Some drummers who lead combos are good at composing, others are stronger at drumming. Atticus Reynolds excels at both. Towers — out August 27 2021, isn’t the first long-player by Reynolds but it’s the first since the Chapel Hill, North Carolina native moved to Los Angeles in 2017, representing all the influences he’s soaked up before and since the big migration to the west coast.
For his first Orenda Records release, Reynolds put together a sextet of up-and-coming, California-based hotshots: Devin Daniels (alto sax), Aidan Lombard (trumpet) and Jon Hatamiya (trombone) form a horn trio front line, while Max Beck (bass) and Jordan Reifkind (electric guitar) round out the group. These compositions — all Reynolds originals — do well to showcase his skills on drums but also pays mind to making sure all the parts in his sextet fit together right.
Reynolds once studied under the Latin percussion guru, Dr. Juan Alamo, and that Afro-Cuban schooling shows up immediately on the opening track. “Control” begins with an uber-modern, math-y Latin pulse tightly tied to the melody, followed by a more conventional rhythm where Reynolds stays active on the snare. After a round of solos, Reynolds returns to that knotted rhythm with the horn chart finding a good symbiotic fit with it.
Reynolds takes care to get each his players a chance to bask in the sun. There are no drums at all to open “Sleep,” Daniels alone introduces the theme. Reynolds slips in after a couple of bars and the horn guys fill out the sound footprint. But all that sophistication on display turns out to be the opening segment; the main dish is a funk-laden groove topped off by Reifkind tube-toned guitar and later some lively exchanges between Daniels, Lombard and Hatamiya…this song’s got it all.
It’s Beck’s turn to introduce the pattern for “Soon,” a slowed down tune that evinces an urbane melody rich in melodic twists. Reynolds nudges the soloists along tastefully from behind his drum kit. Reifkind leaves a trail of crisp bop-like lines during his showcase on “F.emeral (chopper & the goldhand),” and all the soloists navigate nimble through the tricky changes and impossibly cagey rhythms authored by Reynolds.
And finally, the leader himself takes an unaccompanied spotlight. “Towers” is a brief drum a cappella performance that serves as a segue into “Territorial,” another sweet, urbane strain helped along discreetly by Reynolds’ dynamisms on the drums. Meanwhile, there are sensitive asides from Daniels, Hatamiya and then Lombard, followed by a surprising ending.
With Reifkind leading the way, “Trapeze Artists” sports taut, harmonically advanced concepts within and outside jazz akin to the innovations of Mary Halvorson. I like how the softened, trumpet led motif “Hymn (thoughts & prayers)” opens up majestically at the top of the arc with each player briefly diverging and quickly coming together again.
L.A. is a big, diverse jazz scene where it’s tough to stand out but newcomer Atticus Reynolds has quickly done just that with Towers, bringing loads of chops and musical creativity to bear on his first record as an Angeleno.
Preorder/order Towers from Bandcamp here.
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