Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Noah Haidu: Slipstream

272

Noah Haidu: Slipstream

By

View read count
Noah Haidu: Slipstream
Slipstream is the debut from New York-based pianist/writer Noah Haidu. Featuring an exceptionally talented quintet of musicians, it's a striking first album, full of superb, straight-ahead jazz.

Haidu's compositions—he wrote all but one of the tunes—are strong on melody and characterized by a gentle and soulful swing. As a pianist, Haidu sounds equally comfortable as a lead musician or as part of the rhythm section. Of course, his fellow musicians are high quality players themselves, and are key to the album's success.

The frontline features alto saxophonist Jon Irabagon and trumpeter Jeremy Pelt. Irabagon is capable of some wild and wacky musical flights, as his work with Mostly Other People Do The Killing and his own Foxy (Hot Cup, 2010) attest. But he's also a class act on more mainstream tunes. Pelt has a luxurious tone on trumpet, and is never less than tasteful in his playing. The two players are inspired choices for Haidu's music, working beautifully together and delivering engaging solos.

"Soulstep" has a warmly familiar style to its melody and arrangement, like a Mike Post TV theme. It's full of movement and pace, with drummer Willie Jones III to the fore and Haidu's deftly positioned chords adding just the right accents. "Where We Are Right Now" features more of Haidu's rhythm work, while Pelt and Irabagon fatten up the sound with some tight unison playing. "Float" does just that, thanks to John Davis' relaxed brush work, while "Break Tune" has a more modern sound, its fractured melody and funky rhythm giving it a harder edge than the other tunes.

Haidu opens the one non-original, Cole Porter's "Just One Of Those Things," in confident style, with some chunky flourishes, before hitting the melody with a real swing. Davis and bassist Chris Haney give the tune an irresistible drive, and Haidu's solo positively rocks.

Slipstream is another fine addition to the Posi-Tone catalog, from a lyrical player with an intriguing line in compositions who's extremely well-served by the rest of the band. Slipstream is mainstream with a flourish.

Track Listing

Soulstep; Where We Are Right Now; Slipstream; Break Tune; Float; Take Your Time; Just One Of Those Things; The Trouble Makers.

Personnel

Noah Haidu: piano; Jeremy Pelt: trumpet; Jon Irabagon: alto saxophone; Chris Haney: bass; John Davis: drums (2, 4, 5, 7, 8); Willie Jones III: drums (1, 3, 6).

Album information

Title: Slipstream | Year Released: 2011 | Record Label: Posi-Tone Records

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.