Thursday, November 07, 2019

New Music Releases: Josh Lawrence - Triptych; Big Beat – Sounds Good, Feels Good; Nick Fraser / Kris Davis / Tony Malaby - Zoning


Josh Lawrence - Triptych

A really wonderful album from trumpeter Josh Lawrence – a very strong-voiced talent who's got a way of being bright and sharp at the same time, and who can always bring lots of his own compositional strengths to bear as well! The core group is a quartet – with Lawrence blowing beautifully over piano from Zaccai Curtis, bass from Luques Curtis, and drums from Anwar Marshall – and the set also features some great alto from Caleb Curtis on two tracks, balancing out the sound of Josh in this strongly soulful spirit! Brian Charette brings some organ to the album's final track – a great remake of the Earth Wind & Fire tune "That's The Way Of The World" – and all other titles are Lawrence originals, with tunes that include "We're Happiest Together", "Composition #2", "Wind", "Earth", "Sugar Hill Stroll", and "Sunset In Santa Barbara". ~ Dusty Groove

Big Beat – Sounds Good, Feels Good

Sounds Good, Feels Good is Big Beat’s swinging, high-energy party of original, pop, funk, soul, R&B, and gospel tunes performed by a 19-piece orchestra made up of the some of the finest up-and-coming East Coast musicians who are destined to populate the upper echelons of the jazz firmament. Big Beat is a band comprising mostly younger musicians who have taken up the big band mantle, imbuing the music with a contemporary edge while still hewing to the traditional big band spirit. The co-leaders and founders of the band are four young men who all graduated with Master’s Degrees in Jazz Arranging from William Paterson University in New Jersey. They are bassist Charlie Dougherty, saxophonist Phil Engsberg, trombonist Caleb Runly, and pianist Ryan Tomski. In addition to their mastery of their respective instruments, each one is a top-notch arranger and composer. The band also features vocalist Allison McKenzie, a young woman with a powerful but lyrical voice that easily bridges the jazz and pop worlds. She is a superb songwriter and contributed four original tunes to this album. Based on the modern jazz tradition, Big Beat’s innovative arrangements bring the big band sound into the 21st Century.  With McKenzie’s soaring vocals and the band’s tight-knit, spot-on musicianship, Sounds Good, Feels Good, as the name indicates, is an album that undoubtedly sounds good and feels good.

Nick Fraser / Kris Davis / Tony Malaby - Zoning

Drummer Nick Fraser has a great sense of cyclical energy here – a way of playing freely, but elliptically – so that there's this sense of passage and phase in some of the music, even while all the members are improvising with great intensity! The core trio features Fraser on drums, Kris Davis on piano, and Tony Malaby on saxes – the last of whom blows with an angular energy that strikes a great balance between the piano and drums. Half the record also features two more guests – Ingrid Laubrock on tenor and Lina Allemano on trumpet – and titles include "Zoning", "Wells Tower", "Sketch 46", "Coda", "Charismatics", and "Events". ~ Dusty Groove


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