A new Steve Lehman release gets a fair amount attention in the jazz world because he takes big risks each time out and rarely if ever fails to stick the landing. In heaping some praise over his Mise En Abîme album a few years back, I may have gushed a bit when writing that the alto saxophonist is “a rare commodity who has both genuinely original, compelling ideas and the wherewithal to carry them out to their fullest potential,” but a lot of other folks who write about jazz have a hard time containing themselves, too.
And so now comes another opportunity to rave on. The People I Love would mean a retreat for some artists because it’s a return to the all-acoustic format and all of these songs are either someone else’s or Steve Lehman originals he’s recorded before. But those parameters hardly put Lehman in any kind of a box because he’s still making it sound all leading edge. Heading up his long time trio with Matt Brewer (bass) and Damion Reid (drums), Lehman adds a very special guest member to the group with fellow vanguard and pianist Craig Taborn. There’s no wondering if this wrinkle is going to work out; anyone casually familiar with the works of either knows this union is going to succeed, and it does.
Taborn wastes no time in finding a way to fit into the Steve Lehman Trio’s sonic Rubik’s cube: his insistent two chord pattern on “Ih Calam & Ynnus” is the ying to the taut yang of the trio, giving the song a balance that Taborn would eventually destroy when he goes off the hook on his piano thrill ride (Brewer’s own solo is a second highlight). For “qPlay,” Taborn’s momentary bask in an ethereal glow is shattered by the trio crashing in with its signature drum ‘n’ bass-meets-jazz profundity, but Taborn holds his ground, creating another clash of attitudes.
The Steve Lehman Trio still thrives on blurring the lines between dense harmonics and mosaic pulse but for this revisit of Lehman’s “Curse Fraction,” the marriage is — at least at first — below the surface and gradually rising to primary focal point: the Brewer/Reid rhythm unit is intensely together by song’s end. Kurt Rosenwinkel’s “A Shifting Design” could very well describe the shifty rhythms that in the combo’s hands suggest a wacked out second line. Lehman uses his bop acumen to pilot his way through it without much sweat, a clever meeting of old jazz, old Nola and 21st century jazz sensibilities.
Kenny Kirkland didn’t live long enough to leave behind a thick stack of thoughtful compositions, but “Chance” hints of the kind of quality repertoire he could have built up had he did. Kirkland’s original seemed to carry the classic Wayne Shorter composition style a couple of decades forward, as Lehman & Company do the same to the composer’s vision for the song. Brewer’s bass subs for Kirkland’s left hand while Lehman undertakes the lyrical right hand side of the moody melody. With Taborn chiming in with his urbane approach in the middle part, all the song’s innate beauty is retained. Kirkland’s old comrade Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts is covered here with his “Impaler,” a lively post-bop number that the four strip down to its base components after seguing in from Lehman’s own “Echoes”.
“Prelude,” “Interlude” and “Postlude” are short vignettes dispersed throughout the album that are spare conversations between Lehman and Taborn. Most interesting is the middle one with Lehman’s subtle use of microtones. Even in the smallest moments, he’s taking the unconventional route.
On August 30, 2019 PI Recordings will drop The People I Love. Even with standard formats, Steve Lehman is dragging jazz into the future kicking and screaming. Tough love never sounded that good.
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