Jazz that gets up, stands up for your rights..
Pianist and composer Peter Hum teams up with Kenji Omae/ts, David Smith/tp, Mike Rud/g, Alec Walkington-Dave Watts/b and Ted Warren/dr for ten pieces that are clever and swinging in sound, with messages about social injustices refereed to in each song and title. You don’t have to watch MSNBC or Fox News to like or dislike the songs themselves, and the music is impressive with some nice Freddie Hubbard inspired horn work by Smith on the soulful “ Cassandra” and “Spare Hearts” with Hum on electric keys, and muscular guitar work from Rud during “Fake News Blues”. Hum himself gives some Hancockian finger work on the exciting Rabble Rouser” which also includes impressive work by Walkington” while he gives a nice cadence to “Cries and Reckonings”. Music that is in your ears, with the message not in your face.
Felipe Salles’ Interconnections Ensemble has the leader composing and conducting a large band through two discs (and a dvd) that is dedicated and inspired by conversations with “dreamers”. The music itself varies from Kevn Gurdecki’s guitar rock on ”A Part and not The Other” to semi classical as on “Their Stories Have Never Been Told”. Modern harmonies on “Built On Thin Air” with some rich soling on by vibist Ryan Redak on “Survivor’s Guilt”. The rich moods are evocative and stretch into drama, creating sounds to accompany passionate emotions. When is the film coming out?