When a musician adopts a classic straight-ahead voice and it sounds fresh out of the oven while also acts as a mainline to nostalgic memories of music past, that’s when it’s being done right.  The self-titled debut of trombonist Danny Lubin-Laden infuses these tunes with the happy-sad dichotomy of the blues, the blissful harmonic warmth of brass band ballads, the get-up-and-go of hot jazz, and streaks of old-school jazz conjuring up images of smoky late-night clubs and the joyful parade marches that result when sunrise signals not the end, but the continuation of the night’s festivities.

Ashley Nguyen sits in for a few tracks, and her vocals are full of heart and soul, and the way Lubin-Laden’s quintet launches into flight from the springboard of her words is one of the album’s highlights.  So is the way that the ensemble’s wonderful craftsmanship elevates simple designs into something much greater than the measure of its individual parts.

There isn’t a track on this album that isn’t friendly and catchy, and most importantly, each has just the right amount of personality to keep things interesting.  Just a very fun recording.

Your album personnel:  Danny Lubin-Laden (trombone), Ari Chersky (guitar), Claude Rosen (piano, organ, Wurlitzer), Garret Lang (bass), Adam Starkopf (drums) and guest:  Ashley Nguyen (vocals).

The album is Self-Produced.

Listen to more album tracks on the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Jazz from the Oakland, CA scene.

Available at:  Bandcamp

It’s particularly interesting how tenor saxophonist John Martin gets his sound to phase in and out of tunefulness, shifting between a sweet melodicism and raw ferocity.  But what marks the success of Spirit of Adventure is how the quintet The Hidden Notes shifts their ensemble sound to either shadow Martin’s changes or perfectly counterbalance them in a fusion of light and dark.  A track like “Folklore” has a film-noir allure, and it holds that cinematic ambiance even as Martin’s sax burns the film at the edges.  The effect of wonderment is not unlike seeing two people who have nothing in common somehow live in a state of happily-ever-after.  But that song doesn’t exist in isolation.  This is a recording where captivating moments, as on title-track “Spirit of Adventure,” where sax is the perfect dance partner for the rest of the quintet, and their motion is like one, steeped in grace and filled with joy.

But it’s not just about sax versus or united with quintet… the pairing of vibraphone and guitar also leads to all kinds of melodic beauty and rhythmic chatter.  The two-part “Pentacision” is Exhibit A in how Ralph Wyld and Rob Updegraff keep finding ways to weave their own conversational patterns within the fabric of the songs.  This, too, can be said about the interactions between bassist Tim Fairhall and drummer Tim Giles.  On “Eddies,” Fairhall’s loping strides hopscotch around the puddle splashes of Giles’ cymbals and drums, creating a sense of tension that hangs just below the surface of the song.

A very cool personality to this one.  And it beats to the rhythm of a storyteller’s heart.

Your album personnel:  John Martin (tenor sax), Ralph Wyld (vibraphone), Rob Updegraff (guitar), Tim Fairhall (double bass) and Tim Giles (drums).

Released on F-IRE Collective.

Listen to more album tracks on the artist’s Soundcloud page.

Jazz from the London scene.

Available at:  Amazon | eMusic

The impression made by Looking North is a gradual one, and forces it to happen from a distance.  When opening track “Unringing a Bell” first presents itself, it’s with an impenetrable structure that doesn’t really seem to have the goal of establishing a connection in mind, and the rules for engagement aren’t so clearly drawn.  But then, as it grows older, the song enters into a deeply melodic passage and suddenly that gulf between instrument and ear is no distance at all… ending, even, with a playful flurry.  And while it won’t be for several more tunes before the essential patterns of this solo piano session from Bryan Nichols emerge and reveal the album’s striking personality as one of duality, the fact is that the opening track has already planted the seed.

It’s followed up by the beautiful “Lonesome Tremolo Blues,” a track that finds a deep pool of melody and spends its five minute duration gyrating fluidly.  There are a few splashes of dissonance, but those are eclipsed by a clear melodic imagery.  “Fractures” is stark and austere and the melody is implied, not expressed.  If the previous song’s melodic imagery was one of water, then this song is a vast desert that defines it as an oasis.  Sometimes the sands cycle and swirl in patterns reminiscent of swimming, but for the most part, the melody is scattered across the surface of the song, direction giving way to randomness, tranquility subsumed by soberness.  It’s when the concept of a concise, shapely melody returns on fourth track “We Build and Destroy” that the album’s alternating pattern of compact melody vs. impact melody reveals itself.  That same melodic shift happens within each song, too, but it’s the transitions from song to song that truly manifest their definition and their presence and their will.

The characteristic of duality is best on display on successive tracks “Act Natural” and “Very Low Impact.”  They are exactly and precisely different, as if staring at each other from opposite sides of the same mirror.  Where the former is in-your-face, the latter prefers to back off long enough for calmer melodies to prevail.

The one outlier to the album’s pattern recognition is a rendition of Dave King’s “Lullaby for Sharks,” and it’s offered up with such a quaint, tuneful presentation that it actually sits plumb with the rest of the album just fine, thank you very much.

A nicely expressive album that lets the tiny details be the music’s fireworks.

Your album personnel:  Bryan Nichols (piano).

Released on Shifting Paradigm Records.

Listen to more album tracks at the label’s Bandcamp page.

Jazz from the Minneapolis, MN scene.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon