Volume 29 Issue 3 | December 2023 & January 2024

In my WholeNote review of this eponymously
titled work I stated its choice of covers
such as Gil Scott-Heron’s Home Is Where
the Hatred Is and Nina Simone’s Sea Line
Woman combined “socially conscious history
with assured jazz performances.”
Nowosad has now released an EP called If
I Had containing covers of four songs by
Nick Drake (Road), Pete Seeger (If I Had a
Hammer), Jimmy Webb (By the Time I Get
to Phoenix) and Stevie Wonder (Heaven is
10 Zillion Light Years Away). These choices
follow his tradition of mixing great classic
songs with ones that are socially conscious. It
is a pleasure to listen to these interpretations:
Andrew Renfew’s guitar work is gorgeous
and really shines on Phoenix while Luke
Sellick (bass) and Nowosad (drums) offer
complex and solid backing. Nowosad throws
in seemingly effortless fills while keeping a
solid and funky groove.
Ted Parkinson
Magnetic Dreaming
Triio
ER ER005 (alexfournier.bandcamp.com)
! Extended plays
can often be too
concise, tapering
off right as they
begin, inviting a
listener too late
to an event that
had long reached
its peak. Triio’s
Magnetic Dreaming follows you from the
beginning, immediately arresting by means of
hypnosis; vibraphone suggestions over chillinducing
ambient guitar swells. The music
itself is a six-part suite – recorded during the
sessions of last year’s longer Six-ish Plateaus
– and rather than sounding like an accessory,
it absolutely flourishes on its own terms. Its
form is said to be influenced by “dream logic,”
which is almost a perfect description of these
woozy yet gentle transitions between states of
consciousness. Each passage blends into the
next with incredible patience, leaving one to
float between its many dimensions, completely
oblivious to where they just arrived from.
Alex Fournier’s steady bass intro on the
climactic What Cycle or Identity, in Lie
Group or Waking sounds like it’s emanating
from the core of the Earth, creating a
strong sense of unease that clenches the gut.
As Stefan Hegerat’s drum groove borders
increasingly on live turntablism, Bea Labikova
and Naomi Carroll-Butler’s dual saxophoneclarinet
attack remains steadfast; apocalyptic
whispers piercing through a warm film
noir fog. Tom Fleming (guitar) and Michael
Davidson (vibraphone) lay an intoxicating
foundation on the EP’s intro that, when
scrubbing through each track, flows into
each subsequent second supernaturally, with
every drone feeling like a return flight to the
mothership.
Yoshi Maclear Wall
The Magnificent
Brad Turner Quintet
Cellar Music CM011523 (cellarlive.com)
! All nine of the
compositions here
were penned by
Brad Turner, with
Cory Weeds and
Turner producing.
The title is
an homage to a
late great trumpeter,
harkening back to the 1956 Blue Note
release, The Magnificent Thad Jones. For this
project, Weeds encouraged Turner to select
a “band of his dreams” which, in addition
to Turner on piano and trumpet, includes
Weeds on tenor saxophone, Peter Bernstein
on guitar, Neil Swainson on bass and Quincy
Davis on drums.
First up is the melodic You’re OK, replete
with a stunner of a trumpet solo from Turner.
His tone, intonation, ideas, expressiveness
and sheer technical skill are mesmerizing.
The equally gifted Bernstein seems to sing
through his guitar, using all of the possible
emotional colours. Next is Barney’s Castle
– an up-tempo, bop burner, in which the
ensemble moves as a one-celled organism,
gliding through dynamic, unison horn lines.
Weed’s exquisite sound and rhythmic sensibility
create a heady mix and Davis masterfully
drives the ensemble down the pike,
while Swainson establishes the tempo in his
unique, potent way.
Another standout is the languid and sultry
Virtue Signals. Turner has said that this track
is “simply a complete chromatic scale (though
ornamented and disguised) in descent” –
and yet the lithe beauty of the composition
is palpable. Bernstein shines here, as does
Turner on piano. The title track does not
disappoint, and the cohesion of the musicians’
ideas and approach are nothing short
of luminous. A true highlight is the almost
unbearably gorgeous Theme for Jocie – a
ballad written for Turner’s partner and fellow
trumpeter Jocelyn Waugh, where Turner
wraps his warm, evocative, trumpet sound
around every note.
Lesley Mitchell-Clakre
The Drip
Rubim de Toledo
Independent (rubim.com)
! If there exists
one word to try and
encapsulate the
sheer abundance of
groove in The Drip,
it would be “punch”
(“pop” would be
a close second).
In any case, this
descriptor would need to be of the onomatopoeic
variety, because this album is a verb, not
a noun. Nine tracks of back-to-back-to-back
momentum and drive, every break in the
sonic stream implies re-entry. Syncopated
bliss, tracks like Rhythm Chante deploy
Karimah’s repeated phrases and Audrey
Ochoa’s staccato trombone blasts to paint the
proverbial town electric. One cannot help
but feel that the totality of this experience is
tailor-made to be taken beyond the studio,
into a live space befitting its live energy.
Switching between upright and electric
bass, Rubim de Toledo is a curator of low
end, opting with upright when more percussive
attack is desired, and amping up when
emphatically doubling horn lines. Across this
galaxy of funk, it is de Toledo that remains
integral to the sound of the ensemble.
As much as there are standout tracks
throughout, the elephant in the room here
is certainly The Long Way (Up). Contrasting
beautifully against the gauntlet of upbeat
punchiness that proceeds it, this song has a
very minimalist intro courtesy of guitarist
Felix Tellez’s sustained arpeggios and Jamie
Cooper’s ride cymbal alchemy. Just as that
initial build to a climax begins to feel inevitable,
Rubim de Toledo yanks on the reins and
brings us home.
Yoshi Maclear Wall
Canons
Lina Allemano
Lumo Records LM 2023-15 (linaallemano.
bandcamp.com)
! Trumpeter/
composer Lina
Allemano’s interest
in the canon form,
in which parts are
repeated exactly
within a composition,
surfaced on
her recent quartet
CD, Pipe Dream, but here the form appears
in various permutations, both in composed
works with elements of improvisation
and a series of improvisations by BLOOP,
Allemano’s duo with Mike Smith contributing
live processing and effects. While some
playfulness is evident, Allemano’s expressive
focus provides reflective balance.
The opening 3 Trumpet Canon introduces
a pattern of expanding complexity, one overdubbed
trumpet following another until
the initiating horn is sputtering a series of
barely articulated sounds, the other parts
following. There’s more playful creativity
with German trombonist Matthias Müller
as he and Allemano match wits on the duet
of Canon of Sorts, while Bobby’s Canon,
with cellist Peggy Lee and clarinetist Brodie
West, is elegant chamber music. Butterscones
and Twinkle Tones, with frequent collaborators
bassist Rob Clutton, synthesist Ryan
Driver and guitarist Tim Posgate emphasize
collective creativity.
The alternating improvised tracks by
BLOOP are highlights, with Allemano’s spontaneous
melodies “canonized” and altered
thewholenote.com December 2023 & January 2024 | 65