Saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock has established herself as an adventurous, innovative, and expressive musician and a compelling improviser. However, on her ambitious recent release, Purposing the Air, it’s not her saxophone that is heard, but her composer’s pen, which takes as its subject the poetry of Erica Hunt, specifically “Mood Librarian—a poem in koan,” from Jump the Clock. Together, the pens of Laubrock and Hunt create an evocative atmosphere as challenging as it is inviting.
Saxophonists Mette Henriette and George Winstone possess distinctive, daring voices, and each has a provocative new release.
Two artists new to me, alto saxophonist Randal Despommier and pianist Chris Pattishall, bring it with their debut recordings as leaders. The soulful Despommier’s five originals and two covers offer a playlist of his life in multiple genres, while Pattishall recasts Mary Lou Williams’ Zodiac Suite in a faithful but near hallucinatory quintet-plus-one version.
