I’ve fallen behind in my listening and reviewing, so to catch up a bit, here are four short reviews of ear-worthy releases from reedman Michael Blake’s septet, bass soloist Brandon Lopez, pianist Jean-Michel Pilc’s trio, and the duo of altoist Pierrick Pédron and pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba. Happy listening, to one and all.

Michael Blake
Dance of the Mystic Bliss (P&M Records)
A review
I confess that the title was what motivated me to put the disc in the player. I’m happy to report that the album delivers on the title. Reedman and composer Michael Blake (tenor and soprano saxes, flute, alto flute) has assembled an unusual aggregation that he calls Chroma Nova—Guilherme Monteiro (electric guitar), Skye Steele (violin, rabeka, gonji), Christopher Hoffman (cello), Michael Bates (acoustic bass), and Mauro Refosco and Rogerio Boccato (percussion)—that allows him to create some new colors and intriguing textures and spaces that brush against several musical cultures, including Brazilian, Southeast Asian, Caribbean, Cajun, and American rock. The setting, though, is distinctly jazz. Blake and his companions are always soloing in the context of feeling, often over mesmeric sonic tapestries charged with rhythm. To use Ron Miles words, they “keep the song going” from beginning to end and carry you along. Many of the tunes were inspired by Blake’s late mother. Shades of loss and sorrow pop up in places but are folded into the ascendant feelings of love, gratitude, and praise. This one is going to get a lot of play in this house.

Brandon Lopez
vilevilevilevilevile . . . (TAO Forms)
A review
Bassist Brandon Lopez stands in relation to the double bass in much the same way that Jimi Hendrix stands in relation to the electric guitar: both created shocking new vocabularies of sound on their instrument that opened up its expressive potential. The sounds that Lopez makes on vilevilevilevilevile . . . (the full title repeats that sequence ad infinitum) are often not pretty, but they are always compelling, with a focused artistic intention and depth of feeling. Lopez physically attacks his instrument with a commanding virtuosity (Is that really only one person on only one instrument? you’ll find yourself wondering) that elicits—no, forces it to give up—primal sounds that cut straight into the listener. Sawing, thumping, tapping every part of the bass, plucking, bowing, Lopez pulls thematic structure out of the air, colored with a wide spectrum of sound, from little animal feet in the night in “Piri” to the cataclysmic freakout that concludes “Real Bad Vibes.” It’s a demanding adventure for both Lopez and the listener, but worth the effort if you’re feeling adventurous.

Jean-Michel Pilc Trio
YOU Are the Song (Justin Time Records)
A review
Pianist/composer Jen-Michel Pilc first caught my ear on Jacques Séguin’s Migrations album. On this his first release in 12 years with longtime trio colleagues bassist François Moutin and drummer Ari Hoenig, Pilc confirms my first impression of his dexterity, complexity, and fluidity. This is one musical cat, and his trio mates are right there with him. It’s clear that they have been listening to one another for a long time. They give one another permission and support to explore the tune, and explore they do. Familiar tunes, like Monk’s “Bemshaw Swing” and “Straight, No Chaser,” are considered malleable objects—melodically, harmonically, and rhythmically—and are manipulated like putty into fascinating new shapes, and the trio’s originals, including several that were cooked up on the spot in the studio, cannily balance freedom with discipline. All of it was recorded live, in one take, with no overdubs, and the entire album has that charged energy of a live performance. As dexterous as his right hand is in rippling through extended lines at high speed, Pilc’s chording makes an even bigger impression. His block chords fracture the harmonies into a multicolored, ever-shifting spectrum, just as a crystal refracts light. Tight, adventurous, and playful, this trio is at the top of their game.

Pierrick Pédron and Gonzalo Rubalcaba
Pédron Rubalcaba 
A review
Being drawn to intimate jazz and knowing the quality of Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, I was intrigued by his pairing with Breton altoist Pierrick Pédron, previously unknown to me. The two had never met before their coming together in the studio, each armed with seven arrangements—five by French pianist Laurent Courthaliac and two by Courthaliac and Pédron—that covered jazz history from Sidney Bechet to Carla Bley. Sounded promising, and for the most part it delivered. The first two tracks, Jerome Kern’s “The Song Is You” and George Russel’s “Ezz-Thetic,” were curiously flat. The two men seemed to be on vacation, each in his own space noodling around without paying much attention to the other—top-notch noodling for sure, but noodling nonetheless. Then, on the third track, Bley’s ballad “Lawns,” the last to be recorded and the only one without a written arrangement, we get liftoff, with focused playing and listening. From there to the end, the two make terrific partners, from the playful “Five Will Get You Ten” (Jackie McLean) to the quietly lovely “Pretty Girl” (Billy Strayhorn). They seem to work best on the ballads, but some of the finest collaboration comes on Bechet’s “Si Tu Vois Ma Mère.” They capture the era without being chained to it. You get a touch of stride from Rubalcaba and Dixieland coloring from Pédron. During a Pédron solo, Rubalcaba suddenly throws in ultramodern block chords to change things up. Pédron soon takes a more modern approach, and Rubalcaba responds by splashing a 1930s accompaniment under him. Pure fun from two guys who know how to listen and how to play.

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