Micheal Murray's Colourfield: Rounded Nature

It is a long way from Falcarragh to Amsterdam. The distance is measured not so much in kilometers as in culture. Alto saxophonist Micheal Murray hails from the former, a small Irish-speaking town on the windswept coast of County Donegal. In this part of the world, Irish traditional music has deep roots, and the pubs resonate with country music. Even there, where the only other jazz musician was his twin brother, double bassist Conor, the siblings learned jazz on their respective instruments, founded the Falcarragh Winter Jazz Festival, and released the acclaimed album Murrays Law (Lyte Records, 2021).

With that kind of get-up-and-go, Micheal Murray's move to study jazz in cosmopolitan Amsterdam, with its progressive mores, was always likely to yield fascinating results. And so it is with Rounded Nature, the debut album—and winner of the Dutch talent program Keep an Eye—from his Colourfield quartet. The music is contemporary and strikes a fine balance between cerebral and emotive. Complex enough to demand attention, these original compositions are also grooving, punchy, and melodic at their core.

At the center of it all, and a constant delight, is Murray's mellifluous, searching playing. Equally striking are his arrangements, which fully harness the talents of Joy Shechter (piano), Omer Govreen (double bass), and Wouter Kuhne (drums). This is a quartet with bags of personality, both when the collective flame is high and when it flickers gently and moodily. Shechter stretches out in exhilarating fashion in the midsection of "Light Abstract" and again on "Radial," but such unchained rushes are rationed. The real drama resides in the music's folds, in the collective transitions from the slowly meditative to more rhythmically pronounced passages; in these alluring journeys, there is something of Wayne Shorter's "sound of surprise."

Three miniatures, each titled "Abstraction," showcase Murray with the lightest of drumming accompaniment, solo, and with spare piano, bass, and wind-like cymbals. Together, these vignettes—introspective, brooding, and darkly lyrical—point to a composer unwilling to rest in a comfort zone.

Mood and texture are key elements throughout; so too are variations in tempo. Helter-skelter bebop play is conspicuous by its absence, the quartet instead exploring more pensive terrain ranging from blue-toned balladry ("In Mending") and slow swing ("Unfurling") to mid-tempo meditation ("Rounded Nature"). The same qualities that permeate the music— patience, close attention to dynamics, open-mindedness, and a spirit of adventure—will also reward the diligent listener.