Ernesto Cervini: Joy

Joy. That's how Canadian drummer Ernesto Cervini rolls. All of his musical undertakings—and there are many—strut along the sunny side of the street with smiles on their faces, carnations in their lapels. Indeed, in his side gig as the boss of Orange Grove Publicity—representing some of Canada's finest jazz artists— joy, positivity and general all around good vibes pervade.

For his album Joy, Cervini brings in three of his regular working groups, Turboprop, Tetrahedron and TuneTown, to help him explore author Louise Penny's "Gamache, Three Pines" series of detective mystery novels, written works that exude the qualities of goodness, decency and a sometimes exuberant, sometime placid acceptance of life as it is, from the perspective of optimism and faith in human nature.

The album's opener, "Three Pines," sounds like something from a nondenominational church. A jazzy one. The wordless vocals (a first for an Ernesto Cervini disc) from Felicity WIlliams, Emilie-Claire Barlow and Amy Cervini, are a small choir of angelic celebration of life, floating on clouds inside an exquisite rhythm section. "Surprised By Joy" cooks over a high flame, the rhythm section a pot full of turbulent boiling water, a pan bursting into saxophone flames on top of the stove. "Myrna," the name of a Three Pines used book store owner, oozes along on a noir-ish liquid groove, giving the impression that the store remains open into the wee hours.

Sets of this sort, with a shuffle of bands and vocal and nonvocal music, have the potential to stumble from a lack of cohesion. But the best of them, like the ECM Records Selected Series albums, thoughtfully curated and produced—drummer Jon Christensen's 2004 contribution to this series comes to mind—are ear-opening delights. Joy is in that league. Vocalist Amy Cervini, who steps to the microphone on the disc's previously-mentioned opener, produced Joy, assuring the avoidance the stumble. With the Louise Penny theme, Amy Cervini's deft hand, and top notch musicianship all around—not to forget the distinctive Ernesto Cervini compositions—Joy is a compelling set, beginning with its "Three Pines" opener, until its closer, "I'm FINE," featuring gorgeous three horn harmony and a laid back tenor sax solo from Kelly Jefferson that evokes to perfection the title of the tune.

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