Chad McCullough: Watch As The Echo Falls

The music ensemble Atlantic Road Trip started as a quintet that made folk sounds stirred with jazz modes. One (Calligram Records, 2023) was the album. It featured trumpeter Chad McCullough in the leader's spot. He was joined by alto saxophonist and multi-reedist Paul Towndrow, Miro Herak on vibraphone, bassist Connor Murray, with Alyn Cosker in the drummer's seat. The cultures and geographies did not collide there. They danced. Towndrow's use of whistles and flute evoked images of Ireland and Scotland. So did Cosker's use of the bodhran. 

With Watch As the Echo Falls the group is presented as a trio—McCullough joined again by Harak on vibes, and Towndrow again on alto sax, whistles and flute. McCullough adds synthesizers—very adeptly—to his arsenal. The resulting music is cool and atmospheric. Again, there is at times a Northern British Isles mood. The sustain of the vibes paints cold washes. The bright tone of McCullough's trumpet contrasts with this in a mostly relaxed, beyond-time way of blowing. Balkans shadings peek through the textures. "Parting of the Adriatic," written by Towndrow, brings in Balkan jazz signatures and lively Celtic sounds. The composer calls it "More than just a rhythmic experiment," though it certainly is that, and more. It is," Towndrow explains, "an attempt to find the exact intersection where our individual histories meet."

Towndrow wrote "Parting of the Adriatic" and the contemplative "Cadmus," and Herak penned three tunes, while McCullough contributed the remaining seven, including the opener, "Exordium," which opens things up with a gentle and eerie fanfare, deftly arranged for the two horns, vibes and synths. His "Silere" sounds like a trumpeter standing on a grass-covered, wind-blown field, pondering through his horn—and Towndrow's—the vagaries of life.

McCullough, who got his recording start at Origin Records in Seattle, has now put down roots in Chicago, where his music continues to evolve.