Anthony Wilson Nonet, House of the Singing Blossoms, Sam First **** recommended

Nine-piece albums are Anthony Wilson’s thing going right back to the 1990s. There’s 1997’s Anthony Wilson…

… then Goat Hill Junket followed the next year and Adult Themes the year after.

After that swift purple patch of productivity it took seven years before the hard to find Groove Note released Power of Nine emerged. It has singer Diana Krall on it guesting with whom Wilson has played extensively as a member of the Canadian megastar’s band.

The last thing I heard of Wilson’s was on English singer Jo Harrop’s Larry Klein produced The Path of a Tear recorded like this album in Los Angeles. Wilson was very good indeed on Harrop’s rendering of ‘Beautiful Fools.’

House of the Singing Blossoms is a live album recorded at the LA venue Sam First and issued by the spot’s own label. It includes a good chunk of Keith Jarrett Treasure Island material and of the latter the treatment of ‘Le Mistral’ practically sings off the page.

The Californian Wilson, 57, is the son of very influential American trumpeter and bandleader Gerald Wilson who in his twenties joined Jimmie Lunceford’s orchestra as both a trumpeter and arranger, contributing such significant works as the pulsating ‘Yard Dog Mazurka’. Wilson senior formed his own big band in 1944 and wrote and arranged for prominent figures such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughan and Nancy Wilson. A version of his piece ‘Triple Chase’ is among the selections on House of the Singing Blossoms [see video, top] a piece that Wilson senior played often in the latter period of his life.

The album (Anthony Wilson’s own piece ‘Blues for Wandering Angels’ is another obvious standout) – clearly another to add to the upper echelons of a list of top jazz albums released anywhere this year – was produced by David Robaire and was recorded live in March this year.

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