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From Here, From There

Andy Baker

Label: Calligram Records
Released: 2024
Views: 1,374

Tracks

Close Your Eyes; From Here, From There; A Flower is a Lovesome Thing; Skylark; Blues for VDB; First, Second, Third; Kaper; Softly; The State of the Estate.

Personnel

Album Description

Trombonist Andy Baker has been a force on the Chicago music scene since arriving from London in 2001. Whether leading his own bands such as the New Standard Jazz Orchestra and BakerzMillion or playing with new music ensemble Fulcrum Point, his musical versatility and impeccable technique is matched only by his drive and imagination. For his Calligram Records debut, Baker taps into the talents of three other veterans of the Chicago scene, all Calligram regulars and leaders in their own right: trumpeter Russ Johnson, bassist Clark Sommers, and drummer Dana Hall. The result is From Here, From There, a joyous collection of original compositions and choice standards interpreted in free-wheeling fashion by a first rate chordless quartet of like-minded improvisers.

Discussing the impetus of From Here, From There, Baker relates that “after the complexity, density and scale of the New Standard Jazz Orchestra and BakerzMillion records I wanted to do something looser without so much emphasis on harmony.” Sommers and Hall are ideal allies in this mission, their chordless credentials well-documented in Sommer’s longstanding trio Ba(SH) with saxophonist Geof Bradfield and in Dana Hall’s quartet Spring. Russ Johnson leads his own chordless quartet with violinist Mark Feldman on his critically acclaimed 2023 Calligram release Reveal. Baker thrives in the open, loose setting his collaborators provide here, playing with fire and conviction throughout.

A hard-swinging take on the standard “Close Your Eyes” launches the proceedings in tribute to the late Roy Hargrove, who played it as an encore the last time Baker shared the stage with him. The band wastes no time on introductions, getting right down to business with visceral solos from each member of the quartet. The title track “From Here, From There,” a new Baker composition, follows, showing off a more contrapuntal, contemporary side of his music. Despite the absence of piano or guitar the sophisticated harmonies come through clearly in the leader’s lovely arrangement. Baker likewise conceived “First, Second, Third” and “Kaper” for this session. The former is reminiscent of Slide Hampton’s under-sung octet recordings (also chordless, incidentally) in its relaxed feel and subtle harmonic structure. Hall’s brush playing is propulsive and conversational, Johnson and Baker lyrical and muscular in their solos. The crunchy voicings of “Kaper” push things in a more modern, open direction without losing any of the swinging foundation Sommers and Hall provide so masterfully. Johnson is especially effective here in a free-bop vein, demonstrating why he is one of the most in-demand creative musicians in Chicago and beyond.

A prolific composer, Baker thoughtfully selected a few of his earlier works to revisit with the quartet on From Here, From There. “Blues for VDB” was written for British saxophonist Russell van den Berg, a classmate and early inspiration of Baker’s. The quartet is playful and puckish, the leader’s choruses alone with Sommer’s bass a highlight. Baker composed “Softly,” evocative of Ellington exotica, for his kids “when they were small and needed silence.” The final Baker original and last track of the record, “State of the Estate,” is a Horace Silver-inflected number dedicated to a Milwaukee jazz club that, like many jazz venues, has had its ups and downs over the years but holds a special place in the hearts of many fans and musicians.

The two remaining standards on the record, “Skylark” and “A Flower is a Lovesome Thing,” are perhaps a little surprising to find on a chordless recording. Both are written by pianists (Hoagy Carmichael and Billy Strayhorn, respectively) and are among the most harmonically intricate songs in the jazz repertoire. Baker and his colleagues navigate them effortlessly, embracing the wide-open spaces while still conveying all the subtleties of these sophisticated vehicles. Both tunes also have personal meaning for Baker, who relates that “the Afro-Cuban arrangement of “Flower” came to me while deep diving into Strayhorn in his centenary year, and Skylark was a formative tune for me as a teenager struggling to get my shit together!”

Andy Baker’s latest offering is indeed together in every way, from the seamless interplay of the musicians to the tasteful selection of materials. Direct, heartfelt and swinging, From Here, From There is an outstanding document of yet another side of Baker’s expansive vision and an exciting new band on the Chicago scene.