I let John Mailander slip off my radar since his 2019 leader debut, which was in hindsight a bit confusingly titled Forecast. He has recorded a couple of additional full lengths since then under the moniker of John Mailander’s Forecast, including the well received Let The World In in 2025. This EP could just as easily be called a single, featuring as it does two full tracks and one brief electronic ambient sample, but it is a timely recording whatever you call it.
Forecast plays the kind of jazz informed Americana beloved of Bruce Hornsby fans, no surprise since that’s been a major one of Mailander’s many gigs in the past few years. The group features Mailander on fiddle, piano, and electronics; Ethan Jodziewicz on upright and electric bass; Chris Lippincott on pedal steel guitar and Wurlitzer; Dean Miller on tenor saxophone; Mark Raudabaugh on drums and percussion; and Jake Stargel on acoustic guitar. They’re joined on the A side track by Nashville’s soulful singer songwriter Kristina Train (whom Bruce Springsteen once favorably compared to Dusty Springfield) for vocals on Buffy Sainte-Marie’s 1966 song “Little Wheel.” It was recorded, unknowingly, just two days before U.S. and Israeli forces attacked Iran back in February, and I suspect the timeliness of this anti-war song had something to do with its rapid release.
It’s a powerful performance, opening with Stargel’s finger picked acoustic guitar with pedal steel and fiddle accents, and rises to an impressive pitch with questing solos on sax, fiddle and keys, with Raudabaugh pounding the skins Russ Kunkel style. but all due credit to Train for her focused and powerful vocal performance.
Mailander’s B side instrumental starts as a palate cleanser, some soothing ambient Americana with Mailander’s fiddle, Lippincott’s pedal steel and Miller’s sax floating airily through a languid melody. A couple of minutes in, a rhythmic pulse fades up and this one too rises to an emotive crescendo that recalls Waterboys at their peak.
This little record is definitely worth your time. I think both the main tracks will be on my year-end playlists; I just have to decide which one — jazz or Americana? It’s a good problem to have.
(self-releaed, 2026)
| Website | Facebook | Insta | YouTube | Bandcamp |
