"....Soul Grown Deep Like The River"

 

Dr. Anthony Branker is quite an accomplished person with a list of achievements that would fill this page. I spoke to him in 2017 at the time Origin Records released "Beauty Within", his seventh album of original compositions (and six issued by the Seattle, WA-based label). At that time, he had recently stepped down as the head (and founder) of the Jazz Studies Program at Princeton––he currently is Adjunct Professor at the Mason Gross School of Music at Rutgers University. I am impressed by his ability to tell stories, truths about issues such as racism, equality, spirituality, and more, writing music that sounds familiar yet can be challenging, swings yet sings. The son of Caribbean immigrants, Dr. Branker once played his music (he was a trumpet player) in venues around the world. Dr. Branker has also conducted ensembles for Terence Blanchard and Wynton Marsalis as well as orchestras in Israel, Germany, Japan, Estonia, and in the United States. 

His eighth album, "What Place Can Be For Us: A Suite In 10 Movements" (Origin), is the second recording with his Imagine ensemble, an octet built around guitarist Pete McCann, pianist Fabian Almazan, and bassist Linda May Han Oh plus Walter Smith III (tenor saxophone), Remy Le Boeuf (alto and soprano saxophones), Philip Dizack (trumpet, flugelhorn), Donald Edwards (drums), and on two tracks, Alison Crockett (vocal and spoken word). As you should be able to tell by the title, the themes of this new collection are inclusion, immigration, belonging, citizenship, and the never-ending racism that permeates the United States.  Ms. Crockett is featured on the opening track, "The Door of No Return", an episodic that blends the squalling guitar of Pete McCann, the telegraph notes from the piano, and the words of poet Beatriz Esmer. There is a powerful solo from Smith III as well as well as brilliant background arrangements.  The words hearken back to The Middle Passage (many more Black Africans were enslaved in Brazil than anywhere else on the American continent).  

Ms. Crockett returns for "I, Too, Sing America" from Langston Hughes 1926 collection "The Weary Blues".  It's a powerful work with fine piano work and a commanding solo from Smith III yet be sure to listen to how the alto sax and trumpet play a drone beneath the tenor sax and the heartfelt vocal. 

Elsewhere, there's the nervous energy of McCann's guitar solo and the wistful alto sax solo from Le Boeuf on "Indivisible", the melancholy reminiscence of "Sundown Town" with far-ranging solos from Almazan and Dizack, and the "prog-rock meets hard bop" riff on "Sanctuary City" and the crackling guitar of McCann and keening tenor sax.   

It's hard not to think of boats filled with refugees on "We Went Where Wind Took Us" but the music has more of a hopeful feel as well as fine solos from Ms. Oh and Almazan.  After a lovely solo piano introduction, "The Trail of Tears to Standing Rock" reminds us all of how the Andrew Jackson Presidency pushed Native Americans onto lands where their crops could not grow; not that succeeding US Presidents made the situation any better, creating reservations that keep them held down. Now when they fight the oil pipeline that will split their land up and subsequently cut them off from or contaminate their water supply, their protests still fall on deaf ears.  

As you should be able to tell, Dr. Anthony Branker does not shy away from controversy; instead he channels his concerns, beliefs, and his fears into music that often vibrates with urgency, compassion, commitment, and impressive musicianship.   Don't you shy away from  "What Place Can Be For Us: A Suite In 10 Movements"––instead, embrace its activism, its message, and its power.

For more information, go to www.anthonybranker.com/.  To hear more and to purchase the album, go to

https://anthonybranker1.bandcamp.com/album/what-place-can-be-for-us-a-suite-in-ten-movements.

Here's the ensemble playing and presenting the words of poet Langston Hughes on "I, Too, Sing America":

Vocalist and educator Christine Correa came to the United States from her native Bombay, India, in 1979––she came to attend the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA, which is where she met two people who became very important in her life, pianist Ran Blake and pianist Frank Carlberg who is a frequent collaborator as well as her husband.  Ms. Correa is currently on the faculties of Columbia University’s Louis Armstrong Jazz Performance Program, Teacher’s College at Columbia University and the New School as well as the Director of the Maine Jazz Camp. She's recorded five duo albums with Ran Blake, 10 albums (in groups of various sizes) with Mr. Carlberg, and, at least, a half-dozen with other artists but never an album under own name.

