Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
The charismatic performances that distinguish “Outrospection” center on eleven expressive compositions from Gregg Hill, an under-the-radar composer of imagination and emotional depth. Renowned bassist Rodney Whitaker first recognized Hill’s music several years ago when they worked on a project together. Warmth and humanity resonate throughout the new recording, grown out of their friendship. The exceptional improvisers joining Whitaker are drawn primarily from the jazz faculty at Michigan State University, the program he has helmed for two decades. They include trumpeter Etienne Charles, pianist Xavier Davis, drummer Dana Hall, saxophonist Diego Rivera and trombonist Michael Dease.
Code Quartet is a collective based out of Montreal. Formed four years ago by saxophonist Christine Jensen, trumpeter Lex French, bassist Adrian Vedady and drummer Jim Doxas, the group came together with the equal goals of composing and improvising in a chordless-quartet setting. The primary motivation for the formation of the group has been to build on the freedom of expression pioneered by Ornette Coleman’s seminal group of the 1950s. They’ve spent the last three years sculpting their original compositions as a team, leading them to exciting performing opportunities and, now, their debut album, “Genealogy.”
Also this week, the inventive and engaging composer and imaginative arranger Ian Charleton leads his eighteen-piece big band on their second release, “A Fresh Perspective”;
alto saxophonist Jim Snidero was able to assemble a quartet during the pandemic for a feasible, safe, limited-audience gig “Live at the Deer Head Inn”;
and guitarist/composer Dan Wilson, who has worked in the trios of Joey DeFrancesco and Christian McBride, debuts on disc with “Vessels of Wood and Earth.”