photo of Hannah Marks: via Endectomorph on Bandcamp
Bassist-composer Hannah Marks hails from Des Moines in Iowa. She has lived in New York since before the Lockdown years.
She made a record called Outsider, Outlier issued by another small label called Out Of Your Head Records three years ago. It had vocals on it. This new one doesn’t. Alto saxophonist Nathan Reising who is terrific on Feed the Fire was also on that earlier album which was all originals. Pianist Lex Korten – who plays at the Vortex in London tomorrow night – is also on both albums.
Feed the Fire includes an evocative treatment of yearning Bob Hurst minor mode ballad ‘The Dark Knight’ – Hurst is best known for his work with Branford Marsalis and the absorbingly oblique piece figured on the Branford Quartet album Crazy People Music (Columbia, 1990) – the 90s are important in the Marksian cosmos.
Produced by the great Bandwagon pianist Jason Moran, with whom Marks studied at Boston’s New England Conservatory after Indiana University, Feed The Fire puts the music of Geri Allen (1957-2017) as a significant centrepiece of the chosen repertoire.
The title track, with its dazzlingly ferocious giddy up fast paced opening riff, an extended 20 bar blues, is an Allen piece that Betty Carter sang vocalese to on the Verve album of the same name issued in the 1990s. It was recorded live at London’s Royal Festival Hall. Allen also interpreted it on her own album again in the 90s Some Aspects of Water in a JazzPar Prize setting recorded in Denmark with Belonging Band bassist Palle Danielsson and Bitches Brew drummer Lenny White.
Even better is Marks’ take on Allen’s beautiful ‘Unconditional Love’ that appeared on The Life of a Song (Telarc, 2004) – Allen with Feed the Fire rhythm partners Jack DeJohnette and Dave Holland on that seek downable gem. Korten is superb here.
Other good bits? Roll up, roll up for the lively version of Dewey Redman’s scampering ‘Mushi Mushi’ that Keith Jarrett fans will know from Bop-Be (Impulse, 1978). Again Korten plays a blinder on this.
For her bass playing and compositional voice – and sometimes I think of the style of Esperanza Spalding a bit in the way she phrases things – I’d choose ‘The Mountains Are Calling (And I Must Go)’ where Marks’ use of arco bass is strong. And within that piece there is a darker chamber jazz style to the sound arising interestingly. Her tune ‘Room 157’ has a punchy avant-garde intensity to it that again works more than well.