Notable Releases from Christian Dillingham and Others

Here is a look at some notable albums released in the latter half of 2023.

Ilya Dynov
Bridges
Self-Produced
2023

Drummer Ilya Dynov leads a small group session of straight-ahead jazz played with an edge and swinging deftness. The music runs the gamut from the rolling urgency of "Constellation," and the soulful lope of "For Those We Love" to the jagged high-stepping of "Blue." Pianist Jihee Heo consistently breezes nimbly over the supple rhythms laid down by Dynov and bassist Lonnie Plaxico, particularly on "Blue" and the dreamy waltz, "Hope Through Sadness." Trumpeter Alex Norris also shows up on several tracks and adds an element of daredevil brashness to the proceedings.

Jeremy Dutton
Anyone Is Better Than Here
Self-Produced
2023

Drummer Jeremy Dutton goes in a more thoughtful direction on his debut album. Working with musicians like trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and vibraphonist Joel Ross, he leads a dramatic musical tapestry where rhythms and textures shift from track to track. The album is full of striking individual moments like Akinmusire's burrowing trumpet on "Waves," Ben Wendel's spooky sax lines over springy piano on "Unfolding," Mike Moreno's rubbery guitar on "Mirrors," and the deep weave of crying sax and ringing vibes on "Shifts." All this activity is wonderfully held together by Dutton's slippery, erratic drumbeats which enhance the varying emotions of the music.

Billy Mohler
Ultraviolet
Contagious Music
2023

This is bassist Billy Mohler's third album featuring his quartet with Shane Endsley on trumpet, Chris Speed on reeds, and Nate Wood on drums. The music rises out of the deep groaning sound of Mohler's bass. The thick grooves he creates give Endlsey and Speed the freedom to whirl and fly, The two jubilantly dance on "Ultraviolet," moan together on "Sorrow" and glide over an immaculately fat groove on "The Wait." Mohler and Wood are a combustible rhythm section underneath the horn action and the entire album is a fiery blast.

Christian Dillingham
Cascades
Greenleaf Music
2023

Christian Dillingham is a Chicago-based bassist with a long list of credits in the jazz, classical, and gospel areas. On this album he explores more contemplative sounds. Some tracks, such as "The Bottoms," "Homeostasis" and "Undulation," have laid-back alto sax and guitar settling into loping, slightly funky grooves. Other tracks, such as "South State Line Road," "Someday Soon" and "No Froust" carry airs of brooding melancholy by way of Dave Miller's shimmering strummed guitar and Lenard Simpson's softly nudging saxophone sound. Dillingham's compositions make good use of these elements and the results are always interesting, even when they flatten out to near-ambient sound in "Lost in Desolation."

Mick Rossi / Peter Hess / Matt Moran
You Break You Buy
Diskonife
2023

This album is the result of three musicians getting together with a bunch of instruments and no specific plan in mind, yet coming up with surprisingly listenable results. Broadly speaking, Mick Rossi plays drums and keyboards, Peter Hess handles reed instruments, and Matt Moran plays vibes. The music they make together varies from track to track though most of it comes out on the unsettling side. On "Panopticon" Hess blows somber bass clarinet over Rossi's menacing Fender Rhodes sounds, "You Break You Buy" is a mix of bubbly soprano, heavy drums, and clattering vibes. "Jean Rollin" combines dampened piano notes, shimmering vibes, and long saxophone and flute sounds. "El Dorado"'s mix of eerie organ, ghostly vibes, and low bass clarinet moans is practically haunted-house music. This is a fun collection of improvised but accessible sounds that might make a good soundtrack for a Halloween party.

Gabriela Martina
Homage to Gramlis
Self-Produced
2023

Vocalist Gabriela Martina grew up on a dairy farm in Switzerland. Today, she is established on the New York and Boston jazz scenes. This album reflects her personal journey from one world to the other. She has a wide vocal range that serves her well in different settings here. She sings and yodels expressively over accordion and piano on "Mother Mary," adapts to a sophisticated funk setting on "Four Siblings," and convincingly puts over the quiet drama of "Letter to Gramlis." She even becomes a multi-tracked choir for a soaring version of Duke Ellington's "Heaven." Martina has a distinctive voice that can convey delicacy or power as needed. She convincingly shows the range of her abilities on this album.

Tracks and Personnel

Bridges

Tracks: Intro; Constellation; Drum & Berries; For Those We Love; Blue; Hope Through Sadness; Bridges;68th Street; Finale.

Personnel: Ilya Dynov: drums; Alex Norris: trumpet; Lonnie Plaxico: double bass; Jihee Heo: piano.

Anyone Is Better Than Here

Tracks: Opening Credits; Waves; Mirrors; Shores; Vulnerable; Unfolding; Shifits; Dream; Frenzy; Truman (Reborn); The Mother; Closing Sequence.

Personnel: Jeremy Dutton: drums; Ambrose Akinmusire: trumpet (2,8); Ben Wendel: saxophone (1,3-7,9-12); Mike Moreno: guitar (3-5, 9-10, 12); James Francies: piano; Joel Ross: vibraphone(1,3,5-7,9,11-12); Matt Brewer: bass (1, 3, 5-7, 11-12); Daryl Johns: bass (2, 4, 8-10); Jasper Dutz: bass clarinet (8).

Ultraviolet

Tracks: Matador; Ultraviolet; Disorder II; The Wait; Sorrow; Aberdeen; Evolution; Disorder I; Reconstruction.

Personnel: Billy Mohler: bass; Shane Endsley: trumpet; Chris Speed: tenor sax, clarinet; Nate Wood: drums.

Cascades

Tracks: The Bottoms; Like No Other; South State Line Road; One Breath; Lost in Desolation; Homeostasis; No Froust; Undulation; Someday Soon; Code Switch.

Personnel: Christian Dillingham: bass; Lenard Simpson: alto saxophone; soprano saxophone; Dave Miller: guitar; Greg Artry: drums.

You Break You Buy

Tracks: You Break You Buy; Panopticon; El Dorado; My Teeth Itch; Constants; Ursa Major Minor; Jean Rollin; Dragonfly (for Jon Gibson); Zero-Day; Free Lunch; Youngstown.

Personnel: Mick Rossi: drums, Fender Rhodes, Hammond B3, guzheng, tambourine, harmonium, glockenspiel, piano, prepared piano, bowed cymbals, dog toy, synthesizer; Peter Hess: soprano saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone, flute, Eb clarinet, piccolo; Matt Moran: vibraphone, bass drum, cymbals, bowed cymbals.

Homage To Gramlis

Tracks: This Country -That Country; Song for My Father; Mother Mary; Four Siblings; Heaven; Mis Bruune Huusli; Sleeping Beauty; Letter to Gramlis; D'Heimat Ruefl (Home Calls); Gone Tree; Narcissus.

Personnel: Gabriela Martina: voice; Kyle Miles: bass; Maxim Lubarsky: piano; Jussi Reijonen: guitar; Vancil Cooper: drums; Ben Rosenblum: accordion; Gus Sebring: alphorn (11).

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