Trumpeter and composer
Marquis Hill's recordings have, since the very beginning, showcased an expansionist view of jazz. Since 2016's
The Way We Play (his fifth album) he has been making room for hip-hop, neo-soul, funk, and spoken word inside his approach to jazz.
Hill recorded his debut, New Gospel, while still in college, leading a sextet that included pianist
Josh Moshier. In 2019,
Hill's sextet was filled with bandleaders -- tenor saxophonist
Walter Smith III, vibraphonist
Joel Ross, pianist
James Francies, bassist
Harish Raghavan, and drummer
Kendrick Scott -- performed the album in its entirety live at Chicago's Constellation. Its performance is appended by solo interludes from his bandmates.
After a rumbling modal intro, a bass-and-drum vamp introduces the 14-minute "Law and Order."
Francies provides a spectral opening statement before horns deliver a dynamic head. The trumpeter's solo hovers above the rhythm section as the pianist's backdrop provides colorful chord flourishes leading into a dramatic sequence that introduces a restatement of the chorus and
Smith's imaginative tenor solo.
Ross lines the foreground with labyrinthine single-note runs and panoramic chordal flourishes. It's followed by the first brief sideman solos with the saxophonist's "Walter Speaks." It segues into "The Believer," a lush ballad.
Francies offers a harmonic foundation with painterly swing. The horns engage in sprightly head to head -- à la
Miles Davis and
Wayne Shorter -- before
Ross bridges the gap and trades killer solos with the pianist.
The title is introduced by
Scott's "Oracle" solo. His restrained rim shots meet piano and bass in an airy modal sequence before horns whisper an elegant melody.
Hill's flügelhorn solo adds trills and warmly intense lyric lines as the dynamic force of the tune increases. The lion's share of solo time is given to
Raghavan. His unhurried pizzicato builds on an opulent frame from vibes and piano. After
Ross' spectral, haunting "Lullaby" interlude, "Autumn" begins with his bell-like intro, then unfolds into an intricate ballad by
Francies and
Raghavan. Muted flügelhorn meets tenor in a euphonious head before
Hill builds out a solo framed by
Smith's warm tones.
Francies adds fleet-fingered runs before
Hill and
Smith rejoin the rhythm section in the outro. The trumpeter's bluesy "New Paths" provides the intro to the swinging hard bop exercise "Portrait of Fola." The ten-minute jam commences with a complex harmonic engagement between vibes and piano. They open a window for
Ross' spirited, yet deeply intimate solo.
Scott and
Raghavan buoy them in double-time, then lay back to offer both horn players room for gloriously imaginative solos. The bassist's meaty "Perpetual [e]motion" introduces "The Thump." Upright bass and snare breaks offer a lean, funky vamp for piano and trumpet to spiral out from. They transform the rhythm riff into bluesy, soulful, melodic invention amid solos from
Hill,
Ross, and
Francies. The pianist closes the set with his dazzling fantasia "Farewell."
New Gospel Revisited showcases
Hill as a deeply committed jazzman leading an inspired band that fires on all cylinders. ~ Thom Jurek