Tania Gill Quartet: Disappearing Curiosities

Pianist Tania Gill has been making inspired music in the ever-thriving Toronto jazz scene since the early 2000s, although her output has become especially visible since her debut release Bolger Station (Barnyard Records, 2010). An artist equally attentive to melody and songcraft, Gill refuses to be pigeonholed, contributing to a range of projects which defy easy labeling; she appeared on vocalist Rebecca Hennessey's All the Little Things You Do (self-released, 2020), an album both jazz-inflected and pop-friendly, and on saxophonist Brodie West's Meadow of Dreams (Ansible Editions, 2022), a unique combination of off-kilter minimalism, gentle lyricism and creative improvisation.

Gill's stylistic breadth is amply evident on Disappearing Curiosities, her sophomore release. If a twelve-year wait seems too long since her debut, its high- caliber writing and playing more than make up for it. Fellow maverick, trumpeter Lina Allemano is once again present after her appearance on Bolger Station, and bassist Rob Clutton and drummer Nico Dann are just as ubiquitous in the Toronto scene. The four are well attuned to Gill's aesthetic, with an emphasis on the beauty of the music over individual feats of showy technique.

The opener, "Marsh Music," is an ideal glimpse of Gill's compositional talents. An achingly lovely melody is first presented by the piano, then echoed by Allemano, as Clutton and Dann come in for support. Allemano is a fierce improviser, but her role here is to blend in with the collective sound, and she does so expertly, as do Clutton and Dann, the four deftly navigating the soft contours of the tune. There is a great deal of space in the music, but never to the point that the thread of the melody is lost. "To Montreal" and "Jaunty Woo," by contrast, rely on Gill's use of electronics to augment the music as the tunes get knottier and more unpredictable. Increased intensity does not lead to chaos, however; the discipline exhibited by the four musicians as they traverse Gill's sonic horizons is always evident. Notes are never wasted, and no gesture seems gratuitous.

It is not a long album, with nine pieces and just over thirty-six minutes of music. But Gill creates a self-enclosed world in each of her compositions, and it is easy to get lost in their intricacies. "Tangled Branches" is a Geri Allen tribute which reveals more than a little of the master composer's influence on Gill, with its emotional depth and subtle complexity. "Climate Striker" is a concentrated burst of improvisation, with Allemano and Gill in a riveting dialogue through its two-and-a-half-minute duration; and "Knocked Over" has a quirky rhythmic disposition which harnesses all four musicians' ability to play in close rapport.

But Gill's way with a poignant melody remains her most compelling attribute. The quartet's rendition of "People Gonna Rise Like the Water," a climate protest anthem, is the album's shortest cut; it packs the most punch, with a stirring theme articulated potently by Allemano, and the emphasis placed squarely on the force of the tune, with Gill's careful synth work providing just enough contrast to enhance its power. While Gill will undoubtedly continue to provide valuable support for Toronto's many fine artists, this release highlights the importance of her own quartet as a vital exponent of Canadian jazz.