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Nate Smith
Kinfolk: Postcards
From Everywhere
ROPEADOPE
In recent years, we’ve watched as jazz has been
applied to mainstream genres with promising
results. Albums by Robert Glasper Experiment
and Kendrick Lamar have woven various styles
of pop with jazz sensibilities, breathing new
life into the way modern culture perceives jazz.
The foundation of the urban pop/jazz hybrid
has created room for lots of artists, and here’s
another one for you: Nate Smith.
Paul Fonfara &
Ipsifendus Orchestra
Seven Secrets Of Snow
IPSIFENDUS RECORDS
Minnesota-based composer Paul Fonfara
received a grant from his home state’s Arts
Board to write a seven-movement suite based
on short films by local filmmakers. The resulting
project, Seven Secrets Of Snow, celebrates
Minnesota’s famous (some would say infamous)
winter season, and the music within amounts
to a satisfyingly cinematic experience.
The album approaches the notion of winter
from numerous angles. “Miles Of Twine
Revisited” has a serene, wonderstruck quality,
owing largely to the clean, penetrating
tones of Fonfara’s woodwinds (he counts clarinet,
bass clarinet and whistle among his stockpile
of instruments) and the keening warble of
Andy McCormick’s musical saw. “The Grass Is
Always Greener” and “Tar Sands” paint a similar
picture, conveying winter as a time of solitude
and natural splendor.
It’s hard to pinpoint a specific influence on
Fonfara’s work. Klezmer is certainly a touchstone,
as is European brass band music, but
by and large the music is greater than the sum
of its parts. The amalgam of styles is especial-
On his bandleader debut, Kinfolk: Postcards
From Everywhere, drummer Smith does his
best to translate a lifetime of experience into an
hour-long album. Along the way, he gets help
from some renowned jazz musicians, like bassist
Dave Holland and saxophonist Chris Potter,
as well as a rotating cast of solid vocalists.
“Disenchantment: The Weight” and
“Morning And Allison” feature Brooklynbased
singer Amma Whatt, who brings some
of her Afropop/soul-jazz style to the uplifting
numbers. Vocalist Gretchen Parlato offers her
dramatic croon to “Pages,” which also features
a pleasant section of short solos from Smith’s
roster of musicians: Kris Bowers on piano, Fima
Ephron on electric bass, Jeremy Most on guitars
and Jaleel Shaw on saxophones.
Despite the melancholy finale, “Home
Free,” the album is generally upbeat, with an
emphasis on heady hip-hop beats and souljazz
melodies. If you’re looking to satisfy your
groove craving, look no further. —Chris Tart
Kinfolk: Postcards From Everywhere: Intro: Wish You Were
Here; Skip Step; Bounce Parts I + II; Mom: Postcards From DetroitFloydSalem;
Retold; Disenchantment: The Weight; Spinning
Down; Pages; From Here Interlude; Morning And Allison; Spiracles;
Small Moves Interlude; Dad: Postcards From Isaac Street; Home
Free. (57:00)
Personnel: Nate Smith, drums, percussion, Fender Rhodes,
synths; Kris Bowers, piano, Fender Rhodes; Fima Ephron, bass;
Jeremy Most, Lionel Loueke, Adam Rogers guitars; Jaleel Shaw, alto
saxophone, soprano saxophone; Dave Holland, acoustic bass, (2,
8); Chris Potter, tenor saxophone, (3, 4); Gretchen Parlato, Michael
Mayo, Amma Whatt, vocals.
Ordering info: ropeadope.com
ly potent on the album’s upbeat pieces, like the
“Magnificent Himaleti” and “Large Hearted,”
which evoke the leaping fires, hearty meals and
white-knuckle sleigh rides of winter’s gentler
side. Cold has a way of making certain pockets
of the world seem warmer, and Fonfara’s
album—far-reaching and vivid—captures the
season in its entirety. —Brian Zimmerman
Seven Secrets Of Snow: Seven Secrets Of Snow; Miles Of Twine
Revisited; Magnificent Himaleti; Housitania; The Grass Is Always
Grener; Handholder; Large Hearted; Tar Sands. (44:12)
Personnel: Paul Fonfara, clarinet, bass clarinet, guitar, piano, whistle,
vocals; Chris Hepola, drums, percussion, piano; Karen Majewicz,
accordion; Andy McCormick, piano, saw, vocals; Philip Potyondy,
trumpet, cornet; Christa Schneider, cello, vocals; Eric Struve, bass.
Ordering info: paul-fonfara.bandcamp.com
FEBRUARY 2017 DOWNBEAT 85