feature photo: Robbie Jeffers
Fresh off of the triumph of his production of Meshell Ndegeocello’s widely praised The Omnichord Real Book, Josh Johnson makes his own personal musical statement with Unusual Object (April 5 2024, Northern Spy Records). A saxophonist who has worked with a who’s who list of today’s forward-thinking jazz leaders like Makaya McCraven, Jeff Parker and Marquis Hill, this multi-instrumentalist has all the goods to make cutting-edge jazz himself.
Like The Omnichord Real Book and other projects Johnson has been involved with, Unusual Object leverages cutting-edge technology to accentuate the edge in his music, not submerge it. Apart from some Aaron Steele drum samples on one track, Johnson is responsible for every sound heard on this album.
There was a time when electronic music was the polar opposite of improvised music. Some of the most exciting innovators in the broader jazz realm in more recent times are those who have been able to marry these two diverse approaches and distill them into a homogenous music form of its own, though the idea stretches back decades to Jon Hassell, David Torn and others. Another saxophonist Johnny Butler took looping of saxophones to a higher level back around 2010, building virtual woodwinds orchestras with the push of a foot pedal.
Johnson uses effects on his reeds, too, and employs a number of other tricks in his toolbag for Unusual Object that radicalizes the music without alienating the listener. He makes his own mark on the cyber jazz movement by having the gall to devise avant-garde music that’s also accessible. Like on “Marvis,” where he toss in an odd, ascending figure at random spots and while there’s a pleasing beat underpinning the whole thing, the chord progression sometimes goes a little ahead or behind it. No matter, the warm sonics of the track are embracing.
Johnson manipulates his sax loops into breathing like an accordion for “Telling You” as his ‘live’ lead horn takes care of the lyrical aspect of things. Same goes for “Quince,” where the futuristic bank of saxes also hearkens back to Duke Ellington.
Sub-two-minute ambient passages are dispersed among the groove-laden numbers; “Who Happens If” suggests the leafy, cool harmonic vibe of André 3000’s New Blue Sun. “Deep Dark” sees Johnson making unfussy tenor sax remarks over a simple piano riff, while “Local City Of Industry” is a pitch-contorted gaggle of electronic blurps.
“Reddish” is laconic, too, but swims against the current he created with the rest of the album because it’s just him playing an unadorned sax. Even here in this stripped-down setting, his same penchant for bright melodies shines through.
“Sterling” is a quirky (in a delightful way) layering of an altered sax harmonic bank over a racing sampled/looped sax part. Nonetheless, Johnson still leaves room for a thoughtful solo. Mal Waldron’s “All Alone” is a solemn, seductive number with a haunting spirit that Johnson respects and honors in his clean, subdued contemporary reading.
After helping other artists come into their own, Josh Johnson’s time has come with Unusual Object, an album that elegantly operates in the vanguard.
Pre-order/order Unusual Object from Bandcamp.
‘Unusual Object’ CD on Amazon
‘The Ominchord Real Book’ CD on Amazon
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