Composer and saxophonist Ken Thomson has a lot to say. He has pioneered jazz and punk fusion in several musical ensembles, including Gutbucket, a jazz-influenced punk band that has toured internationally since 1999. And he has developed a highly unique chamber jazz ensemble that goes by the deceptively simple moniker Fast/Slow. In Settle, the newest recording by Fast/Slow, additional influences can be discerned, including the ambient “space” music that has been popular since the 1980s. But make no mistake, Settle is not “light” jazz or new-age fusion by any means. Those genres are for people who don’t like music but can’t stand silence. Settle demands to be heard and it is impossible not to listen intently to each track. This is definitely not background music for cocktail parties.
Not being much of a punk rock aficionado, I simply took it all in as innovative jazz. Fast/Slow has composer Ken Thomson on bass clarinet and alto sax, Russ Johnson on trumpet, Adam Armstrong on bass and Frank Kennedy on drums. Added to this is the highly original sound of Nir Felder on electric guitar. Felder’s guitar is sometimes front-and-center and ethereal, and other times it steps back and generates the pulse.
Settle has six pieces that are each roughly ten minutes long and a final, two-minute "Coda" at the end. Each piece is unique, with the same voice, perhaps, or similar voices throughout, but with each piece having something unique to say. For me one of the most thrilling sounds was an homage to the amazing jazz scores of classic 1970s thrillers such as Don Ellis’ The French Connection and David Shire’s The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3. It is the Shire score especially that I heard echoing throughout the first piece on the album, the title track "Settle". Cacophonous horns suggest car horn blasts as the drums and percussion provide the hearbeat and blood flow that keep the city going, if swirling with menace. The sound is not retro in the least, yet it is very evocative of cinema's 1970s New York, a period that perhaps did not ever really exist except in the movies. Here it is again, re-imagined for our time, fresh, original and not a bit warmed-over or ironic.
Other tracks, such as "We Are Not All In This Together" are distinctly ethereal, suggesting the ambient sounds of new-age music with a distinctive edge that does not allow it to fade into the background. Just when it becomes mellow and soothing (but not sleep-inducing, as ambient music is to me) there is a twist to get your attention. And all throughout the recording there is the feeling of a dry sense of humor somewhere in the music's ether.
What is amazing is how synchronous all of the musicians are with Thomson’s unique sound. There are times in which Russ Johnson’s trumpet is literally in perfect sync with Thomson’s instrument, as if the two of them are having the exact same improvisational impulses at once. It’s magical.
Settle is definitely an innovative, complex and satisfying recording. It’s the kind of music you want to play for fellow jazz fans whom you want to surprise with something really new.
Out September 23 on NCM East Records. For more information, head to https://ktonline.net/
