Benjamin Boone: Confluence – The Ireland Sessions (Origin Records 82904)
American saxophonist, composer and educator Benjamin Boone is a virtuoso performer equally at home in the worlds of jazz and contemporary classical music. A series of recordings with leading poets, including the late Philip Levine, revealed a keen interest in social justice, while extended overseas trips to Moldova (2015), Ghana (2017-18) and Ireland (2022-23) as a Fulbright Scholar have allowed him to immerse himself in local cultures. Using the medium of American jazz as a means of cultural exchange, he both seeks out common ground and thrives on the opportunities for musical interaction.
This set was recorded during a year-long sojourn at Limerick University, and it takes broadly similar approach to his 2020 release with the Ghana Jazz Collective, Joy. Boone once again links up with local players, playing a music that is broadly post-bop in style and coloured, but not overly defined, by its place. Other than the haunting reading of She Moved Through The Fair all of the compositions are Boone’s, and Joe O’Callaghan (guitar), John Daley (drums) and singer Jane Fraser (aka JaYne) all make a strong impression. Boone’s free-flowing solos invariably conjure something special, and amongst the highlights are the freewheeling Monkette, O’Callaghan channelling Sonny Sharrock, On The Banks Of The Shannon, with its soulful Strata-East feel, and the high-octane Stern Warning, a loose funk jam with echoes Mike Stern.
Krokofant: 6 (Is It Jazz? Records KAR287CD)
Less inclined to musical globetrotting than Benjamin Boone, Norwegian jazz-rockers Krokofant do at least change record labels for this, their sixth album. Joining Bushman’s Revenge and Erland Dahlen at Karisma Records’ new Is It Jazz? imprint, the group boasts an unabashed genre-pluralism that perfectly meets the brief. Formed in 2011 by Tom Haslan (guitar) and Axel Skalstad (drums), the duo became a trio the following year with the arrival of Jørgen Mathisen (saxophones). Recent Rune Grammofon releases have experimented with song-form structures and featured a five-piece line-up with Ståle Storløkken and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, but in something of an about turn they are now returning to their roots as a blistering post-rock power trio.
It opens with the pile-driving Zappa-esque riffs of Harry Davidson, where Mathisen’s sax snakes its way through the monolithic theme before Haslan unleashes a typically stinging solo. Mathisen’s pinched tone hints at Soft Machine’s Elton Dean on Triple Dad, and this time Haslan lets rip over a dark, throbbing groove. Oh My Cod opens with an atmospheric guitar-drums duo before opening out into Tony Williams’ Lifetime territory, while the Sabbath-like riffs of Country Doom preface a blistering electric blues jam. The Ballade is the most open and reflective piece of the set, sounding like a composite of Terje Rypdal’s entire 70s output for ECM, and the trio’s instinctive marriage of free jazz and prog rock on the closing Pretentious Woman is as bracing as it is unpredictable. Superb.
Prepared: Module (Compost Records CPT 646-1)
The members of this Munich-based trio are all primarily known for other things. Berklee alumnus Chris Gall (piano) has released a string of fine solo, duo and trio albums and performs Argentinian tango music with Quadro Nuevo. Florian Riedl (bass clarinet) plays soul-jazz with The Hi-Fly Orchestra and jazz-folk with Dreiviertelblut, while Christoph Holzhauser (drums) is a member of brassy hip-hop troupe Moop Mama. Together as Prepared, the three produce music that lands somewhere between the deceptively repetitious zen-funk of Nik Bärtsch and the austere dance-floor grooves of Brandt Brauer Frick.
It was recorded live in the studio with 3D spatial mic placement and Dolby Atmos, and the technical wizardry is instantly apparent on the opening Modul Eins, where the tightly interlocking patterns of Gall’s prepared piano and Riedl’s slap-tonguing and key clicks ricochet around the skull. The staccato intro to Modul Zwei quickly dissolves into an attractively rippling piano figure, and as the piece unfolds its shifting musical cross-currents take on a hypnotic quality. Modul Drei again foregrounds piano and reeds, but unlike Modul Eins Holzhauser’s rhythmic patterns are decidedly four-square. Somewhat improbably, the first part of Modul Vier sounds like a distant cousin of Blue Rondo À La Turk, and its insistent piano motif carries through into part two. The more expansive parts three and four cycle through a kaleidoscope of colours, and as the trio venture into more melodic territory I can also hear a certain kinship to GoGo Penguin.
Tuomo & Markus with Verneri Pohjola: Music For Roads (Schoolkids Records SMR-091)
When I interviewed Finnish trumpeter Verneri Pohjola in 2013 he spoke of how an early fascination with Hollywood soundtracks drew him towards an eventual career in music. This unexpected but triumphant collaboration with Tuomo Prättälä and Markus Nordenstreng of acclaimed Americana duo Tuomo & Markus draws heavily on that passion for sound and vision. A cinematic road-trip through a series of Marlboro Country-style vistas, the music was inspired by the duo’s experiences of touring the US. Pohjola seems entirely at home amongst the swathes of acoustic guitars, banjos, lap-steels, autoharps and analogue synths, and with bassist Jeremias Ijäs and drummers Juho Viljanen and Jaska Lukkarinen holding down the back-line, he is the lead soloist in an extremely tight-knit group.
Unlike many lesser musical hybrids, the twin threads of jazz and Americana happily co-exist without the slightest hint of awkward compromise. Pohjola has ample space to stretch on the majestic Appalachian Landscape and Anyhow Lane, his Stanko-esque balladry on Tear Of The Clouds and Vega is typically stunning, and his anguished rubato cries on Standing Rock speak to the country’s troubled past. Prättälä’s soulful piano leads the line on Division Street, while the guitars of Nordenstreng and Miikka ’Mcgyver’ Paatelainen duke it out on the magnificent Highway One Loop. Prättälä shifts to electric piano on the dubby Deep Deuce, and his Farfisa-like tones on Waiting Room create a colourful backdrop for guest guitarist Marc Ribot’s hipster soliloquy. It’s available in both a stereo mix and what the label describes as the world’s first analogue Dolby Atmos master. Prepare to be swept away on a warm desert breeze whichever version you select.
