Alex Otey: Darwin AI: Surivior Choice

Concept albums are uncommon in jazz, but pianist, trumpeter, and composer Alex Otey embraces the challenge with Darwin AI: Survivor Choice. This project blends intellect and groove, presenting Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory in a new light by discussing the implications of artificial intelligence through a hybrid of jazz, rock and beyond.

Otey's background shapes the album's overall vision. Before turning to music full-time, he studied physics, worked with the Department of Energy and Agriculture and designed software. These scientific pursuits inform his creative outlook, and he has used his background as a springboard for musical exploration. On Darwin AI, he argues that artificial intelligence is not a separate invention, but rather an ongoing aspect of the evolutionary process.

Musically, Otey calls this alternative jazz, a style rooted in jazz's improvisational framework but expanded with rock, blues, Latin and classical influences with occasional touches of musique concrète. The seventies-inspired grooves and layered studio textures reinforce the conceptual underpinnings: just as evolution recombines old forms into new, Otey builds fresh ideas from familiar musical elements.

The album features Otey on piano, organ, keytar, trumpet, flugelhorn and percussion, joined by James Popik on guitar, Christopher Martin Clark on fretless bass, Jack Furlong on baritone saxophone, Bobby Baxmeyer on tenor saxophone, Amy Otey and Christina Gaudet on vocals. Otey's intellect provides depth to the album. The structure of the music reflects the concepts he is getting across.

The seven tracks move like chapters in a story. They function less as ballads or standards and more like poetic reflections on science, technology and human responsibility. "Universal Flux" sets the stage by comparing Darwin's breakthrough to Copernicus's heliocentric model. The "GO Event" revisits the Great Oxidation Event, when photosynthesis transformed the Earth into an oxygen-rich world, underscoring the cooperation in nature. "Selectio Aptissima" examines adaptation over strength as the valid key to survival, while "Spitzenpraedator" considers whether AI might one day become an apex predator surpassing humankind. Later pieces, such as "Recombinant" and "Aedificio" focus on reinvention and natural laws. Then Otey offers a thought-provoking conclusion in "Survivor Choice," which raises the question of how humanity will guide the evolution of AI.

What makes Darwin AI notable is not just its concept but its spirit of inquiry. Otey's academic background shapes the music, but it never comes across as overbearing or pretentious. The album remains playful, groove-driven and inviting. He uses jazz as a sort of implied metaphor for a continuously evolving society, employing a structure that combines improvisational freedom. This results in catchy grooves laced with cerebral weight.

By fusing science, technology and jazz, Otey offers a reminder that music can be more than entertainment. It can serve as a forum for questioning the past, reflecting on the present and envisioning the future. Darwin AI: Survivor Choice is an ambitious and engaging addition to the expanding evolution of jazz.

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