Volume 28 Issue 1 | September 20 - November 8, 2022

Renowned New York bassist Ike Strum is
the third bandmate on this recording, and
does an exquisite job filling in spaces left by
voice and guitar. In this chamber jazz setting
devoid of drums, there is simultaneously a
rhythmic responsibility to be aware of, as well
as the freedom of knowing that each note and
chord can be heard clearly.
Bertoncini throws an occasional harmonic
curveball Stylianou’s way, as any exciting and
interactive guitarist will tend to do, but each
of these interesting challenges are responded
to in a sensitive yet sophisticated manner.
The album’s penultimate and final numbers
My One and Only Love and It Might As
Well Be Spring both attest to this, with the
NYC-based Canadian vocalist adjusting range
and phrasing to fit best with her bandmates.
Dream Dancing is a great vocal album yhat
transcends the jazz vocal realm enough to be
enjoyed by instrumentalists and listeners of
all genres.
Sam Dickinson
Concert Note: Melissa Stylianou performs
October 8 (8pm) at Jazz Bistro, Toronto and
October 9 (4pm) at The Jazz Room, Waterloo.
Epistle
Jacob Chung; Christian Antonacci; Felix
Fox-Pappas; Thomas Hainbuch; Petros
Anagnostakos
Three Pines Records TPR-008
(jacobchung.bandcamp.com/album/
epistle)
! It is always
exciting to hear
a young musician
sound fully
formed, simultaneously
recognizing
the tradition
that created this art
form while innovating
as well. Just because there is youthful
energy present doesn’t mean the music has
to become overly futuristic or avant-garde,
and saxophonist Jacob Chung does a brilliant
job of bringing new ideas to the table while
respecting the old guard.
Epistle stimulates the listener seconds after
pressing play on a CD player or streaming
platform. The recording quality and aesthetic
brings to mind Verve, Blue Note and Impulse
releases, but maintains a modern clarity that
eludes many musicians/engineers’ attempts
to achieve such a sound.
Chung has surrounded himself with
a group of likeminded and competent
young musicians, the oldest being just 24.
Trumpeter Christian Antonacci matches
Chung’s phrasing, giving the group a unified
sound as they traverse several intricate
melodies. Some of these melodies come in
the form of lines written over pre-existing
chord changes, notably Triage with chords
penned by Billy Strayhorn, and Bouncin’ at
Bonafide which shares a progression with
Charlie Parker’s classic Confirmation. These
compositions are very tastefully executed
by Chung and his band, and their borrowed
chord progressions are in no way a cop-out.
Epistle 1, 2, 3 and 4 are all unique offerings
that provide us with contrasting characteristics,
from gospel to swing and everything
in between.
If this is how Jacob Chung is sounding in
his early 20s, the future of jazz in Canada and
beyond looks bright. Check out Epistle and
stay tuned for what’s next!
Sam Dickinson
Nate Wooley – Ancient Songs of Burlap
Heroes
Columbia Icefield
Pyroclastic Records PR 20
(natewooleypyroclastic.bandcamp.com/
album/ancient-songs-of-burlap-heroes)
! Composer/trumpeter
Nate Wooley
possesses focus and
drive to match his
creativity, embarking
on projects that
shift and reappear
at intervals of years,
expanding exponentially.
Between 2007 and 2020, his Seven-
Storey Mountain grew from a trio accompanied
by electronic tapes to 14 musicians and a
21-member choir. Columbia Icefield, a stellar
quartet launched in 2019 with guitarist Mary
Halvorson, pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn
and drummer Ryan Sawyer, is growing conceptually.
Wooley sometimes quotes 19th-century
American authors like Herman Melville, and
this work invites terms like “epic” and “monumental.”
The looming intensity, even dark
energy, can suggest Moby Dick.
Wooley’s poetic invocation describes
the “burlap hero” as “one who marches –
consciously or not – back to the sea in hopes
of making no splash, who understands and
embraces the imperfection of being, and in
that way, stretches the definition of sainthood
to fit.” The CD booklet includes aAron [sic]
Munson’s grimly evocative photos of an Inuit
village in Nunavut, one depicting a frozen
whale carcass.
As a trumpeter, Wooley extends the lyric,
expressive tradition of Miles Davis and
Wadada Leo Smith, adding extended techniques,
eerie electronics and over-dubbing.
Brief impressionistic inter-tracks suggest
submerged struggles, while the three long
movements are developed instrumental
dialogues, with guest appearances on one
track each by violist Mat Maneri and electric
bassist Trevor Dunn. The concluding
Returning to Drown Myself, Finally, based
on the Swedish song, Nu är midsommar natt,
is awash with sea sounds before Wooley’s
unaccompanied trumpet comes to the fore,
then surrenders to the guitarists’ burbling
liquid microtones.
Stuart Broomer
Mesmerism
Tyshawn Sorey Trio
Pi Recordings
(tyshawn-sorey.bandcamp.com)
! Tyshawn Sorey
has a strong profile
as both drummer
and composer,
creating extended
works on several
fronts, exploring
both improvisation
and composition,
including concert pieces dedicated
to key influences (For Roscoe Mitchell and
For George Lewis), probing hypnotic works
(Pillars, a three-CD magnum opus exploring
low frequency improvisation), and assorted
collaborations with pianists Vijay Iyer and
Marilyn Crispell. Here Sorey takes a different
turn, recording a series of favourite jazz tunes,
several of them standards, in an ad hoc trio
with pianist Aaron Diehl and bassist Matt
Brewer, a “project with only an hour or two
of rehearsal, … with a group of musicians who
never performed on stage together.”
That’s both harsh reality and ideal in jazz, a
test of the spontaneous creativity that defines
the art, and this trio performs magnificently,
working through a program that combines
traditional standards – Detour Ahead, here a
14-minute voyage into harmonic extension,
and Autumn Leaves, a spare masterpiece
– to works by master pianist-composers,
like Horace Silver and Duke Ellington. It’s
a trio that can achieve mystery and clarity
simultaneously, with Silver’s Enchantment
moving from hanging resonant chords to
soulful modal blues and Paul Motian’s From
Time to Time effectively suspending time
amidst the piano’s sustain and Sorey’s cloudlike
cymbals. Muhal Richard Abrams’ Two
Over One and Duke Ellington’s REM Blues,
have a muscular vigour and avoid verbosity,
reflecting Diehl, Brewer and Sorey’s creativity
and precision.
Mesmerism may be a commonplace
project, but the results are often majestic.
Stuart Broomer
Desert Bloom
Florian Hoefner Trio
Alma Records ACD52022 (florian-hoefner.
com/music-shop)
! Pianist/
composer Florian
Hoefner states
that the concept
behind his latest
album Desert
Bloom is the
behaviour in
certain arid locations
where a huge rainstorm will occur
every few years: the dormant seeds of the
wildflowers “suddenly germinate” and “the
colours explode.” That image resonates
64 | September 20 - November 8, 2022 thewholenote.com