Every once in a while, a man remembers that jazz music might be one of the best music genres out there. It is almost impossible to be indifferent when listening to the jazz classics, although contemporary jazz that is often played in the background of cafes and restaurants can make you think that jazz is nothing more than elevator music. Following is a corpus delicti for the first sentence of this review. In the ocean of albums and information, New York jazz scene was respectably enriched with a debut release of trumpet player Jaimie Branch. With a subtle utilization of rhythmic figures and repetitive motives, and creative dose of eclectic instruments, Jaimie succeeded in making a small masterpiece.
New York avant-garde jazz scene still has a lot to offer, even though it exists in the total underground, beyond routine of mainstream and convenience of record labels, producers and media. Still, this is a persistent issue when we are talking about specific artists who don't have a substantial marketing campaign behind their work. That's why it may take years for them to be "discovered" by their target audience. The problem is even bigger If we're talking about younger generations.
Jaimie Branch is an experienced musician, and you can hear that in her interpretation. Working in her hometown Chicago with Ken Wandermark, Tim Daisy, free-jazz icon Fred Lonberg-Holmes and William Parker obviously influenced her authorship. Her compositions are impeccable. From using various effects on trumpet, and electronic additions, to dynamic and colorful sections, Fly or Die is a box of free-jazz music with few straight-ahead, latin and ethnic compositions with motives that often modulate uninhibitedly.
Fly or Die is a conceptual effort whose vitality emerges from progressive and inventive collective improvisation of all the members of the ensemble. The quality is multi-layered and it demands open mind and thirsty audio perception. In my humble opinion, this is the best avant-guard accomplishments in 2017.
