Jesup Wagon

Album review

Since releasing his auspicious Divine Travels in 2014, tenor saxophonist, composer, and bandleader James Brandon Lewis has consistently explored new jazz pathways while remaining fiercely protective of its storied tradition. The opening track on The Jesup Wagon, a conceptual musical celebration of the life, work, and innovations of 20th century polymath George Washington Carver, is an illustration. His solo tenor blues moan in the intro lies firmly in the Mississippi Delta before admitting John Coltrane's honking modalism. The Red Lily Quintet frame him with Chad Taylor's New Orleans-style martial parade drums, William Parker's circular bassline, and Kirk Knuffke's strident cornet solo, before they come back to together on a brief Ornette Coleman-esque theme -- à la "Lonely Woman" -- then explore group improvisation without abandoning the blues feel. The Jesup Wagon is Lewis' Tao Forms debut. He formed the Red Lily Quintet -- that also includes cellist Chris Hoffman -- specifically for this project. In the liner notes, author and jazz critic Robin D.G. Kelley states, "More than an homage ... Lewis has composed a body of work that captures the essence of Carver's life, work, and vision … to reveal the artist, botanist, ecologist, aesthete, musician, teacher, and seer who anticipated our current planetary crisis." In "Lowlands of Sorrow," Hoffman's cello meets Parker's gimbri and Taylor's kit and marimba in a triple-metered, call-and-response rhythm chant. Lewis and Knuffke respond in unison with canny, deeply resonant solos. Ballad "Arachis" commences as a dirge. Parker, Knuffke, and Lewis emulate a funeral march while Hoffman bows to underscore the key changes. When Taylor enters with free-flowing rolls, fills, and accents, he heightens the tension around the tonal center until it gives way to the tenorist's impassioned, angular soloing. When Knuffke solos, the rhythm section's far-reaching interplay offers a solid foundation that he embraces and explores, adding textural dimension before Parker's driving solo. "Fallen Flowers" commences with staggered call-and -response horn interplay, creating a lyric manifesto that governs the entire tune. Hoffman bridges the frontline and rhythm section as he builds out the melodic motif with a strident plectrum pulse. "Experiment Station" follows a kinetically polyrhythmic path toward lyric exposition and discovery; Lewis hints at, then articulates the head, exposing its thematic seams before splitting them open in his solo. The all-too-brief "Seer" is framed by Taylor's primal, hypnotic mbira, while its harmonic line suggests an otherworldly folk music. Closer "Chemurgy" returns to the blues but in a very different way. Knuffke and Lewis offer declarative fills and emotional modal solos, while Parker and Hoffman create pulsing, circular rhythms that Taylor dances around and expands with his kit. On The Jesup Wagon, Lewis and the Red Lily Quintet ground listeners in familiar musical sources, but follow with a breathtaking expression of modern jazz as its own creative canvas for exploring and interrogating musical, social, and cultural history.
© Thom Jurek /TiVo