After the stunning modern jazz trumpeter
Ambrose Akinmusire delivered on the acclaimed
When the Heart Emerges Glistening in 2011, he plays it anything but safe on
The Imagined Savior Is Far Easier to Paint. With his working quintet -- tenor saxophonist Walter Smith, drummer
Justin Brown, bassist
Harish Raghavan, and pianist Sam Harris -- he expands the frame to include guitarist
Charles Altura in a sextet or alternating with Smith. In addition, vocalists
Becca Stevens,
Cold Specks, and
Theo Bleckman (all of whom contribute lyrics) appear, as do the Osso String Quartet and flutist Elena Penderhughes.
Akinmusire self-produced this set and showcases a diverse range of carefully scripted, genre-blurring compositions -- modern classical, vanguard pop, spoken word -- in addition to jazz. Opener "Marie Christie" is a piano and trumpet duet where
Akinmusire evokes a moody lyric before engaging in a flurry of improvisation. "As We Fight (Willie Penrose)" unfolds gradually.
Altura, Smith, and
Akinmusire unwind the labyrinthine lyric before a martial snare and undulating bassline quicken the pace as keys and dynamics shift before a series of brief solos. "Vartha" is the most joyous tune here. Initiated by
Altura's minor-key minimalist pulse and
Raghavan's fluid bassline, it evolves along a linear chromatic line with pianistic embellishments and
Akinmusire playing in an uncharacteristic warm, fat tone. "Our Basement (Ed)," written by
Stevens, places her in the context of the string quartet's pulsing rhythm and more expressionistic suggestions by the trumpeter, Harris, and
Brown. Her provocative phrasing eerily slips between the cracks of arty pop, early Americana, classical music, and vanguard jazz. "The Beauty of Dissolving Portraits" features the trumpeter soloing lyrically with a flute amid a nearly static drone by bass and string quartet. "Asiam (Joan)," inspired by
Joni Mitchell, features
Bleckman's gorgeous singing appended by his overdubbed trademark vocal effects and harmonies, as he weaves them inside an emotive harmonic frame by the quintet. "Bubbles (John William Sublett)" is deeply rhythmic, knotty post-bop with a killer
Raghavan solo. "Ceaseless Inexhaustible Child (Cyntoia Brown)" features
Cold Specks' gloomy soul vocal as the voice of its subject (a young woman imprisoned for life at the age of 16). She sings above a near-gospel melody ringed with processional piano, bluesy guitar, and
Akinmusire's wailing, soaring, near-joyous trumpet as a contrasting second voice. "Recall for Those Absent" (a roll call of the names of young black men killed by police and read by a child) gives way to the free quintet interaction of "J.E. Nilmah (Ecclesiastes 6:10)," appended by a chamber piece, "Inflatedbyspinning," for flute, bass, and string quartet The 16-minute live closer, "Richard (Conduit)," is kinetic, spiraling jazz. It crosses modal, free, and post-bop terrains and everyone gets ample room to solo.
The Imagined Savior Is Far Easier to Paint is provocative: its moodiness, myriad musical directions, and 79-minute length may be initially off-putting. What is revealed with repeated listening, however, is that this set's achievement is commensurate with its ambition. ~ Thom Jurek