The Farallon Islands lie just 30 miles west of the Golden
Gate Bridge, but seem like another world entirely. Its rocky shores are
off-limits to humans (outside of a handful of biologists), reserved instead for
a rich variety of seabirds and marine mammals.
Growing up in the Bay Area, the trombonist/composer Nick
Grinder felt a deep attachment to the islands. Farallones were a constant
presence to Bay Area residents, a far-off landscape always on the horizon, ever
present but just out of reach. On his second album as a leader, Farallon [out
February 22 via Outside In Music], Grinder reflects on the sense of place and
reminder of home offered by even such an inaccessible locale.
"When you grow up in a place, you have these markers
that end up having a special meaning and feeling that sneaks in and helps to
define who we are," Grinder says. "If you grow up in a city, it's the
streets that you walk on every day or the route you drive to work -
inconsequential things that you don't even think about until you move away. The
Farallon Islands were a backdrop to my youth in the Bay Area. And I feel that
music is like that, in a way: it has a visceral impact that can follow you
throughout your life."
On Farallon, Grinder offers a set of new compositions (and
one Thelonious Monk classic) that evoke the sentiments that he derives from his
own favorite music. While decidedly modern in approach, the album hews closely
to simple (though not simplistic) melodies and warm, welcoming emotions. To
achieve the necessary depth of feeling, Grinder assembled a stand-out band of
close collaborators: guitarist Juanma Trujillo, saxophonist Ethan Helm, bassist
Walter Stinson, and drummer Matt Honor.
Venezuela native Trujillo was a classmate of Grinder's at
Cal State Northridge. The two founded the quintet Long Range, whose live show
was documented on the digital-only release Live at the Blue Whale in 2014.
Helm, a fellow Californian and gifted composer in his own right, frequently
calls on Grinder for his own projects. Stinson and Honor had previously worked
together in the band of saxophonist Kevin Sun; Stinson also works regularly
with trumpeter Adam O'Farrill, while Honor took part with Grinder in a
short-lived sextet called Mend.
With these musicians, Grinder navigates the tricky straits
between complexity and virtuosity, a difficult balance that he strives to
maintain. While his compositions provide plenty of material to inspire
improvisational flights, they are focused with an emotional directness that
Grinder hopes will speak to listeners' hearts and their heads. "I'm trying
to open myself up from the intellectual way that I began to think about music
while studying it in school," he says.
One major inspiration for that approach has been the iconic
Thelonious Monk, whose "Reflections" closes Farallon, with Grinder
showcasing his own agility at fluidly expressing a melody on the trombone.
"As a composer and as a musician," Grinder says, "Monk did
things the way that he heard them. Sometimes it was complex and sometimes it
was simple, but it was almost like he didn't think about any of that. He writes
tunes that are so lush, especially his ballads, but then his style of playing
is so stripped down and unique, and I love that juxtaposition. Everyone wants
to write the perfect song, and "Reflections" is an example of
something that I think achieves that."
Another touchstone for Grinder's accessible approach has
been his work in pop music and Broadway shows. He's recorded with pop superstar
Lorde, done arrangements for St. Vincent, and performed or recorded with
everyone from DMX to Patti LaBelle to Lin-Manuel Miranda. "I like the fact
that pop music can deliver a silver bullet right to the heart of the
audience," he says. "The caveat is that it's not always as deep as
things that can take more time to delve into, so I really try to bridge that gap."
Opener "New and Happy," with its joyful yet
intricate counter-melodies, is a shining example - as well as a rebuke to his
girlfriend's lament that Grinder's music was tending a bit too much to the
somber side. "Potential" opens with an improvised chorale by Grinder and
Helm before the remainder of the band enters for the expressive melody,
poignant and memorable. "5 Steps" erupts at a brisk pace that compels
a lively group improvisation, while "Belly Up" takes a brooding cast.
A mournful solo lament by Grinder initiates the stirring
"Inaction," inspired by the killing of Trayvon Martin and sadly still
an apt title for the issues of gun violence and police brutality. The steely
"Deciduous" deals with the culture shock of moving from the evergreen
west to the east coast, where the stark sight of leafless trees against
overcast skies is commonplace. "Staged," with Trujillo's plangent
twang, offers an American accent, while the title piece gorgeously evokes the
distant beauty of the Islands, once the domain of Kodiak fur traders and now a
serene bird sanctuary.
"I feel a connection between the familiar sense of
place, music that sounds good, and art that feels good," Grinder
concludes. "I tried to follow that instinct to make music that's simple
but meaningful."
Hailed by Slide Hampton as "an important future voice
in jazz trombone" and "the best blend of saxophone-like technique
with the expressive nuances of the trombone" by Alan Ferber, Nick Grinder
began playing professionally at age 15 in the California Bay Area. The only
child of two San Francisco artists - a former ballet dancer and a visual
effects engineer - he studied at Cal State Northridge in Los Angeles with Bob
McChesney, and pursued his master's degree at NYU. Grinder works as a sideman
and leader in a number of diverse projects, including the big bands of Alan
Ferber, Darcy James Argue, Arturo O'Farrill, John Daversa, Bobby Sanabria, and
the Mambo Legends Orchestra, as well as with Wycliffe Gordon, Jimmy Owens,
Ralph Alessi, Donny McCaslin, Marcus Printup and many others. He is also very
active in the commercial world, where he has played in the pit orchestras of
nearly two dozen Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, and has performed and/or
recorded with artists such as Lorde, Lin-Manuel Miranda, St Vincent, Patti
LaBelle, DMX, and Deltron 3030. He released his leader debut, Ten Minutes, in
2014.
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