Can modern jazz be accessible? Here are a couple options…
Alto saxist Amos Gillespie brings a selection of post bop originals to be interpreted by his team of Alexandra Olsavsky/voc, Andy Schlinder/ts, Gustavo Cortinas/dr, Paul Bedal/p, Casey Nielsen/g and Dan Thatcher/b. His own horn is clean shaven, upbeat with Schlinder on the calypso’d “Juiced” and gliding over the Latin’d “Tangerine Road”. Olsavasky is poetic with Cortinas’ castanets-like drumwork on the soft “Sleepless” and artsy on the kinetic “ Fewer Words” with some nice classical piano support by Bedal on “Silence Is Your Own.” The team boogaloos down Broadway on a funky “Shades of Red” with Thatcher laying down a nasty line, and the team takes you to the 70s on an R&Bish “Nothing Changes”. Accessible accents.
The team Echoes is comprised of Matt DiBiase: synth-key-vib, Max Bessesen/sax-fl-key and Evan Levine/b-g, Chase Kuesel/dr and they s pecialize in poppish and easy on the ears jazz. There’s a nice vibe by DiBiase on the R&Bish “Jamfest” while soul grooves abound on the optimistic “Attics”. The keyboards get slinky and spacey on the ambient title track, with nice acoustic guitar work on the pretty “Asbury”. Bessesen’s alto is peppy on “Taylor” and rides over the kinetic pulse on “Flipbook”. Radio friendly improvisations.