Music and Recording Reviews

Linda May Han Oh: Strange Heavens
Linda May Han Oh, bass; Ambrose Akinmusire, trumpet; Tyshawn Sorey, drums
Biophilia. 2025. Linda May Han Oh, prod.; Aaron Nevezie, Todd Carder, David Darlington, engs.
Performance **** Sonics *****

It is no small accomplishment for a bassist to draw attention away from a trumpeter and a drummer, especially young luminaries like Ambrose Akinmusire and Tyshawn Sorey. But Linda May Han Oh is special. Her purposefulness imbues every note with magnitude, and her attack makes the instrument sound 10' tall, strung with tiger gut. Only a few bassists can dominate while remaining this musical. Oh is of a lineage with Miroslav Vitous.

Akinmusire was on Oh's self-released debut, Entry. Strange Heavens is Oh's first trio date since Entry and fourth on Biophilia, the eco-conscious label founded by Fabian Almazan, Oh's pianist husband. In the small format and absent the chordal instruments she had employed between trios, her presence is even greater. This puts her far out front, similar to Vitous on his debut, Infinite Search. Every tug, filigree, and harmonic is beautifully clear.

The album's 12 pieces cover a panoply of moods and are presented in refreshingly pithy fashion—the whole album fails to make it to the 50-minute mark—yet it leaves one feeling fully sated. The opening track, "Portal," is aptly named: It's a doorway to the group's interplay. Heavens starts with an alternating sequence of limpid ballads and frothy upbeat numbers. The trio is masterful with dynamics on the former and bubbling with energy on the latter, leading into the album's heart, the proto funk of "Noise Machinery" and in "Home," the unleashing of the kinetic energy built up thus far. The back half is more ruminating: the brooding arco bass on "Folk Song"; the angularity of Geri Allen's "Skin"; and a soft landing with Melba Liston's "Just Waiting." Akinmusire and Sorey acquit themselves commensurate with their reputation and experience, but this is prime and primal Oh.—Andrey Henkin

Julian Shore Trio: Sub Rosa
Shore, piano; Martin Nevin, bass; Allan Mednard, drums
Chill Tone CT0004LP (CD, available as LP). 2025. Shore, Chris Leon, prods.; Chris Leon, eng.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½

A buzz has been building on jazz street over Julian Shore. He is not a new arrival. He is 38 and has played with a long list of eminent people on the New York scene. Apparently, Shore's cred recently hit critical mass. Word has begun to spread.

Often when pianists break through, they do it with chops and flash and idiosyncrasies. Shore is different. On Sub Rosa, his second album with his trio of bassist Martin Nevin and drummer Allan Mednard, he displays subtlety, indirection, and understatement. Compositions like "Messenger," "Mission," and "Beacon" have deceptively simple melodies. Shore patiently expands these songs from within until they are no longer simple. His chord cycles and recurrent figures evoke an incantatory atmosphere. With lesser artists, incantations can lead to stasis. But Shore's patient searching always brings surprising melodic epiphanies to the surface—revelations that were lingering submerged under his hands all along.

For contrast, he does a piece like "Must Keep Going"; it's two high-speed, complex, spiraling lines, one per hand, proving that he opts for simplicity by choice not necessity. Another burner is "All the Things You Are." Shore subjects the Kern/Hammerstein classic to a total tear-down and reconstruction. It is an adrenaline rush when the original melody is recognizable, just for a moment, within the piano notes flying by.

The Beach Boys' "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)" is an inspired repertoire decision. Shore, with his careful single notes, and Nevin, with his slow, deep bass markings, firm up this song and allow its inner beauty to stand clear.

Shore's trio is tight yet volatile. Nevin and Mednard are dynamic collaborators. Sub Rosa is one of the essential piano trio recordings of 2025.—Thomas Conrad

Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra: Mixed Bag
McGuinness, compositions, arrangements, vocals; 18- and 19-piece orchestras
Summit DCD 834 (CD). 2025. McGuinness, prod.; Ryan Streber, Steve Sacco, engs.
Performance ****
Sonics ****½

Orchestral jazz is often dependent on labors of love. Pete McGuinness has kept his band together for 20 years. "Together" does not mean full-time employment and world tours. It means intermittent rehearsals, concerts, and recordings. Mixed Bag is the band's fourth album.

McGuinness's personnel have been remarkably stable over the years. He describes them as "some of the most in-demand and virtuosic musicians on the New York jazz, studio and Broadway scenes." You will know some of their names and not others.

There is a kind of excitement that only a tight, wailing big jazz band can bring. It has to do with physical impact, massive energy, ensemble complexity, and diversification of soloists. This band checks all those boxes. Most tunes embody joie de vivre, but "The Dark Hours" is about the COVID pandemic, and "Where Do You Start" is Johnny Mandel's heartbroken ode to love lost. The latter, the only track with a string section and Bill Charlap on piano, is the album's finest moment. It is one of several on which McGuinness sings. Another is Cole Porter's "So in Love," with a suave vocal and a sexy bossa nova beat. McGuinness's singing is the secret weapon of Mixed Bag. His clear, soft, disarming tenor voice lays bare the inner truth of songs.

McGuinness's arrangements, the album's nonsecret weapon, are sleek and meticulously detailed. His players' exactitude in executing the charts reveals their elegance. Some of McGuinness's decisions are surprising. "Body and Soul" is newly quick. Most interpretations of "Django" hover, but this one swings hard. "'Round Midnight," portrayed by a full orchestra, sounds even more profound. All the soloists kick ass, especially saxophonists Tom Christensen and Dave Riekenberg.—Thomas Conrad

Mark Masters Ensemble: Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance!
Masters, arrangements; Billy Harper, tenor saxophone; 16 others
Capri 74176-2 (CD). 2025. The American Jazz Institute, prod.; Talley Sherwood, eng.
Performance ****
Sonics ****

Mark Masters is an interesting case. For many years he has led an ensemble that is probably the best ongoing big jazz band in Southern California. Masters uses his band as a vehicle to execute his arrangements of works by under-recognized composers. He has made albums of music by Duke Ellington's saxophone players, Jimmy Knepper and Dewey Redman. Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance! contains eight compositions by Billy Harper, an A-list tenor saxophone player. Until now, not enough people have noticed what a special composer Harper is. Masters makes it his business to notice such things. In addition to his titles of arranger, composer, and bandleader, he is an erudite curator.

He points out that Harper's compositions are all different. Yet there are common threads. Harper's tunes are a rare blend of melodicism, precision, and aggression. His pieces, especially in Masters's clean arrangements, display genuine elegance. Yet they hit. The exhilaration of songs like the title track and "Insight" and "The Seventh Day" is their combination of power and finesse. Masters's capable ensemble nails every one of his finely detailed charts. Another reason for the excitement is that Harper himself is the featured guest soloist. His muscular, commanding tenor lights up every track. Two more guests who play key roles are pianist Francesca Tanksley and trumpeter Tim Hagans.

In this hard, fast album, it is surprising that the most memorable track is soft and slow. "If One Could Only See" is a passionate ballad. Jerry Pinter's alto flute and Brian Walsh's bass clarinet conjure a rapt atmosphere out of which Harper's tenor emerges. The emotion that informs his portrayal of the melody is tough love. Behind him, the orchestra gently swells, recedes, and swells again.—Thomas Conrad