Your Brother’s Keeper & Gary Bartz - Where Rivers Meet (Brownswood) [Jazz]
*** This blog post first appeared in TSMM's September 9th Newsletter, where you can get all the tips (and more) first ***
Serious cross-pollination is the name of the game here. The youthful Your Brother’s Keeper ensemble, led by the spiritual jazz-inclined drummer, composer and machine whisperer Jake Long, who I found out when swatting about this release is not adverse to a bit of psychedelic-post-post-punk (tip), teaming up with the soulful, spiritual sax legend, and I don’t use that word lightly, Gary Bartz, who is probably twice his age; the sixties meeting the twenties; sharp-looking jazz wrinklies rubbing shoulders with trainer-clad, phone-wielding nu-jazzers; traditional instrumentation finally making its peace with those new-fangled machines. And damn, it sounds good.
This is also an album in its truest, most cohesive, flowing sense, not a collection of three singles surrounded by half-arsed filler. It opens with the sort of ambient, horn-led jazz that I dream about at night; the vibe picking you up and holding you tight before it floats you through a neighbouring portal to cosmic realms. It then drops you into a jazz dance session for laughs, does a bit of stargazing, spiritual musing, and restrained free jazz reflection, before finally laying you down on your bed a better person. The ensemble are tight: Ali MacSween - keys and modular FX, Axel Kaner-Lidstrom blowing his trumpet, Twm Dylan on double bass grooving a treat with Long, who is assisted by Tim Doyle on percussion, and finally Chelsea Carmichael on tenor saxophone, who more than holds her own with Bartz. Buckle up.
For more fresh sounding jazz vibes head over to Alina Bzhezhinska, Tony Kofi & Tulshi's Whispers of Rain live show recording. I don't usually like live recordings, but I'm making a serious exception for this one.