Until now.  "Just You Stand and Listen With Me" (Sunnyside Records) is a tribute to two recordings drummer Max Roach recorded with his then-wife, the vocalist Abbey Lincoln, 1961's "We Insist! Freedom Now Suite" (Candid Records) and "Percussion Bitter Suite" (Impulse! Records).  For her album, Ms. Correa utilizes the musical voices of Sam Newsome (soprano saxophone), Andrew Boudreau (piano), Kim Cass (bass), and Michael Sarin (drums).  The 11-song program opens with the opening cut from "We Insist!", "Driva' Man", a fiery slave song with lyrics by Oscar Brown, Jr.  Ms. Correa's vocal is underpinned by the strolling rhythm section bolstered by the angular piano chords. Newsome's soprano solo is soaring and free-wheeling while Sarin's narrative drums over the walking bass also stands out.

Brown, Jr. adapts Paul Lawrence Dunbar's poem "When Malindy Sings"––the poet wrote his piece in "original" dialect but this adaptation is no "Uncle Remus". The music really swings with kudos to Boudreau for a fine solo.  Ms. Lincoln wrote the words for "Mendacity"; her lyrics could have been written today. Here's an example; "The campaign trail winds on and on/In towns from coast to coast/The winner ain't the one who's straight/But he who lies the most." Sarin's drums are quite expressive while Newsome again serves as response to Ms. Correa's call. Listen below!

There's so much to take on this brilliant album. Ms. Correa's duet with drummer Sarin in the first 90 seconds of "All Africa" is a stunning introduction to the body of the song in which the vocals name various tribes of the African Continent. The soprano sax solo over the drums is powerful, very moving and expressive. The wordless vocals on "Tears for Johannesburg" speaks to the treatment of the oppressed black citizens under South Africa's apartheid regimes. The ensemble moves in and out of time throughout plus there are excellent solos from Newsome and bassist Cass.

The album closes with Brown, Jr./Roach's "Freedom Day", a piece that is, at times, frolicsome, free, impulsive, pulsing with urgency, and in the end, questioning if we are really "free" (certainly the Black population of the United States has rarely been truly free to be).   

From start to finish, "Just You Stand and Listen With Me" is quite powerful.  Christine Correa not only celebrates the amazing and controversial music of Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, and Oscar Brown, Jr. but also asks questions about whether her adopted country–the United States–can ever truly be the place where "All Men (and Women) Are Created Equal".  

For more information, go to https://christinecorrea.com/. To hear more and to purchase the album, go to https://sunnysiderecords.bandcamp.com/album/just-you-stand-and-listen-with-me-2. 

Hear Ms. Correa singing Abbey Lincoln's words on "Mendacity":

Music from Red Piano

Pianist, composer, and educator Frank Carlberg, is also the founder of Red Piano Records.  Based in Brooklyn, NY, the label has issued a number of impressive CDs over the past 5+ years, many of which feature Carlberg as leader, co-leader or ensemble member.  His own projects are often built around poets, i.e. 2009's "The American Dream", the poems of Robert Creeley set to the pianist's original melodies. His most constant co-conspirators are his wife Christine Correa (vocals) and Michael Sarin (drums).

Both are featured on his latest project.  "Word Circus" sets the words of 4 contemporary poets - Ken Mikolowski, Joe Elliot, Anselm Berrigan, and Ron Padgett -  to an impressive group of melodies.  Rounding out the group are bassist Pascal Niggenkemper and alto saxophonist John Gallagher. There is a minimalist feel to Mikolowki's "Things to Do in a Economic Crisis"; in fact, the title is longer than the body of the poem which reads "Buy low/Sell high."  The music is much more expansive, the funky melody and rhythms supporting Ms. Correa as she plays with the title and the 4 words.  O'Gallagher and Carlsberg share the solo space, pushed along by the forceful rhythms.  Mikolowoski also wrote "Ecology", a ballad on which Ms. Correa caresses the short free-form verse that reads "Some day soon nothing will be made out of wood not even trees." The interaction of the music starts quietly but slowly picks up during the piano solo, a lengthy excursion during which Carlberg moves farther and farther away from the original melody.  The blend of the wordless vocal and O"Gallagher's supporting alto sax lines creates great tension that Sarin picks up on and expands upon before the short, quiet, coda that returns to the poem. (The 10 tracks on Carlberg's 2013 CD "Big Enigmas" all use Mikolowski's poems for its lyrics).

