UK tenor saxophonist and composer Alex Hitchcock, until recently based in New York, brings us a fresh album from a new group featuring first-call improvising musicians. Hitchcock has built up an impressive resume over the past few years, with his two ‘Dream Band’ albums- both studio and live at our very own Vortex- receiving critical acclaim and boasting a similarly stellar cast of players. For Letters from Afar, a selection of 8 brand new originals,he has combined the young talents of Dave Adewumi (Jason Moran) on trumpet, Lex Korten (Melissa Aldana) on piano, double bassist Harish Raghavan (Walter Smith III) and drummer Jongkuk Kim (Aaron Parks).
Dissonance abounds in many of these new tunes. The groove which underpins ‘Yellow Greens’ is dark and brooding, with Hitchcock and Adewumi’s rich unison line jumping around unpredictably before giving way to a meditative tenor solo. Korten – a pianist with an exceptional touch – lends a lot to the musical conversation, catching and challenging the tenorist’s train of thought with a variety of sharp rhythmic ideas and shifting chromatic pads. The Korten-Hitchcock chemistry is also present in ‘Wishbone’, a piece based on complex, insistent repeated rhythms. The structure of this one is pushed almost to breaking point by the explosively inventive Kim.
Adewumi comes out of the woodwork in ‘EO’, a slow ballad. His smeared, bent and trilled trumpet lines soar over a bubbling rhythm section in a manner reminiscent of earlier Kenny Wheeler. He later shows a fiery side in ‘Invisible Beasts’, trading laser-focussed, swinging phrases with Hitchcock. There is a quality in the improvising of both horn players which feels essentially New York- of being ‘on the edge’ of a tune’s harmonic and rhythmic constraints, reaching almost total freedom, before settling back into the groove. Altoist Immanuel Wilkins often exemplifies a similar approach.
‘41’ sees an impressionistic solo from Korten, his speech-like lines interspersed with colourful bursts of chordal activity. Raghavan and Kim play an impressively active role here, providing thoughtful counterpoint to the pianist. The former has the ability to switch fluidly between a timekeeping role and a more melodic, decorative approach- no mean feat, given the complexity of the shifting metres and polyrhythms baked into Hitchcock’s compositions. We also hear this in the bassist’s accompaniment to Hitchcock’s frenetic solo on ‘Rio’, the only live track (recorded at Amsterdam’s Bimhuis).
This is an album which reflects Hitchcock’s learnings from being part of the fertile young New York scene and seeing the sheer variety of music on display there. There is a distinct freshness in his approach to the tenor. Most importantly, there is a band sound. This coherence comes from the virtuosity of his colleagues, yes; but it equally derives from the leader’s thoughtfulness in bringing them together, and from the vitality of his compositions, which bring out their unique qualities as improvisers.
BAND
Alex Hitchcock- tenor saxophone
Dave Adewumi- trumpet
Lex Korten- piano
Harish Raghavan- double bass
Jongkuk Kim- drums
