DayDream reviewed in marlbank recently revealed Sipiagin in a less hard bop rooted context than you will find on Reverberations or his other appearance featured on the upcoming Iris from labelmate drummer Vladimir Kostadinovic.
Switching this on I am transported to the very best jazz club I can think of ever stepping foot in – Ronnie Scott’s – and somehow even though it was recorded not in London and not in a jazz club but in a studio in Italy a place like Ronnie’s is instantly in front of me. He brings the lights, the aroma, the feel, the sound. The 3D reality. It’s tactile.
Tunes are Sipiagin’s plus Mingus, Ellington, Strayhorn and McCoy Tyner numbers. The vocal with Aubrey Johnson who is appealingly Gretchen Parlato-like on a densely woven piece harmonically called ‘Mish Match’ is a strong suit of the album. The fact it comes as the second track in means such a contrastive vocals item is not placed as an afterthought, bolt from the blue or encore piece, all curious phenomena that sometimes regrettably happens functionally when not enough care is taken over the ordering of tracks.
Followers of Sipiagin’s will also know ‘Sipa-Tham’ in an even more fluttering version found on Posi-Tone 2021 release Upstream in a setting that had the Frisellian Rudy Royston at the kit.
All the ducks are in a row. Vinson’s soloing works well and on the album in more general terms his playing is as good as I ever heard him on record although the context is not as groove heavy as found on Trio Grande.
If a Vinson fan go hear what the Londoner does on ‘Prelude to a Kiss’ peeling away the instantly recognisable notes and tones of the piece and finding something to say that’s all his own. Never vin ordinaire and already even more of a grand cru like a dweller on the threshold in the shadow of fellow Englishman Tim Garland, Vinson is also on the new Ant Law Unified Theories album which is a must.
Sipiagin was in the Mingus Big Band for Blues and Politics and the engrossing Mingus selection here drawing on the ‘Little Royal Suite’ shares its inclusion in common with that 1999 album.
I haven’t heard a version of Strayhorn’s ‘UMMG’ since pianist Matthew Whitaker’s on Now Hear This. But Sipiagian’s take is more similar to Terrell Stafford’s issued a decade ago although Stafford’s tonal approach and the way he conveys timbre is not quite the same.
This year hard bop speaking generally and there is a lot of width within that approach championed by the remarkable Blue Note find Brandon Woody, Sipiagin himself, Jeremy Pelt and more is as valid as ever. I have no problem with quality emanating from any style as long as it works successfully. Certainly Reverberations does on its own terms by mingling fine tunes, the vocal track and standards in a simpatico context. A lot of critics make the mistake that you have to play avant-garde to be credible. LMFAO. It’s thinking that misses the point entirely.
Out on 27 June.
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