The new albums from John Bailey and from pianist/accordionist Ben Rosenblum could stand in as bookends of a successful jazz career, the former a well-seasoned product of a canny and accomplished veteran, and the latter an intriguing and exuberant creation from a precocious young artist.

John Bailey
Time Bandits (Freedom Road Records)
A review
Trumpeter John Bailey has been around the block. A few times. With lots of different people—from Rahsaan Roland Kirk to Ray Charles to Arturo O’Farrill. In the process, he’s become comfortable in a variety of styles while honing his considerable chops. On Time Bandits—his third album as leader, and the first I’ve encountered—he gets exemplary support from what has to be one of the best rhythm sections anywhere: George Cables (piano), Scott Colley (bass), and Victor Lewis (drums). Bailey makes good use of his experience, with six of his own originals, one each from Cables and Lewis, and covers of Jerome Kern and the Beatles. Highlights include Lewis’s funk and swing on Bailey’s title track, and the bluesy accommodation of aggravating circumstances on the leader’s “Various Nefarious,” with a particularly nice trumpet solo. The seldom-heard Kern tune, “Long Ago and Far Away” has a curious head whose second half twists longitudinally 180º from the first half, with superb comping from Cables and a terrific solo from Colley. Bailey’s tribute to Thad Jones, “Ode to Thaddeus,” draws from a deep well of gratitude and respect, and his thorny “Rose” is spiked with five 12-tone rows. “Lullaby” gets a fine duet treatment between Bailey on flugelhorn and Cables, the composer. The lively midtempo “Groove Samba” is exactly that, with nice solos from Bailey and Colley. If, as Art Blakey said, jazz washes away the dust of everyday life, then Time Bandits qualifies as a certified dust washer.

Ben Rosenblum Nebula Project
A Thousand Pebbles (One Trick Dog Records)
A review
Pianist/accordionist/composer Ben Rosenblum has wide-ranging interests, embracing Bulgarian vocal polyphony, northern Brazilian party music, Afro-Caribbean rhythms, traditional Irish music, and beyond. He’s not afraid to combine them in compelling and surprising compositions—the album includes 10 originals—that leverage his serious jazz chops and those of his excellent Nebula Project colleagues: Wayne Tucker (trumpet), Xavier Del Castillo (tenor sax and flute), Jasper Dutz (alto sax, clarinets, alto flute), Rafael Rosa (guitar), Marty Jaffe (bass), and Ben Zweig (drums). Highlights include the opening track, “Catamaran,” which sails along nicely in a strengthening wind, with a Latin touch in the horns near the end before finding landfall in Ireland. “Bulgares,” with Rosenblum on accordion, finds the connections in Bulgarian, Spanish, and North African music, linked by the Roma people, and includes fine trumpet and electric guitar work. The album’s four-part titular suite begins and ends in church, with a swinging second part and a relaxed reverie in the third part. While the soloing is excellent—note the surprising appearance of the electric guitar in the final part—the nonsoloing cadre contributes excellent and imaginative support. There’s a theatricality to many of the compositions, not least in “The Bell from Europe,” an argument for peace that features a lovely, understated bass solo. The seductive “Lilian” offers a number of unexpected twists and turns, with fine work from Dutz on the bass clarinet. Jobim’s “Song of the Sabia” is transposed from its bossa setting to northern Brazil’s forró rhythm, with a terrific accordion solo in a velvet horn setting. Intriguing compositions and exuberant performances make A Thousand Pebbles (available on 2/10) a welcome addition to the rotation.

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