GERALD CLAYTON
Bells on Sand
Blue Note
Themes of meditation, solitude, and reflection fill Gerald Clayton’s second Blue Note release, a surprising issuance from that reservoir of classic ’50s/’60s jazz profundity and contemporary jazz fireballs. Throughout, the pianist surrounds himself with a cast that reflects the music’s unlikely alliances: Charles Lloyd on saxophone, father John Clayton on bass, Justin Brown on drums, and 24-year-old Portuguese multi-instrumentalist and composer Maro on vocals. “Together, they explore the impact and abstraction of time,” the liner notes state.
Bells on Sand is a collection of ethereal sketches connected by quietude. Yawning arco bass and lullaby-worthy piano adorn the opening track, “Water’s Edge,” followed by the equally sober “Elegia.” The warm, expressive vocals of Maro uplift a lovely piece by Catalan composer Federico Mompou, “Damunt de tu Només les Flors,” which has all the weight and grandeur of a later-period Antônio Carlos Jobim. The song floats like dappled sunlight on a still pond.
Clayton turns the classic standard “My Ideal” into a gentle solo romp. The dollops of lush electric keyboard in the dreamy funk of his Roy Hargrove dedication, “That Roy,” are extended skyward by Brown’s feathery touch. Another Clayton/Brown duet, “Rip,” curiously recalls ’70s fusion and claustrophobia, the duo stretching out to gently shake, rattle, and roll. Maro’s sensuous vocal beauty (Don Was, sign this woman!) returns on Clayton’s mesmerizing, flowing “Just a Dream.” Lloyd comes aboard for “Peace Invocation,” the master musician giving the entire album weight and focus.
As the world struggled with COVID in 2021, Gerald Clayton went inside, hunkered down, and found his center. Bells on Sand is certain proof of life.
—KEN MICALLEF
STEVE SLAGLE
Ballads: Into the Heart of It
Panorama
Recorded in a single day at a New Jersey studio, Steve Slagle’s first all-ballads collection in a four-plus-decade career finds the alto and soprano saxophonist moving seamlessly between standards (Tadd Dameron’s “If You Could See Me Now”), not-so-standard covers (Stevie Wonder’s “Kiss Lonely Goodbye”), and a handful of originals.
Choosing Miles Davis and Bill Evans’ “Blue in Green” as the opening gambit might seem a less than daring pick, but Slagle makes sure to customize it. Synth orchestration by Richard Sussman (who also appears on two other tracks) brings a slightly off-center eccentricity to the core melody, and Slagle’s soulful soloing gives the arrangement a contemporary edge that never suggests 1959.
Three more non-original compositions follow, a redrawing of Monk’s “Reflections” being particularly sweet. Slagle and pianist Bruce Barth, with assistance from Randy Brecker on trumpet, take their time pushing the melody this way and that over its eight-and-a-half minutes, the fine rhythm section of bassist Ugonna Okegwo and drummer Jason Tiemann giving the tune just enough swing a quarter of the way in to keep it lively.
Brecker turns up twice more on the recording, on the Slagle originals “The Heart of It” and “Big Mac” (the latter billed as a bonus cut). Anything but a ballad, “Big Mac”—a triple-headed tribute to the deceased McCoy Tyner and Jackie McLean, as well as the living guitarist Andy McKee, according to Dan Bilawsky’s illuminating liner notes—is a cooker.
Why Slagle decided to close out the album with a track that defies its theme is his business, but be glad he did. It suggests another possible direction in which this talented player/composer might consider heading; if he does, hopefully he’ll call back the personnel that helped make Ballads: Into the Heart of It such a richly textured joy.
— JEFF TAMARKIN
MYRA MELFORD’S FIRE AND WATER QUINTET
For the Love of Fire and Water
RogueArt
For the Love of Fire and Water takes its name and inspiration from a series of works by artist Cy Twombly. Pianist Myra Melford doesn’t attempt to create music that translates the images into sounds. Instead she sees a parallel between Twombly’s habit of drawing in the dark and her own approach to the piano, since both disciplines are built on gesture and energy. Like a stroll through a gallery, the 10 tracks pull visitors into the art, with music that sounds alternately aggressive and understated depending on the track.
The quintet convened for the project includes established leaders in improvised music, all of them women: Mary Halvorson (guitar), Tomeka Reid (cello), Ingrid Laubrock (soprano and tenor saxophones), and Susie Ibarra (drums, gongs). Melford forgoes titles
