Connor Bernhard: Pathways

Nearly five years after his debut album Altitude (BASE Records, 2020), Chicago trumpeter Connor Bernhard gathered most of that album's cohorts for his second recording as a leader, Pathways. What also returns is the same bright, engaging horn that distinguishes Bernhard and lifts the proceedings significantly. His band—the three repeaters Julius Tucker on piano, Jeff Swanson on guitar, and Clif Wallace on drums, joined by Evan Salvacion Levine on bass—follows through with their own engaging support. The unusual combination of trumpet and guitar keeps Bernhard's arrangements interesting, with Swanson opening up more as the instrumental tag team invigorates the music.

Different from the debut, there are no extended cuts (like the sprawling 11-minute "Bourdain's Final Tour") on Pathways, yet the compositions and covers leave enough room for exploration. The opener, "Jackalope," is a 12/8 romp that imagines the fictional animal out loose. Bernhard's crystal-clear delivery, aptly matched by Swanson, acts as a revelation, as Wallace provides an exotic back beat upon which Tucker reacts with a measured solo supported by an active Levine. The family-dedicated "Support" drops the pace considerably, with Bernhard and Swanson in lovely tandem. Once again, Tucker and Levine pair for a thoughtful duet that rises in mood before Bernhard re-enters with a paean of appreciation; Wallace's contrapuntal beats give the song an added complexity.

The driving, rapid-speed "Altitude" tests his band mates, but they come through admirably. After Levine's relatively lazy solo, Swanson picks up the pace on a swinging extension before the band furiously follows Bernhard to the end. "Claudio," a tribute to the great Claudio Roditi, is a swift, pleasant samba enhanced by Tucker's Tommy Flanagan-ish comping and Swanson's Grant Green- like solo. The ballad "Evenings with Linnea" came to Bernhard as he heard his trumpet sound bouncing off riverside buildings while he operated Chicago river tours. The first of three covers follows: Bobby Timmons' "Dat Dere," a reharmonization with a great blues solo from Swanson and a Lee Morgan-esque statement from Bernhard.

Two more memories follow: the hard bop "Moo the Mooch" remembers the food-obsessed family dog, getting spirited solos from Tucker and Swanson; "Lament for Roy" is dedicated to the late Roy Hargrove, as Bernhard exquisitely plays flugelhorn in tribute. After the breezy original "Struttin,'" where trumpet and guitar again pair up (with kudos to Levine's sumptuous bass support), two covers complete the album. The early Harry Ruby classic "Three Little Words" is rendered with a blazing attack that evinces Bernhard's and Tucker's broad range, while a new classic, Jimmy Webb's "Wichita Lineman," receives what Bernhard calls a pseudo-Latin Tex-Mex rhythmic feel that gives the famous melody one more palette among many.

Pathways in an impressive second album by the trumpeter Bernhard, whose talent goes beyond his playing and into imaginative arrangements of songs and fellow musicians, especially in his pairing of trumpet and guitar, piano and bass. Repeated listening makes clear that the future of this ensemble looks as bright and shiny as the tone of its leader.