The 2 shortest tracks, "On Some Level" and "Lullaby", both utilize poems by Ron Padgett. The former has a pleasing melody, an honest message and a wonderful counter melody played by O'Gallagher winding in and out of the vocal. "Lullaby" has a similar melody line with ethereal sounds from the saxophone, a musical forest one might encounter in a dream.  The trance-like piano figures and skittering drum sounds (floor toms, snare and cymbals) set a mysterious path for the alto sax and wordless vocal to follow; soon, Ms. Correa returns to the text and the story comes together.

If we use the British meaning of circus (an open circle, square, or plaza where several streets converge), it helps to bring "Word Circus" into better focus.  The different "avenues" of voice, words, melody, and musical interpretation do converge into an "aural" plaza that feels, at times, comfortable and a bit unsettling. The "poetry projects" of Frank Carlberg may remind some of the work Steve Kuhn and Sheila Jordan created for ECM (specifically 1979's "Playground") and that's fine - the music has much to offer, returning to your mind at all times of day like a slowly unraveling puzzle.

For more information, go to www.frankcarlberg.com.

For his debut album as a solo artist, pianist, organist, and composer Dan Kaufman has created a most comfortable setting for his  original music. With the splendid rhythm section of drummer Jonathan Blake and bassist Matt Clohesy (several tracks feature percussionist Keita Ogawa) plus the expressive work of Sam Sadigursky (tenor and soprano saxophones) and Gilad Hekselman (guitar), Kaufman creates 8 portraits of contemporary music that easily transport the listener beyond the mundane.

While living in Boston, MA, Kaufman studied with Danilo Perez and Fred Hersch (it's hard not to recognize the work these 2 men have done with a number of young pianists on the scene) at the New England Conservatory and recorded/worked with the Either/Orchestra, Miguel Zenon and drummer Bob Moses.  Graduate work at the Julliard School brought him into the teaching sphere of Kenny Barron and then onto work and/or recordings with trumpeter Dominick Farinacci, trombonist Nick Vayenas, bassist Ben Wolfe, as well as saxophonists Wayne Escoffery and Donald Harrison.  He has worked with vocalists such as  Nneena Freelon, Kevin Mahogony and Gretchen Parlato.

All of that education and training doesn't amount to much (other than an impressive resumé) if one's music does not move the listener.  Kaufman wisely titled debut CD "Familiar Places" because it does displays his talents as a composer and performer while illustrating how he has already begun the (life-long) process of moving away from his influences. On certain levels, the music is "familiar" in its song forms and melodies that allude to Messrs.  Hersch, Barron and Keith Jarrett.  What stands out is the work of the musicians, the rhythmic attack and the gentle colors created by Blake, the lively interplay of piano with saxophone and guitar, and Kaufman's expressive piano.  Hear how he floats atop the rhythm section on "Dew Eye" and creates a chordal cushion for both the guitar and saxophone. "Kuumba" suggests an African excursion such as the ones created by Abdullah Ibrahim and Randy Weston yet the "lighter-than-air" quality of the piano chords, the lilting lines of soprano sax, gentle melody from the guitar as well as the excellent work from Blake, Ogawa and Clohesy in creating the "bounce" makes the music shine brightly. "Cross Check" suggests both the late Allen Toussaint and the long-running New Orleans-based group Astral Project in its funky attack; dig the overdubbed Hammond B-3 solo, the sweeping guitar sounds and the sweet soprano sax lines.

Cornelia Street Cafe

There is a grace and maturity in the handsome ballad "Falling Petals" plus fine bass work, a gentle piano solo, and an expansive, emotionally rich, tenor sax statement. When you return to listen again, pay close attention to how Blake maneuvers so freely beneath the rest of the band.  His drive and delivery on the title track makes the music sound new, refreshing and challenges his musical companions to play with similar intent and creativity.

By the time the listener reaches the final track, "Farmington", one should feel comfortable following the musicians wherever they take the music. The sound is expanded to allow the organ to rise out of the rhythm section, for the "gospel" chords from the piano serve as counterpoint to the guitar sounds, and for the drummer to create his own storm that passes like a late summer shower.

Dan Kaufman, along with producer and fellow pianist Randy Ingram, have created a aural document of an artist spreading his creative wings, enjoying his opportunity and getting the best from his fellow participants. "Familiar Places" has been in rotation on my trips to and from school for the past 2 months, the music filling the car with its joyous noise and seemingly putting color back into the late autumn/early winter skies.

For more information, go to www.dankaufmanmusic.com.  To learn more about Frank Carlberg's fine record label, go to www.redpianorecords.com.

And here's one of the delightful tracks from "Familiar Places":