While perhaps a less common pairing than some, the combination of trumpet and accordion makes perfect sense: the reedy bellowing of the accordion and the smooth brightness of the trumpet provide exceptional balance for each other, and Hou and Larsen play both lead and accompanist in turn, following each other with an organic ease.
Eugenie brims with a rather more endearing confidence. Jones is one hell of a singer, and she’s eager to let you know all about it — savoring every swooning syllable of “Nothing Better’s” ode to new love, or overdubbing her own soaring harmonies on “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.” And, buoyed by the top-flight Seattle rhythm section
Topography is a masterful celebration of connection—between musicians, environment, and audience. Pellegrin’s improvisational compositions and talent complement Welch’s earthy, textural approach, resulting in a soundscape that mirrors the spirit of the PNW and offers listeners a meditative escape within the rhythms and beauty of the natural world.
While unabashed in their textural play, ETST makes a grounding gesture by rooting their name in the language of landscape and the album title in the language of crafts. The discipline and experience of each member can be heard in the careful control of mixed-meters and the mutual trust amongst one another that allows each to add their colors to the mix.
If you’re thinking that a solo trombone can’t hold its own on eight tracks spanning up to nine minutes a piece, well, you’d be forgiven. You’d also be wrong. The TANK’s unearthly soundscape fills Clausen’s songs with a lush carpet of harmonic interplay, so rich as to border on the bizarre. (See: Clausen’s take on “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka.) Notes can resonate in The TANK for up to 45 seconds.
Uniformly compelling from the first note to the final fade, every track on Siegel’s latest is a highlight, and each musician has their time to shine. The album kicks off by dialing up the jazz quotient on the first couple of tracks, and “Sabotage,” in particular, with its swinging, Monk-ish outlines, almost evokes a Blue Note album.
The album features three very distinctive writing styles from this triad of Seattle stalwarts, with a pair of Wayne Shorter gems amongst the offering. The result is a recording that features some of Seales’ most introspective and deeply lyrical playing, supported by Johnson and Korn as equal partners.
The new album, Diaspora, from Seattle jazz accordionist Josh Hou is a special treat, bringing Hou’s Chinese and Malaysian heritage into the jazz fold, all tied together by this humble instrument.
It’s the original material on the album that allows us to tap into Weinstein at his purest. True to his mercurial form as a player and composer, the tunes don’t hew to one style or mood.
This Is Now is full of energy, from the cymbal that opens the first tune, “Harrod’s Creek,” to the audacious swing of “Bahia,” which closes the album. Certainly, the recording gains enormous energy from being recorded live at Boxley’s. Production values are so stellar it sounds as though it were recorded in the studio
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