Biggest problem for new artists?
Name recognition.
You need name recognition to get people to listen beyond your nearest and dearest.
And that applies even if you are out there doing it for way more than a few gigs.
Name recognition isn’t even necessarily approval. It’s just that you exist and you belong. And that is hard earned in itself.
What do we know and more to the point think on this side of the Atlantic about Jake Richter?
Well Listen to the Birds is a great calling card to begin with. I’m sure he’ll make even better records going forward. Nostalgia, nature and environment, personal experience – Milwaukee (…?), fun, emotion – some of the themes the titles touch upon at least in terms of names are here on this recording.
It’s pretty convincing. But OK maybe the trumpet solo on the title track loses its thread a bit. And yet that same player Brandon Choi is probably the pick of the contributors on the record redeeming himself and proving far more convincing later on the appealingly knotty ‘Tetra.’
Maybe there’s a little too much nostalgia that is if you confuse introspection, of which there is a bit here, with sentimentality. It’s not twee like so called cosy jazz of which there’s a lot about right now.
There’s basically two groups at work here led by drummer Richter who has written all the tunes.
Maiden voyage
The more interesting tracks are the ones with trumpet and tenor sax (Neta Raanan). But Connor Evans’ noodly guitar on some of the other tracks works OK especially on ‘Milwaukee Song.’
It’s a first time out for Richter as a leader and it’s a pretty decent stab at getting the ball rolling and reaching out to us out there – the great unwashed. Kevin Sun’s Endectomorph are great at curating new artists like these.
Probably if the album only featured one combination it would be better. But it is what it is.
Richter according to his label biography graduated with a Masters Degree in jazz composition from the Manhattan School of Music where he studied with Miguel Zenón, Jim McNeely, Kendrick Scott, and Jeff Ballard. Before that he was at Indiana University.
Don’t get me wrong I like albums with loads of originals.
But I think this album needs a cover in the mix. It doesn’t have to be from the 1920s or 30s but a cover would be great nevertheless. I’d like to hear what the leader can do for instance on a piece by Paul Motian.
You do hear Jeff Ballard’s influence on Richter’s playing particularly on the title track. That’s no bad thing at all. Check out the YouTube as well. The process of achieving name recognition far and beyond is well on the way given how credible Listen to the Birds certainly proves. Out now
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