Surely Lehman's sound on alto sax has traces of Steve Coleman or Greg Osby. But the music he writes for this exceptional instrumentation (two saxes, trumpet, trombone, tuba, vibes, bas and drums) is something really modern, with elements of all kinds of jazz (inlcluding the hard avantgarde stuff) and modern classical music nicely intertwined. The rhythm is very complex (which brings us to... Tyshawn Sorey, who is again shining on drums), the five piece frontline plays strong melody lines, with the tuba intervening as an extra bass, and the soloing is real intense. Mark Shim on tenorsax, Joathan Finlayson on trumpet, Tim Albright on trombone: they are all impressive.
Like his mentor Anthony Braxton, Steve Lehman doesn't limit himself to jazz alone. He also writes for large orchestras and chamber ensembles. Well, this octet sounds like a very contemporary jazz chamber ensemble.
This cd (with an enigmatic title...) is out on the very interesting Pi Recordings. An excellent label, which documents the present day innovative jazz scene as the Italian Black Saint-label used to do in the eighties and nineties. Much to my liking.
Peter
The Pi/Black Saint analogy seems a good one, indeed. And I agree that Lehman offers something unique. Sometimes, it seems as if he's getting lost in this overly intricate, nearly mathematical style of playing and composing, but somehow he usually succeeds in avoiding the traps of academic music and 'style over substance'. I'm quite fond of his collaboration w/ Rudresh Mahanthappa (released earlier this year on Clean Feed) as well. Lehman really sounds like a voice from the future, so I expect him to stay at the front ranks of innovative jazz for quite a while.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenI should have mentioned the cd with Rudresh Mahanthappa, which is indeed a very good one as well, maybe slightly more accessible. And it gives me the opportunity to praise Clean Feed, which is yet another label that is as creative and innovative as Black Saint used to be.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenPeter