Friday, September 21, 2012

Aram Shelton Quartet, Everything for Somebody

There's a loose confederation of Chicago jazz performer-composers at work making exciting music these days in various combinations and altoist Aram Shelton is one of them, though he is Californian much of the time chronologically. He steps forward with a quartet offering (the second album with this lineup) on Everything for Somebody (Singlespeedmusic SSM-011).

It's a well-meshed, energized band of Aram, Keefe Jackson on tenor, Anton Hatwich, acoustic bass, and Tim Daisy on drums.

The music on a number of levels takes the legacy of the early Ornette quartets and puts it in an original place. The rhythm section swings with gusto, the Shelton compositions framework the band well and have a kind of mental staying power, and both he and Keefe solo with their own ears wide open.

It's one of those albums that gives me lots of joy to hear. And it combines old-new-thing and new-new-thing for maximum torque.

Give this one a hearing, by all means.

No comments:

Post a Comment