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| Farallon (Nick Grinder), Danny Janklow, Chris Teal, and Typical Sisters 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 [due out Feb. 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. Ugly Duck by the Chris Teal Trio is a "back to basics" single that focuses on finding the signal of meaning through the noise of a modern sonic landscape. Featuring Alexa Tarantino on alto sax, Katie Ernst on bass, and Chris Teal on drum set, this program of original compositions by Teal showcases deep listening from the chordless trio. New single from Danny Janklow - and the title track from his new EP - "Worlds Collide"! Featuring Steven Feifke - Piano, Nick Mancini - Vibes, Joshua Crumbly - Bass, and Jonathan Pinson - Drums! Consider this thoughtful, immersive music by guitarist Gregory Uhlmann, bassist Clark Sommers and drummer Matt Carroll as a kind of antidote—the yang to our 21st-century yin, or, as Carroll puts it, "optimism amidst impulse." With the melodic and structural focus of rock or folk, a sense of musicianship and interplay rooted in jazz, and production aspects that pull from experimental music and DJ culture, Hungry Ghost is equally distinctive and evocative. In these reflective soundscapes, one can hear the maverick jazz guitar of Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot and Jakob Bro; the krautrock of Can and the post-rock of Tortoise; the ambient fusion that begins with Miles' In a Silent Way and '70s ECM LPs; the sun-faded scores of Ennio Morricone and Ry Cooder; the psychedelic funk of Khruangbin; Reich-ian minimalism; and more. Despite these record-geek-worthy references, though, style doesn't obscure substance; a feeling of craft and deliberation characterizes these nine tracks, even when the band is engrossed in improvisation. Typical Sisters is a singular instance in which the tag "songwriter" applies to jazz-trained musicians more readily than "composer." write your comments about the article :: © 2019 Jazz News :: home page |