Chad McCullough: Transverse

Chance encounters can be fortuitous and fruitful. Trumpeter Chad McCullough, on a visit to Macedonia to convene with family, found his way into a small cafe in Skopje, the capital of Independent North Macedonia, where he encountered a local trio: pianist Gordon Spasovski, bassist Kiril Tufekcievski and drummer Viktor Filipovski. McCullough had his horn with him. He was invited to sit in. A musical connection came about and eventually Transverse happened—the group's first "recording together on American soil" (a quote from the album's press material). From this wording we can guess they may have recorded an album on foreign soil—foreign to an American audience, that is.

An out-of-country influence is a fine way to freshen up American mainstream jazz. Art Farmer's To Sweden With Love (Atlantic, 1964) did it. Now, with Transverse, McCullough and company have done some of their own idiosyncratic freshening, bringing in an atmosphere of Macedonian folk music, beginning with "Lake Ohrid Lament," pianist Spasovski's arrangement of a traditional Macedonian song. It features alternating time signatures and McCullough's golden-toned flugelhorn playing over a dense rhythmic backdrop before settling into a placid and plaintive folk melody.

McCullough is adept at incorporating a European tinge to his music, from his long-term, several-album teaming with Belgian pianist Bram Weijters. This opening salvo with the Macedonia trio may be a harbinger of what is to come.

McCullough has a beautiful, fluid tone on his horns—flugelhorn and trumpet. His artistry has leaped forward since his relocation from the Northwest, from Seattle to Chicago, from Origin Records to his own Calligram Records. He tells labyrinthine stories as he weaves through diverse rhythms. And he has the gift of the ability to recognise talent—the Macedonian trio.

The McCullough-penned "A Forlorn Tale of Tomorrow." These thirteen and a half minutes of melancholy introspection are a highlight. It is a shifting, suite-like experience that showcases Spasovski's piano ruminations and McCullough's shaping of a sad yet beautiful mood. The core trio then shifts into a dirge mode before McCullough re-enters, blowing towering notes.

"Real And Unreal," written by McCullough, inspired by Hugo Award-winning sci-fi author Ursula K. Le Guin, has a dreamy beauty, an unhurried story portraying a forested alien landscape, wrapping things up with tranquility.