Once again a solid showing from Artemis, a band that goes back around 9 years.
But I prefer world class leader Renee Rosnes’ solo releases however such as Crossing Paths and Artemis’ earlier, far punchier, showing found In Real Time the most accomplished by far of their albums to date.
Nevertheless there are plenty of good things here.
Tracks include a stately version of Wayne Shorter classic ‘Footprints’. But far more interesting given how often covered that tune is turns out to be ‘Little Cranberry’ drummer Allison Miller’s tune tucked in at the end.
Miller’s own album Big & Lovely with the One O’Clock Lab Band recently issued is worth checking out – it’s more obviously straightahead if compared against Artemis’ more complex direction. It also swings a whole lot more.
A quintet, Rosnes, on piano and Rhodes, with trumpeter Ingrid Jensen who steals the show on the new Kenny Wheeler Legacy album Some Days Are Better, tenor saxophonist Nicole Glover, bassist Noriko Ueda and the aforementioned Miller, it’s quite an old fashioned sound.
Artemis do not shy away from delving into wake up calls from the 1960s.
But that’s part of the context and the whole point of the thing with the crucial twist that the selections allow room and space to build new tunes from such a classic base to say something about the here and now.
Other highlights include Ueda piece ‘Komorebi’ that takes its name from a Japanese word that describes the look of sunlight filtering through a tree’s leaves.
A band that continues to grow in stature then and in the process sheds light on a golden age of jazz through their new ideas and intimacy with the classics.
This latest is all about maintaining the continuum.
