Josh Nelson’s Exploring Mars was one of the very best things to come out in 2015.  The pianist’s ode to the science and stories of the Red Planet was an imaginative network of wild magic and scientific precision.  The music was light on its feet and given the space to wander freely, but each note was a concise step in a clear direction.  That lyrical focus is missing from his 2017 release The Sky Remains, but Nelson still summons up plenty of the magic that made Exploring Mars so damn special.

Opening track “Bridges and Tunnels” captures the essence of the Mars release.  The melodic contours and the rhythmic flutters emit a liveliness that seems without end, but like a bird bounced along the currents of a winter wind, the fluctuations in elevation and speed are always framed in the context of the stiff breeze.  Unfortunately, it isn’t a quality that sticks throughout.  Some of this may be the result of the album’s focus.  The Los Angeles native has penned an homage to his city, built upon a foundation of its architectural marvels, changing landscape, the people who called it home and their dreams that shaped it.  This sprawling array of thematic inspirations is the kind of thing that can understandably lead to meandering imagery.  The expressiveness of the music often follows suit.

Kathleen Grace returns for some guest spots.  Her vocal contribution on “How You Loved Me On Mars” led to one of the prettiest tunes of 2015.  The magnetism of title-track “The Sky Remains” proves that her talent at syncing up with Nelson’s vision is no one-time thing.

Some tracks forge paths through conventional jazz territory, sometimes to the point of toeing the border separating straight-ahead jazz from pop music.  The balladeering “Ah, Los Angeles,” the South Pacific shake and shudder of “Lost Souls of Saturn” and a cover of Elliot Smith’s “Pitseleh” aren’t anything that would be considered a fatal flaw, but they detract from the dreamy atmosphere for a tone grounded in normalcy.

But those are tepid criticisms of an album that burns bright.  Nelson is a site favorite, and his newest is yet more evidence of why.

Your album personnel:  Josh Nelson (piano), Anthony Wilson (guitar, vocals), Josh Johnson (alto sax, flute), Chris Lawrence (trumpet, flugelhorn), Brian Walsh (Bb clarinet, bass clarinet), Larry Goldings (Hammond B-3 organ), Alex Boneham (bass), Dan Schnelle (drums), Aaron Serafty (percussion), Kathleen Grace (vocals) and Lillian Sengpiehl (vocals).

Released on Origin Records.

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

Music from Los Angeles.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon | eMusic

There’s a sense of Shawn Baltazor wanting to go big on his debut recording.  Be it the strings arrangement on “King of Kings” or the electric guitar fury on “Momentum” or the acoustic guitar serenity on “Nostalgia” or the languid melodic sighs on “Folklore,” it all comes off like a determined effort to make a statement.  And it’s more than just individual passages contributing to this impression.  The rich diversity of sound on the sprawling Lionsong has a cumulative emotional impact, growing stronger as time passes, and making the album’s hour-long duration feel like a massive journey over too soon.  And, yet, it’s almost as if the drummer was holding back even then.

Tracks like “Pathways” and “With Each Breath” keep to conventional modern territory, but they snap right into place with their more eccentric counterparts by utilizing a nuanced melodic approach that highlights the duality of sunny and moody tones.  Members of the Silk Road Ensemble, The Knights, Qatar Philharmonic, and Houston Symphony Orchestra sit in for some guest spots, adding textures to a recording that has got plenty of ’em to give.

There’s a wide horizon line to this album.  Baltazor’s vision fills every last bit.

Your album personnel:  Shawn Baltazor (drums, percussion), Seamus Blake (tenor & soprano saxophones), Sam Harris (piano), Ben Monder (guitars), Ben Street (bass) and guests: Christina Courtin (viola), Clarice Jensen (cello), Jacob Silver (double bass), Shawn Conley (double bass), Julia Korodi (violin), Peter Pejtsik (cello), Bill Goodwin (triangle), Megan Conley (harp).

Released on the Fresh Sound New Talent label.

Listen to more of the album at the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Music from Los Angeles.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

The latest from Max Johnson is a sprint and a marathon.  Even during the silences that mark In the West, there lingers the strong impression of developments moving fast.  But more often than not, the bassist is exceedingly direct.  The relentless downpour from pianist Kris Davis and the pedal steel guitar of Susan Alcorn are as much the determining factor of the rhythmic impact of “Greenwood” as is Johnson or drummer Mike Pride.  “Ten Hands” kicks up a fun little bounce as it scampers along, and it’s a motion that sticks around even as the piece deconstructs into something not quite so singularly focused.  The transitions between those states of being are as swift and abrupt as the tempo itself.  It’s like an intentional scarring on the surface of the music or, perhaps, not unlike the weathered signs of aging on the face of a life well-lived.  It signifies the album’s personality.  And when the quartet wraps things up with an arrangement of Ennio Morricone’s “Once Upon a Time In the West,” the passages of sublime melodicism and fluidity reveal that the depth of the album’s personality is as much the result of the strength of the vision as it is the method of delivery.

Your album personnel:  Max Johnson (bass), Kris Davis (piano), Susan Alcorn (pedal steel guitar) and Mike Pride (drums).

Released on Clean Feed Records.

Music from Brooklyn.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon