle of spirit and body, the second an almost minimalist psychedelic journey through Stephen King's closet. 

"Rum Jungle" opens with a long, deep enveloping melody of all instruments at once. It's a wash of sound that become hypnotic and beautiful. Two thirds of the way through the trio turn on the atmospherics. Each instrument no longer sounds like what you think. "Rum Jungle" then rises to clattering conclusion. Like dropping off a cliff.

One of signatures to The Necks music--their ability to manipulate and create soundscapes that you thought weren't possible on these instruments. That becomes apparent on "Daylights." A piece which feels more like nighttime that morning lights. A gentle but encompassing number by which the listener is drawn in Eno or Aphex Twin-esque movements and free form crackles, plucking and other improvised expressions. "Daylights" seems to sit on top of a one note theme laid out beautifully midway through by Abrahmas. Later it does hit a sort of high gear towards the end before freezing to a close.

Mindset is surprisingly one of the shorter Necks albums in history but it still has all the elements of adventure and improvisation that make this trio one of the best forward thinking groups on scene today. Highly Recommended.