Music – Kind of Blue, But Only Kind Of

Christian Scott – “Yesterday You Said Tomorrow” (Concord Jazz)
Jason Ajemian & the HighLife – “Let Me Get That Digital” and “Monsters & Animals” (Sund Magi)
Pop listeners have an interesting relationship with jazz. At least, pop listeners’ relationship with jazz has been interesting ever since pop listeners and jazz listeners became two groups of people. And recognizing that pop and jazz were fairly synonymous before rock ‘n’ roll made the blues not-the-blues and jazz got more complicated and less song-oriented is important in defining that relationship.

I find that as pop listeners, we’re often pressured to feign an interest in jazz, the allegedly “smarter” of the two musics.  Apparently, as we reach a certain age, it’s time to stop listening to this and start listening to that. Usually this results in the purchase of “Kind Of Blue” and a metaphorical washing of the hands before returning to Zeppelin “IV”. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Christian Scott is a 26 year-old Grammy-nominated jazz trumpeter. His third studio album, “Yesterday You Said Tomorrow,” is unquestionably jazz and slyly pop. On the whole, it carries much of the smooth swinging, melodic complexity and socio-political inspirations that drove jazz records of the ’60s and ’70s. Scott is a master of tone, as able to coax velveteen whispers from his horn as he is to color a motif with brash squeals. But despite Scott’s own instrumental prowess, and the fact that the record bears his name, the sound is that of a band effort. Jamire Williams’ precocious percussion backs Scott’s improvisations with agile phrases that – whether driving an upbeat number, or plying brushed rhythmic textures – speak as much as Scott’s trumpet. Matthew Stevens’ guitar dashes countermelodies as delicate tone and high-tensile-strength confidence.

But as much as “Yesterday You Said Tomorrow” evokes the jazz greats, Scott’s currency is in his breadth of influence, copping R&B melodies, citing Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan, and, as he does here, covering “The Eraser,” originally a solo cut by Radiohead’s Thom Yorke (a songwriter whose band, it should be noted, owes more than a small debt to jazz).

Here, the melodies meander, and any lyrical quality is relative to tonal expressiveness — but the song remains at the core. It thinks like jazz, but it moves like pop music.

On the other side of the jazz spectrum, free-form bass ace Jason Ajemian, fronting his HighLife combo, has made a collection of songs that move like jazz, but think like pop music. The HighLife’s dual March releases, the “Let Me Get That Digital” LP and “Monsters & Animals” single, both build pop structures from free-improv components. Ajemian’s moaning vocal, playing often at the intersection of bleating indie rock and monastic chant, coaxes some semblance of verse-chorus, but the band’s communication is ultimately what allows the music to mine accessibility from out-minded skronk. Trumpeter Jason Wick and guitarist Owen Stewart-Robinson ably complement each other’s efforts to make their instruments sound like anything but a trumpet and a guitar, respectively. But when Wick and saxophonist Peter Hanson congeal their horns’ timbres, it lends the bands a taste of Fela funk. Marc Riordan’s drums are never complacent, interjecting commentary and offbeat fills before returning to provide a pulse for the songs.

And that’s key, here. Even when the band members veer as far afield as they can muster, the song pulls them back. They’ve effectively made a free-jazz primer of pop fans, and done it perhaps more effectively than any number of jazz-leaning indie rock bands with vainglorious aspirations.

It all does bring us back, though, to how pop listeners try to approach jazz, or why they don’t approach it at all. Matters of timbre preferences – the “I don’t like horns” argument – aside, when the song offers a comforting formality, a momentum and a few memorable points of reference, the canyon really isn’t so wide after all.

Selected cuts for your listening pleasure:

Christian Scott –”The Eraser”

Jason Ajemian & the HighLife – “Monsters”

MGMT – “Congratulations” (Columbia)
Having completely abandoned the fluffy synth-pop mega-jams that turned them from indie darling to mainstream megalith, MGMT has arrived at something unexpected, and unexpectedly good. Fitting they named a song “Brian Eno” as the pop-weirdo’s fingerprints are all over the graceful, panoramic acid-pop MGMT has compiled into its sure-to-be-misunderstood sophomore effort.

Annuals – “Sweet Sister” (Banter)

Separated from their major-label contract, Raleigh’s Annuals ramp up the textures, buttressing soft-pop jams with synth burbles and entangled guitars. It’s more refined than their debut, but looser and more spirited than 2008’s “Such Fun.” And their cover of Johnny Cash’s “Flesh and Blood” is somehow pretty OK
Loxtep

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Jakob Dylan – “Women + Country” (Columbia)
Returning to work with T. Bone Burnett, who produced The Wallflowers’ breakout “Bringing Down The Horse,” proved a fortuitous decision for Jakob Dylan. With “Women + Country,” his second solo outing, Dylan’s steering a steady ship buoyed by Burnett’s lush, smoldering Americana signature. Dylan’s country rock shuffles along a well-trod path; it’s as commonplace as a sunset purpling the horizon.

Harlem – “Hippies” (Matador)
There’s not much to Harlem, an ungroomed and unbridled garage rock band from Texas. The band’s real appeal appears in its ability to mine the charm out of surf-rock boogie and R&B swagger, and assemble it hastily. The result sounds something like the soundtrack to a Tarantino movie, if he made actual B-movies.
Friendly Ghost

~ Bryan Reed