Martin Budde: Back Burner

In the ever-evolving crucible of progressive jazz guitar, younger players often face a formidable challenge: forging a distinctive approach amidst the echoes of legends. The roles and methodologies that define modern electric jazz have multiplied exponentially in recent decades, but Martin Budde, a guitarist of floating, effortless fluidity and solid foundational control, navigates this landscape with the confident stride of a searcher who's found something he wants to communicate. On Back Burner, his second solo album, he shares the riches of his musical journey.

The music on Back Burner is presented in a classic trio format of guitar, acoustic bass, and drums, which much like the classic jazz piano trio format, presents something akin to a blank slate for exploratory artists like Budde, enabling him to take us in any number of directions while maintaining connection to a familiar home base. You can hear in Budde's playing linkages to the roots of jazz guitar, as well as echoes of the wave of stylistic experimentalism that has defined the instrument in the past 50+ years, resulting in a sound and approach that's contemporary yet timeless.

On Back Burner, Budde plays with a pristine, relatively unadorned guitar sound well-suited to his authentic and communicative approach. "Definitely this album, compared to a lot of other guitar albums or guitar jazz albums, it's not indulgent at all, it's pretty lean," he notes. Budde favors emotional directness rather than arcane experimentalism, and his accessible openness is arrived at honestly, through the cultivated, sturdy beauty of a simple melody played with conviction.

The superb compositions on Back Burner, apart from a superlative rendition of Joni Mitchell's "My Old Man," are all Budde originals, and the writing echoes some of the same values found in Budde's guitar playing: a patient, eclectic openness to exploring myriad directions. Budde explains, "I spent time on these tunes, trying to figure out how they could be simple, how they could exist in a really defined way."

Even with all the options at hand, the process for Budde is ultimately one of refinement, as he explains, "The question I ask is, 'What's the thing that I can add that most gets a message across?' And then, the next question is, 'What can I take out, so that I don't obscure that message?'"

An unmistakable element in Back Burner's success is the empathetic impact that drummer Xavier Lecouturier and bassist Ben Feldman have on the proceedings. The three are longtime collaborators in the more densely eclectic modern jazz sextet Meridian Odyssey, with two albums on Origin Records and a third in the planning stages.

Back Burner is an altogether more intimate, personal affair, and Feldman and Lecouturier adapt beautifully to the space and sonorities of Budde's trio music. "Both Xavier and Ben are really committed to music, the craft of it. Ben has an appreciation for all types of music," continues Budde, "and he has a great ability to put ego aside and just find whatever the song needs." Lecouturier displays a similar selflessness and devotion to the music as a collective process. "He's a great composer," says Budde, "and I think his approach to playing the drums comes from that perspective—how the song is structured and what the music needs. It's not just 'I'm the drummer, and this is my part!'"

Budde credits his bandmates with helping him balance the dictates of the compositions vs. the performance. Everything was tracked live, with no overdubs, and the statements are concise, with most tunes coming in at less than five minutes.

"Initially, everything is to some degree composed. But once the structure is created, how can we take the compositions and interpret them in a way that feels organic and alive?" The band can swing hard, but is also adept at fat backbeats and rock rhythms. Effortlessly relaxed and responsive yet always locked in, the rhythm section gives Budde a launching point for leaning into both bluesy smears and abstract, R&B-tinged triads.

Back Burner is filled with high points, and the album opener "Red" kicks the proceedings off in fine form. The bouncing waltz hints at the groove of the hard bop era and then blurs a line between old and new, with something more akin to bluesy Americana peppered with odd-time phrases, all in service of the strong melody. "Eye in the Sky" hints at Texas, both in the hoedown Western swing-adjacent opening, and in the Ornette Coleman-esque melodic freedom and group interactivity in the solo section. This only begins to tap the musical riches of Back Burner—every track from front to back is strong and distinct. Even with the modernistic angularity and introspective moments tinged with melancholy, there's always a sense of uplift and openness in Budde's music.

Back Burner is more than just a stellar album; it's a declaration of arrival. Budde isn't chasing trends or recreating bygone eras, and like most of us, he's standing on the shoulders of giants, but his gaze is firmly fixed on finding his own way. "It's personal," he shares. "There's a lot to learn. I hope I can just express myself honestly." Back Burner leaves no doubt that Budde is on the right path.