Earlier this month bassist, composer, record label entrepreneur and bandleader Adam Hopkins reissued his Crickets, an album I really liked then and revisiting today it sounds as fresh and immediate as it did five years ago. As I opined in 2018, this record has “discreet, multi-faceted charted melodies smashed up against the bombast of indie rock and the collective spontaneity of jazz.” It’s unsubtly in-your-face and yet full of subtleties.
And how could it not? Joining Hopkins were fellow notable jazz outlaws Anna Webber (tenor saxophone), Ed Rosenberg (tenor & bass saxophone), Josh Sinton (baritone saxophone), Jonathan Goldberger (guitar) and Devin Gray (drums).
That record has a lot going for it but Hopkins didn’t follow up on it because his Out of Our Heads Records gained a lot of traction within the adventurous jazz scene, demanding more of his attention. Further, a band full of bandleaders spread out to distant cities is hard to keep together. That makes Crickets — the record that literally launched OOYH Records — a special album to savor.
Accordingly, Hopkins has elected to reissue Crickets on its five-year anniversary on vinyl. For this vinyl release, Hopkins tossed into the original mix of tracks an extra track recorded more recently during an aborted attempt to reboot the band and make a second long player.
“Grounded,” as it’s called, is a hard-nosed headbanger excursion. Obviously that means Goldberger’s driving guitar, Hopkins’ heavy bottom end and Gray’s pounding drums set the fervent tone but the triple-threat saxophone front of Sinton, Rosenberg and Webber quickly get into the action with a rock riff and succession of quick solos from each that’s full of grit and attitude.
“Grounded” has also been released as a single for those who already have the original Crickets issue. Get the vinyl reissue of Adam Hopkins’ Crickets from Out Of Your Head Records.
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