As far as trombonist Matthew Hartnett is concerned, the music you make says a lot about where you’ve called home. As a native of Lake Charles, LA who grew up in Houston, TX and has been Brooklyn bound for the last six years, Hartnett has had three rich regional cultural experiences to draw from. That’s why his debut album Southern Comfort (February 19, 2016) is the right mixture of urban and rural, North and South, sleek and greasy. It doesn’t take more than looking at the title and the CD cover featuring an outline of the Pelican State where his heart lies.
That said, Southern Comfort is more than just an autobiography by song cycle. Hartnett is part of a new generation of trombone players who is rethinking the role this instrument in jazz, putting into more contemporary settings and making it look like it belongs there. When he electrifies it — much as Miles did so with his trumpet — that ‘bone finds a home in the soul-tinged rock-jazz of “In & Out” and “Pump & Drive,” and he’ll even play it like a rock guitar on the latter. When Hartnett applies that tricked-up horn to soul numbers like “She’s In Spain,” he — like Robin Eubanks — extends Eddie Harris’ own electric sax innovations to the slide brass. Hartnett takes it much further with the authentically Houston ‘chopped and screwed’ hip-hop sound found on “Da Crib.” Even loaded with a gumbo of samples from some of Hartnett’s favorite songs, there’s a strong melody of his own flowing through it to forge a jazzy RnB tune with an edge.
Hartnett is equally as strong when he goes back to the roots. “I Surrender All” is deeply wistful gospel that only needed his trombone and a churchy organ (from Ondrej Pevic). “Thursday Night” is organic funk of the sort you might get from a Big Easy-minded Maceo Parker. The vibe of New Orleans gets even stronger on the trombone-tuba-drums only gospel blues “Glory Glory Hallelujah.” But Hartnett’s best rendering of that old-time happy feeling comes from “New Sunlight Lake Charles (NSLC),” loaded with saxes and brass. It’s a joyful blend of mixture of a marching band and Nola funk, and one you’ll want to whistle to all day.
The one explicit reference Hartnett makes to his present situation comes from “No Patience,” a shifty shuffle depicting the fast-movement of life in New York City. Paired with a hot trumpet, the transplanted trombone player shows how quickly he’s grasped the complexity and density of Gotham.
There’s so much rich diversity found on Southern Comfort, I’ve often wondered if I was listening to several different albums. But there’s no weak track to be found, either. Matthew Hartnett has identified something culturally valuable in every environment he’s found himself in to make a remarkable introduction.
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