Cover of the album being discussed (courtesy of Blaser Music)
Those familiar with my tastes in jazz know that my comfort zone is out there on the “bleeding edge.” Those tastes were first cultivated in my undergraduate days, when John Coltrane’s Ascension album arrived at the campus radio station. I was already familiar with Coltrane, since it was a time when it was impossible to avoid “My Favorite Things” on any jazz radio station; but Ascension was like a bolt from the blue; and it was not long after then that I began to seek out recordings of Eric Dolphy.
Trombonist Samuel Blaser was born about a decade and a half after Coltrane and Dolphy shook the foundations of adventurous jazz in unanticipated ways. A little over twenty years later, he is now out there on the latest generation of bleeding edge music making, working in partnership with bassist Michael Bates. Together they have been releasing quintet albums, the most recent of which is Book Nine, which, like their two previous releases, is now available through Bandcamp. The other members of the quintet are Michael Blake on tenor saxophone, Russ Lossing on keyboards, and drummer Jeff Davis.
All of the tracks on the album are original. Blaser contributed three, and Bates was responsible for the remaining eight. The shortest track is Blaser’s “Wings,” which is a little shy of five minutes in duration. For the most part, the lengthier tracks allow inventive takes by all of the quintet members. The longest, and richest, of them is the final track on the album, “It’s Now Dark,” another Blaser original; it explores improvisations for a little under ten and a half minutes.
Those that appreciate attentive listening to both tunes and improvisations are likely to be highly satisfied with this new release.
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