Composition is a very misunderstood word in a jazz context and in the same way that everyone is a critic every jazzer is a composer – on one level or another.
That said there is clearly more of a compositional mind at work here than most on this best recording we have come across to date from the Amsterdam scene drummer of South Korean descent, Sun-Mi Hong.
Operating in a mutually beneficial lockstep with the Scot, trumpeter, Alistair Payne the setting is quintet, the lines often sinewy and complex.
However, what unfurls beyond such musical sleight of hand, such as the open play arrived at on the first of these eight pieces, is largely understandable even bearing in mind the non-standard approach to rhythm and melody.
The free-ish band at work on this recording is completed by tenorist Nicolò Ricci, bassist Alessandro Fongaro and avant pianist Chaerin Im.
OK the curiously monikered ”Never Wilting Petal” suite doesn’t quite bloom. But beyond that strand of the album there’s more than enough here of a lifebelt to cling on to.
The ”Meaning of a Nest” suite itself is much stronger.
Moody, contemplative, Fourth Page, which is chamber jazz wrapped in Asiatic brass in a nutshell, keeps you guessing at every fork of the road.
- The Sun-Mi Hong Quintet are touring this month. Dates include Glasgow tomorrow night.
