The eponymous debut album from the all-star female jazz collective, 2020's
Artemis showcases the group's immense compositional and improvisational depth. Named after the Greek goddess of hunting, Artemis is led by pianist
Renee Rosnes and features the equally adept talents of tenor saxophonist
Melissa Aldana, clarinetist
Anat Cohen, trumpeter
Ingrid Jensen, bassist
Noriko Ueda, and drummer
Allison Miller. Also on board is Grammy-winning vocalist
Cécile McLorin Salvant.
Rosnes brought the group together in 2017 with an eye to building upon each of the member's combined skills. Consequently, while we get distinctive contributions from each player, while the album plays as a unified artistic vision. It opens with
Miller's intensely kinetic "Goddess of the Hunt," her roiling groove and the song's tense melody offering a rich jumping-off point for each soloist.
Jensen in particular leaps into the fray, offering frentic note clusters and wide octave leaps that further reinforce her status as one of the main heirs to
Kenny Wheeler's legacy. From there, they settle into
Aldana's "Frida," a modal piece inspired by painter Frida Kahlo whose languid, wavelike structure subtly evokes
Herbie Hancock's 1966 classic "Maiden Voyage." We also get the wild-eyed, circus-like atmosphere of
Rosnes' "Big Top," the dusky, slow-burn flamenco of
Cohen's "Nocturno," and the spiraling,
Horace Silver-esque hard bop of
Ueda's "Step Forward." There are also a handful of nicely attenuated covers, including an expansive arrangement of
The Beatles' "The Fool on the Hill."
Salvant also contributes a gorgeously sad-eyed take on
Stevie Wonder's "If It's Magic" and applies her delicately resonant voice to
Maxine Sullivan's plaintive 1940's ballad "Cry, Buttercup, Cry." While the virtuosity and musical creativity of the group are the primary focus of Artemis, there's an implied message of feminist empowerment at work in their supportive ensemble of strong female artistic voices. As if to underline this female-centric reimagining of heretofore male-focused aspects of the jazz tradition, they dive into an album-closing reworking of
Lee Morgan's classic "The Sidewinder." Here, Artemis deconstructs the funky boogaloo into a moody, wickedly laid-back groover in which they trade increasingly abstract and off-kilter lines before coming together in soulful unison behind
Rosnes. ~ Matt Collar