Artist: Joel Ross
Album: Nublues
Genre: Post-Bop, Contemporary Jazz
Label: Blue Note
Released: 2024
Quality: FLAC (tracks+.cue)
Tracklist:
- Early (Ross) - 3:57
- Equinox (Ross) - 8:38
- Mellowdee (Ross) - 11:13
- Chant (Garo-Ross) - 2:38
- What Am I Waiting For? (Ross) - 2:47
- Bach (God the Father in Eternity) (Ross) - 8:40
- Nublues (Corren-Dutton-Mendenhall-Ross-Wilkins) - 8:13
- Ya Know? (Ross) - 9:38
- Evidence (Monk) - 8:03
- Central Park West (Coltrane) - 4:27
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- Personnel:
- Joel Ross - vibraphone
- Immanuel Wilkins - alto saxophone (#1-3,5-10)
- Jeremy Corren - piano (#1-3,5-10)
- Kanoa Mendenhall - bass (#1-3,5-10)
- Jeremy Dutton - drums (#1-3,5-10)
- Gabrielle Garo - flute (#4-6)
Some jazz albums immediately pull you deep within their calm atmosphere. That's just what vibraphonist Joel Ross does on his intimately rendered fourth Blue Note album, 2024's nublues. A follow-up to 2022's The Parable of the Poet, nublues finds Ross settling into a warm set of originals and standards alongside his group, featuring longtime associate alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, pianist Jeremy Corren, bassist Kanoa Mendenhall, drummer Jeremy Dutton, and guest flutist Gabrielle Garo. The opening "early" is a shimmering tone poem in the vein of '70s ECM albums where Ross and Wilkins intertwine in a cascade of harmonies that have the hushed feeling of a rainy Sunday morning. The song flows directly into a slowly swaying take on John Coltrane's classic modal piece "Equinox." It's an organic blend, mixing Ross' original compositions with his deep jazz influences and perfectly setting the tone for the rest of the album. From there, we get the original "mellowdee," a roiling, mutable song that starts out like one of Coltrane's fiery '60s invectives, rife with skronky asides from Wilkins, before it ebbs into a mid-track dreamscape of breathy bowed bass and moaning, lyrical piano arpeggios. Elsewhere, we get the classical and gospel intimations of "bach (God the Father in Eternity)" and the driving swing of "ya know?," the latter of which brings to mind the kinetic '80s post-bop of artists like Terence Blanchard and Branford Marsalis. Ross rounds out the session with two vibrant covers, including a shadowy, off-kilter take of Thelonious Monk's "Evidence" and a dewy, after-hours reading of the John Coltrane ballad "Central Park West." Those last songs nicely underscore the vibraphonist's thoughtful, entrancing distillation of blues and ballads at play throughout all of nublues.
Review by Matt Collar