Heard on the excellent Downhill From Here and Southern Nights recently issued, touring lately in China and South Korea with jazz superstars Brad Mehldau and Christian McBride, this brand new live album was issued quietly with a minimum of fanfare.
It’s all the more special an experience to discover Journey to the New: Live at the Village Vanguard in an ocean of sound given the refreshing lack of release hype. It’s a message in a bottle bobbing on a turbulent sea.
A big name to anyone into Vijay Iyer, the 38-year-old Gilmore, the grandson of bebop era icon Roy Haynes (1925-2024), was in Iyer’s classic “Historicity trio.”
Writing on Instagram the American says:
“I’ve always dreamed of making a live album. Over the years I’ve played at the Village Vanguard with so many artists I admire. But it wasn’t until I started performing there as a leader that I truly felt how meaningful — and organic — it could be to create an album in that space.
“The fact that we were able to be in the same place, together, for six nights felt like a small miracle. It was another sign that it was time to make this album. The Vanguard itself is an inspiration. Standing on that stage, you feel the weight of that history — and the energy of all the music that’s lived there.”
At Manhattan club the Vanguard he’s with Morgan Guerin on EWI who writes the piece ‘Hindsight,’ David Virelles known for his work with Steve Coleman is on piano, Emmanuel Michael is on guitar, Rashaan Carter is on double bass and Burniss Travis who is on bass guitar is also credited a bit nebulously for sound design.
Travis writes the long opener ‘Voltaire,’ while ‘Interlude One’ and ‘Interlude Two’ are Emmanuel Michael’s. ‘Cape Stride’ is Gilmore’s as is the title track. ‘Cape Stride’ stands out most for its superb soloing from Virelles.
The only cover on this new album is Geri Allen’s ‘Open Handed Reach’ a version of which a couple of years ago was issued on the Motéma label by guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel in duo with Allen. That treatment dated back to a live Paris recording from 2012 which was the first time that a recording of the song had even been issued. Allen died in 2017. This version gets a very enthusiastic reaction from the Vanguard audience.
Gilmore was on a fine Chick Corea studio album called The Vigil issued in 2013. While it’s foolish to compare like with like as that doesn’t work this album if you think outside the box sits well with that feeling. The idiom, futuristic jazz-rock, perhaps is one way of deeming this Journey, and is a continuity in what Return to Forever began to explore in the 1970s. I’d also say it resonates with Kendrick Scott 2007 album The Source if you recall that recording of Gilmore’s fellow drummer’s who is 6 years his senior.
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