Pianist/composer Andy Milne and trumpeter/composer Alex Sipiagin turn themselves inside out on their latest offerings, packed with feeling and command.

Andy Milne and Unison
Time Will Tell (Sunnyside Records)
A review
Canadian pianist and composer Andy Milne’s trio Unison—with John Hébert (bass) and Nate Winn (drums; subbing superbly for drummer Clarence Penn)—appeared at the Outpost here in Albuquerque a couple of weeks ago, and as expected, we were treated to an evening of spellbindingly lyrical and forward-thinking music that included several compositions from his latest release, Time Will Tell. Milne’s eight compositions on the album (there are also one each from Hébert and Penn) reflect the conflicted feelings that arose when he, adopted as an infant, made contact in 2019 through ancestry.com with a maternal cousin and subsequently with his birth mother. Milne achieves a full expression of those very rich feelings by commanding an expanded harmonic palette and adding guest artists Ingrid Laubrock on sax and Yoko Reikano Kimura on koto. His lyricism demands that harmonic and instrumental expansion, and Milne animates it with groove, with the sympathetic assistance of Hébert and Penn. (In conversation after the Outpost concert, Milne said, “I live at the intersection of lyricism and groove.”) Check out the melody on the opener, “Purity of Heart,” that invites expansive harmonic improvisations, an invitation that Laubrock accepts wholeheartedly. On “Lost and Found,” Milne sails into the welcome unknown, and Kimura delivers a heartbreakingly tender solo of extraordinary depth. “Kumoi Joshi” explores wave after wave of expectation and comes to a sort of suspended resolution. The “Lost and Found Reprise,” which is nearly twice as long as the first appearance of the composition, finds light in the darkness and features a wonderful counterpoint conversation between Milne’s right and left hand that builds rhythmically with bass and drums. “Apart,” with its sensitive bass intro, touches on the ache of distance. Time Will Tell offers an openhearted elaboration of feeling enabled by emotionally articulate compositions and exceptionally sensitive musicians. It’s a keeper.

Alex Sipiagin
Horizons (Blue Room Music)
A review
Horizons, Russian trumpeter and composer Alex Sipiagin’s latest release—and my first encounter with him as a leader—presents complex, propulsive, and approachable music delivered by five exceptional musicians who possess the virtuosic technique to match their remarkable imaginations: Sipiagin (trumpet and flugelhorn), Chris Potter (saxophones), John Escreet (piano and keyboards), Matt Brewer (bass), and Eric Harland (drums). Eight of the 10 tracks are Sipiagin originals; the other two are bespoke compositions from Pat Metheny. The album kicks off with Metheny’s “While You Were Out,” delivered with a kind of finger-in-the-socket intensity, with Sipiagin and Potter connected at the hip. According to Ted Panken’s excellent liner notes, Metheny included some notes for Potter that are unavailable on the saxophone—or at least previously unavailable. The prodigious improvisational acumen of Sipiagin and Potter is matched only by their gorgeous sound across the entire range of their instruments and by their sensitivity to one another. (The rhythm section ain’t no slouch either.) “Clean Cut” keeps a high-simmer gathering of forces cooking, and “Jumping Ahead” makes a muscular statement of determination, with a scalded-cat Escreet solo. Check out the interplay between Sipiagin and Potter on the other Metheny track, the ’50s-ish ballad “When Is It Now.” There’s an almost painfully ecstatic burn to “Lost,” and you’ll want to note the work of Escreet and Brewer on this one. The heliotropic triptych of “Horizon 1,” “Horizon 2,” and “Horizon 3” moves from a dark and unpredictable place to a bucolic hopefulness, with a Gospel touch on that final panel. Horizons is filled with surprising moments of jaw-dropping beauty. I don’t know how I managed to avoid Sipiagin all these years (he’s in his mid-50s), but I’ll be sure to keep a lookout in the days ahead.

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© 2024 Mel Minter