feature photo: Peter Gannushkin
Of the most exciting new progressive jazz artists to have emerged over the last five years, Jaimie Branch is at or near the top of my list. Fly or Die from 2017 was a major statement from this trumpeter, composer and bandleader that leveraged her background in the Chicago avant-jazz tradition and made it sound so personal but never self-conscious. And man, she can play the shit out of that horn.
After a collaboration with Jason Nazary last year that was more than just a nice bridge to hold us over until her next project, Branch returns with the successor to Fly with Fly or Die II: bird dogs of paradise. That right there could be an indication that she’s resting on her laurels but that would be totally off base. Composed while on tour in Italy and recorded in London, II merely picks up where the debut left off and takes it further. Sure, Jason Ajemian (bass) and Chad Taylor (drums) return and cellist Tomeka Reid is replaced by another cellist, Lester St. Louis, but Jaimie Branch’s composing pen overflows again with ideas rooted not in abstraction or complexity but passion…like all the great progressive musical minds do.
This time, Branch went beyond the usual trumpet and synths to add her singing voice to the mix. For Branch, it’s merely another method to get her emotions across in her music in the most exposed, direct way. But, she’s actually a pretty good singer anyway. “Prayer For Amerikka Pt 1 & 2” is Chicago but in its blues tradition as much as its AACM one. Branch tosses in some trumpet remarks and then sings in a drawn-out slur that perfectly matches the dirge vibe of the music and one the next go around she’s shouting out her outrage at racism, using her potent horn to add exclamation points. Her best singing comes in the second part, when her voice rises to match the building tension.
Jaimie Branch doesn’t need to sing to get vivid and powerful musical messages across. “Twenty-Three n Me, Jupiter Redux” is an off-kilter, spacey Mexican flavored ostinato with overflowing trumpet overdubs, until a free interlude ushers in a faster pattern that dissipates into the ether. Taylor on mbira syncopates with St. Louis’s cello as Branch gently nudges her way into “Birds of Paradise.” The sawing bass/cello dreariness of “Bird Dogs of Paradise” manages to mimic a full chamber orchestra movement, invaded by Taylor’s funky patter and festive yelping that paves the way for the bossa nova of “Nuevo Roquero Estéreo.” But this bossa pumps harder than most and combined with Branch’s assorted electronic noisemaking behind that piercing horn, it calls to mind Rob Mazurek’s São Paulo Underground.
The unique coaction between bassist (Ajemian) and cellist (St. Louis) has been a secret ingredient that helps makes this record special but their connection is on full display on the calypso-coated “Simple Silver Surfer.” Branch ends this album on a soft, romantic note…sort of. She sings the lyrics which is basically the title, “Love Song (for assholes & clowns)” in a torch song tradition, and her trumpet — plunged and not — pierces through any sappiness, while Taylor’s busy drums yanks up the tension simmering underneath.
Divergent, fearless, unpredictable and vulnerable, Jaimie Branch has made good on the great promise of Fly or Die by soaring again. Fly or Die II: bird dogs of paradise will be available October 11, 2019 from IInternational Anthem Recording Co.
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