I’m getting a lot of enjoyment from this striking album from a somewhat unusual jazz ensemble. To the standard trio of piano, bass and drums, composer and pianist Elan Mehler has added a couple of saxophones and a guitarist, as well as a second drummer. Together they blur the lines between straight jazz, ambient, classical and avant garde forms.
It helps immensely that all of these players are very good at what they do, not least Mehler on the keyboard and the influential Ben Monder on guitar. Toss in Loren Stillman on alto and Scott Robinson on tenor saxophones, Tony Scherr on bass, and drummers Francisco Mela and Matt Wilson and the possibilities are nearly endless.
That shows up most strikingly on Paul Motian’s “Byablue,” an absolutely smashing piece of soulful jazz, with the horns, guitar and piano all taking on the fluttering melody in a complex stuttering counterpoint. It’s followed by Mehler’s tune “Dani’s Fortress,” which finds Mehler’s piano in the lead. This one seems to pick up on the ideas of Motian’s tune, with guitar and horns echoing piano on the head melody in a staggered counterpoint, although this one has a recognizable jazz structure with statement and solos.
With its languid tempo and emphasis on color and texture the opening title track is an introduction to the ensemble’s expansive sound, with Stillman, Robinson and Monder joining Mehler in exploring a deep sonic world. That aesthetic is echoed on the lush and mysterious “Wolf Orchard.” “White Cloud’s Dark Sky” has an open and expansive melodic structure led by the horns and Monder’s distorted guitar. The soulful “The Violence of Reason” is languidly jaunty if that’s a thing. It’s a slightly off kilter New Orleans funeral parade type of piece. Bassist Tony Scherr shines throughout the project, but his modified walking line here is joy inducing.
The album has three tracks that are digital only: the lush ballad “Bloodcount,” with Robinson’s tenor solidly out front and Stillman joining in with harmonic commentary; the equally romantic “I Should Have Prayed For Rain,” an ensemble version of a piece that first appeared as a bonus track on Mehler’s 2022 trio release There Is A Dance; and the swinging, indeed almost rocking, “Schmoon.”
My only criticism is that the mix gives the entire project a somewhat subdued feel, with the two drummers often lost in the mix, and no one instrument standing out for long. Even the exuberance of “White Cloud’s Dark Sky” feels muted.
This is another release in a series celebrating the tenth anniversary of Mehler’s label, Newvelle Records. Others reviewed here so far include Martin Wind’s Stars with Kenny Barron, Anat Cohen and Matt Wilson and Ingrid Jensen’s Landings.
(Newvelle, 2026)
