Brooklyn Jazz Underground: A Portrait of Brooklyn

Rating: ★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

Anne Mette Iversen (b)
Dan Pratt (ts, cl)
David Smith (t)
Rob Garcia (d)
Adam Kolker (ts, cl)

Label:

BJU

September/2012

Media Format:

BJUR 035

RecordDate:

9 and 11 January 2012

With umptillion boho types and artists of all stripes calling Brooklyn home, this ensemble shows some chutzpah by referring to itself as the underground jazz unit of New York's hippest borough. As it turns out, it's probably not a completely justified claim either. Sure, all five members live there, and regularly run local gigs as part of the wider BJU organisation but you get the feeling there's got to be a lot of sounds coming from a lot deeper under Brooklyn's surface. This album presents two fairly conservative compositions from each member of the ensemble (all of whom are more used to working as bandleaders in their own right). There are a few funky beats; a whole load of complex, composerly heads and a couple of unremarkable ballads. The furthest out the session ever gets is Adam Kolker's ‘JV’ – but even that sounds like a tribute to the kind of sweetly melodic free jazz played 50 years ago by post-Ornette units such as New York Art Quartet. You won't hear many risks being taken here.

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