Phil Haynes and Bobby Broom: Empathetic Abandon

Across the broad spectrum of jazz, courage takes many forms. In the case of percussionist Phil Haynes and guitarist Bobby Broom, it is the diametrically (deceptively) opposed approaches of free playing vs. carefully-crafted homage. Accordingly, the former continues his prolific and peripatetic career through the novel get-together of musicians who have never played together. Meanwhile, the latter acts as a lightning rod for mutual inspiration arising from shared experience in a variety of contexts. Hearing snippets from either album reveals the undercurrent of continuity linking the two efforts, a connection that, viewed from a broad perspective, illustrates the innumerable intricacies of spontaneity that proliferate within the jazz milieu.

Phil Haynes-Ben Monder-Peyton Pleninger
Terra
Corner Store Jazz
2026

Wholly improvisational music carries risk as well as reward, but bandleader Haynes, guitarist Ben Monder and saxophonist Peyton Pleninger hedge their bets at least a little in this roughly 60-minute performance recorded at the bandleader's Bucknell University faculty jazz recital. Or so it would seem as brief explanatory liner notes outline this first-ever meeting of this trio in an imaginary setting 'as if lying down, stargazing.' And sure enough, on tracks titled "Moonrise" and "Meteor," the threesome patiently paint dark pictures mottled with the glow of "Starlit" eventually sustained with the light of "Dawn." Apart from this subconscious structure, the only formal piece is the penultimate selection of Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer's "Skylark," the literal-minded likes of which is the gateway to thoughts of environmental consciousness that arise from this courageous meeting of the minds. As above, so below, Haynes, Monder, and Pleninger seem to saying, ultimately proffering their instrumental dialogue(s) as an extensive menu of food for thought from which vagaries of taste invariably lead to a sublime satisfaction in a "Vision Quest" for "Dreams" in the "Borealis." Whether clearly defined motifs or not, the logic of this ebb and flow only becomes apparent with the frenetic finish: it is at this point, the thought occurs that these kindred spirits have often sounded like more than just three musicians during the course of their interactions.

Bobby Broom
Notes of Thanks
Clean Sweep Music
2026

Rather than approach liberation from an angle like their peers, guitarist Bobby Broom, bassist Dennis Carroll and drummer Kobie Watkins take a more direct route on Notes of Thanks (Steele Records, 2026). That is, the group pulls on its shared experience working with the source of this record's adulatory concept, the canon of the great saxophonist Sonny Rollins. Yet, with the exception of "Doxy," this threesome eschews the obvious choices of material, instead embracing the challenging likes of, for instance, the first movement of "The Freedom Suite." There as elsewhere, the musicians maintain a light touch, all the better to capture the expansive feel 'Newk' preserved in his own performances. The sole original here, the bandleader's "Me Time," speaks to the author's long-term ambition for this project; within the same general time frame as the surrounding cuts running five minutes-plus, Broom uses non-verbal means of chording and soloing on the fretboard to explicate the influence he still embraces after years listening to, then actually playing with the Saxophone Colossus. Nonetheless, the respect for structure the whole combo applies to its interpretations of songs including "Allison" and "Strode Road" bespeaks self-knowledge regarding its internal chemistry as much as the idiosyncratic style of their subject. As a result, this music is a mirror image of its counterpart, more often tuneful than abstract, but each of the two tones benefitting from the juxtaposition.

Tracks and Personnel

Terra

Tracks: Moonrise/Aurora/Starlit/Meteor; Vision Quest/Three Visitors; Skylark; Borealis/Showers/Dreams/Dawn.

Personnel: Peyton Pleninger: tenor saxophone & bells; Ben Monder: guitar & electronics; Phil Haynes, drum set & percussion.

Notes of Thanks

Tracks: Alfie's Theme; Freedom Suite (part 1); Doxy; Allison; Kim; Me Time; Paul's Pal; Strode Road; Pent Up House; Valse Hot.

Personnel: Bobby Broom: guitar; Dennis Carroll: bass; Kobie Watkins: drums