Jason Palmer Quartet at Ronnie Scott’s

Acclaimed Boston-based trumpeter and composer Jason Palmer has been blessing Europe’s jazz clubs with a slice of chordless East Coast hipness. Over the past couple of weeks his quartet has been touring music from the latest of his 14 releases as a leader, a 2023 live album on the Giant Steps Arts label entitled The Crossover: Live in Brooklyn. Palmer and legendary tenorist Mark Turner, a frequent collaborator, were the two mainstays from that record for this date at Ronnie Scott’s; US-born, UK-based double bassist Michael Janisch and New York drummer Ziv Ravitz replaced original quartet members Larry Grenadier and Marcus Gilmore.

Their set at a packed Ronnie’s began with a promise from Palmer that the music would be heavy. Without further ado, he launched into a dextrous solo introduction which set up the groove for One for Fannie Lou, named for Fannie Lou Hamer, a key voice in the 1960s civil rights movement. The tune’s angular melody, featuring Palmer and Turner’s interlocking horns, gave way for a burning solo from the saxophonist showcasing his signature prismatic style. As Palmer quipped, Mark Turner’s playing is often imitated but never duplicated – he has a unique approach to playing without a chordal instrument, his lines deliciously cryptic but still subtly descriptive of the underlying harmony.

The Cross Over (A Blues for A.I.) followed, coupled with a stark warning from Palmer about the dangers of humanity ‘crossing over’ into being too dependent on artificial intelligence. Janisch improvised a deft bass solo up front before the two horns entered with an insistent, mechanical melody. The trumpeter’s improvising shone here, a nuanced blend of chromaticism and soulful earthiness peppered with the purest of high notes. Janisch and Ravitz provided a highly interactive backdrop, the latter showing a wide palette of different grooves and timbres. Ravitz’s playing also stood out on It Very May Well Be So, a whimsical contrafact of Duke Pearson’s popular 60s composition Is That So; his accents occasionally hinted at a swaggering hip-hop groove, which was novel in a swinging context.

Another highlight was Landscape With an Obelisk, named for a dramatic, swirling 1638 painting by Govert Flinck which was stolen from the Isabella Stewart Garden Museum in 1990 and never recovered (see review link below). Palmer’s multi-section piece flowed through sparse and intense group improvisations before settling on a tight unison melody and driving solos. The set closed out with Berlin, a groover teed up by another impressive solo intro from Palmer and featuring some blues-inflected trading from the trumpeter and Turner.

Palmer is a master of blending bebop, blues and contemporary abstraction, all within a compositional world that is resolutely his own. He gave us his word that his music would be weighty; with his years of experience as a leader as well as a sideman with artists such as Roy Haynes, Herbie Hancock, Wynton Marsalis and Lee Konitz, it was always going to be.