Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Bruno Råberg Quartet with Phil Grenadier, Allan Chase an...

18

Bruno Råberg Quartet with Phil Grenadier, Allan Chase and Austin McMahon: Hot Box

Bruno Råberg Quartet with Phil Grenadier, Allan Chase and Austin McMahon: Hot Box
Bassist Bruno Råberg and trumpeter Phil Grenadier had previously offered a brilliant duo collection with the 2012 Plunge (Orbis Music) and here—under Råberg's leadership—expand to a quartet formation for the equally imaginative Hot Box. The collection features compositions both by the Swedish born Råberg and group improvised pieces. Unlike the Råberg/Grenadier duo outing, the leader's electronic sound design gives way to the more organic setting of the quartet on this collection.

Joining Råberg and Grenadier are saxophonist Allan Chase and drummer Austin McMahon. Chase has worked with drummer Rashied Ali and composers Gunther Schuller and John Zorn among others. McMahon has been regular member of Jerry Bergonzi's Quartet and has worked with saxophonists Joe Lovano and George Garzone as well as guitarist Ben Monder. Råberg has led a number of groups including his Lifelines Quartet that included saxophonist Chris Cheek. Grenadier has appeared more than fifty recordings including works by pianists Marc Copland and Kenny Barron and saxophonist Chris Potter.

The opening "Autumn Cycle" and "Early Walk" are fine blends of composition and improvisation. Råberg's deep, resonant bass and McMahon's refined touch, drive the latter piece through excellent exchanges between Grenadier and Chase. "Atmos" and the title track (with a suffix of '97°F') are experimental and avant-garde, respectively. "Lost in the Attic (Borta på Vinden)" alternates between dream-like and jagged passages, touches of swing, along with highly improvised individual performances. "Autumnal Ballad" features beautiful extended solos from Råberg, Chase and Grenadier while "Sirius B" features rich contribution from Chase on baritone sax. "Solace/Epilogue" closes out Hot Box with spare and but sumptuous performances from each member of the quartet.

The collaboration between Råberg, Grenadier, Chase and McMahon is one that warrants high acclaim for all. The repertoire is an eclectic blend of modern jazz and beyond; melodically original and creatively enterprising. The improvised pieces are free of the kind of confused fumbling around that can occur in these settings and the more structured pieces are superbly crafted and flexible enough to provide the players with freedom to stretch. Hot Box is well worth repeated listening.

Track Listing

Autumn Cycle; Hot Box (97°F); Early Walk; Atmos; Lost in the Attic(Borta på Vinden); Autumnal Ballad; Sirius B; Solace/Epilogue.

Personnel

Bruno Raberg
bass, acoustic

Bruno Råberg: acoustic bass; Larry Grenadier: trumpet, flugelhorn; Allan Chase: soprano, alto & baritone saxophones; Austin McMahon.

Album information

Title: Hot Box | Year Released: 2015 | Record Label: Orbis Music

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.