JAZZMESENGERS RECOMMENDED

This is no new release anymore but we HAVE to talk about it.
The music Chesky and his compatriots - reedist Javon Jackson, trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Billy Drummond- offer up in this album bristles with inspiration. It is uncommonly beautiful, catchy yet dark, brooding, thoughtful and inventive all at once. (Listen to a sample)

Like Miles’ Kind of Blue, most of what’s here exudes a dreamlike, meditative feel so seductive that the subversive undercurrent flowing through it can easily be missed. Jackson’s solos are masterworks of unforced virtuosity. Pelt, his Miles-ian heritage front and center, articulates crisply even as he unfurls relaxed lines, Chesky’s own solos are charged with brilliance and all backed up with a solid rhythmic undercurrent provided by drummer Billy Drummond and bassist Peter Washington.

Despite the harmonic adventurousness on display and the meandering languor of the melody lines, that steady-strolling groove and the overall lack of pretension and unnecessary flamboyance keep things centered, resulting in music that suggests an almost Zen-like contemplation on the dialectic between control and freedom.

On top of the musical brilliance on display here this album is part of the Chesky Binaural + Series. All albums in this series have been recorded using a single microphone; the band appears right before you with this spacious, lush and multi-dimensional recording. Those of you who are headphone users will hear the same three-dimensional sound and imaging as audiophiles have done for the past 25 years.

Listen to the sample on our web. No kidding. Even small fractions of the songs will kidnap your attention for it is some of the most natural and pure cool jazz ever recorded.

PERSONNEL:

DAVID CHESKY, piano
JAVON JACKSON, tenor sax, clarinet
JEREMY PELT, trumpet
PETER WASHINGTON, bass
BILLY DRUMOND, drums

Hirsch Center, Brooklyn, New York July 29th 2014.

TRACKS:

01. Check Point Charlie
02. Cultural Treason
03. Quiet Desperation
04. Kill the Philharmonic
05. Primal Scream
06. Isolation
07. Sleepless in New York