Art & Aviation is not only one of
Jane Ira Bloom's finest albums, it is also a remarkably successful (and fairly early) attempt to bring electronic influences to bear on acoustic jazz.
Bloom's writing is strongly infused with a straight-ahead jazz aesthetic. But she veers left on many cuts, altering her soprano sax sound with live electronics and also having drummer
Jerry Granelli double on electro-acoustic percussion. While most tracks still sound very much like jazz, the electronics, while never becoming obtrusive, give everything an unpredictable edge. "Most Distant Galaxy" and the title track are
Bloom's most radical departures, but there are electronics aplenty, even on her subtle reworking of
Thelonius Monk's "Straight No Chaser." The inimitable trumpeter
Kenny Wheeler, who makes relatively few sideman appearances, shares the front line with
Bloom.
Ron Horton, who would later go on to join
the Jazz Composers Collective, replaces
Wheeler on two cuts. Pianist
Kenny Werner also appears on two tracks -- the only ones to feature a chordal instrument. On all the others, alternating bassists
Rufus Reid and
Michael Formanek sketch out the harmony while laying down the bottom. The complex, angular soprano/trumpet unison lines heard on many of the pieces call to mind the harmonically free sound of
Ornette Coleman's early recordings with
Don Cherry. This holds true especially on "Gateway to Progress," "I Believe Anita," and a wonderful reinvention of "Body and Soul" titled "Hawkins' Parallel Universe." But
Bloom is not copying
Coleman at all; rather, just as
Coleman did, she is pushing jazz into new, similarly controversial areas, without sacrificing musicality for a second.