Unburdening Rituals | Across Canada, Summer 2025

In this second edition of Rhythm Changes Across Canada, a seasonal feature of albums from the national scene:

• one of our living legends drops his first album as a leader
• a funk warrior shows her film-scoring side
• Thad Bailey-Mai meets a vocalist from Erykah Badu & The Roots
• cello-bass-drums trio locks in
• I listen to two totally different Toronto guitar albums before they're out
• a trio of twentysomethings are in their classic era
• what do you get when you feature Brad Turner, Lina Allemano, and Larnell Lewis all on the same record?

Brad Shigeta: Plays & Sings

Brad Shigeta has played trombone in the Duke Ellington and Count Basie orchestras (in their post-founder eras) among other great bands, but Plays & Sings is his first album as a leader. Shigeta recorded in an Edmonton suburb with a trio of local bassist Noah Gotfrit, his junior, and local-to-the-area drummer Dave Laing, his contemporary. When they play Ellington ("I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart", "In a Mellow Tone") and Basie ("April in Paris", Shiny Stockings", and more), they render the shout choruses with easygoing enthusiasm and a deep feel for all the shots. Several of the remaining standards feature Shigeta's singing, which evokes Chet Baker ("But Not For Me" with the verse!) while glowing with his own personality. Laing is now 2-for-2 in leadoff albums here at this series, and his smooth drumming makes that all work in a chordless trio. Gotfrit's vocabulary, blues, and tone are remarkably good. Yes, there's a lot of one tempo in those 17 tracks: who could ask for anything more? (Available digitally only on Bandcamp)

Mary Ancheta: Rituals

Mary Ancheta has been bringing the funk all year, whether in her instrumental quartet or her multi-vocalist MAQkestra that plays Betty Davis' music; the former has a handful of local shows in November, while the latter group plays the Fox for Infidels Jazz on September 27th. Rituals is something else entirely: patient like a great film score, split between sessions in the Philippines and in Canada (Vancouver and Calgary), merging Filipino drums with a string quartet while Ancheta's keys sit at the cerebral meeting point. But it's also a lot of fun, like on the vaguely club-worthy "Soliton" and the boingy "Racing Hearts". The command-centre synth in the art background is indeed named TONTO, residing at Calgary's National Music Centre and having been played by Stevie Wonder and others. Though the Vancouver string players are all established improvisers, they lock into set parts throughout. I wrote about "Minokawa" before hearing the rest, now I relish the depth of this whole voyage. (Buy digital (Bandcamp) | Available on streaming)

Potatohead People & Slippery Elm: Emerald Tablet

As Potatohead People, producers AstroLogical and Nick Wisdom have always employed jazz musicians. Emcee Slippery Elm has been in the local hip-hop scene with them for a long time and is the primary rapper on this record. Fans of Dilla/Nujabes and of hip-hop with live instruments will find common ground here. Vocalists Kendra Dias and Kapok return from PHP's 2024 album Eat Your Heart Out, as do the likes of Thad Bailey-Mai on trumpet, David Mergens on tenor sax licks ("Nightbird"), and Kai Basanta on percussion ("Sub Rosa"). But Emerald Tablet feels more intimate, being out not on New York's Bastard Jazz Recordings but on the duo's own label, a new one, called Mysterybox. My favourite track is "Up Close" featuring Bahamadia, who has worked with Erykah Badu and The Roots, on the second verse. Astro is a wonderful bass player, and the tasty, intelligent bass parts on tracks like "Memory" and "Otha Side" are the real deal, as is all the synth work. (Buy digital (Bandcamp) | Available on streaming)

George Crotty: Heart Music

I've followed cellist George Crotty since long before he came on the podcast around his trio's previous album, Chronotope, thanks to his history with my close friend Gabriel Dubreuil as Loose Roots. This trio includes a bassist and thus doesn't put the onus of the bass role onto Crotty himself. In keeping with that, he flies higher. This record has an embracing title, and indeed the title jig is a more summery presentation of his jazz-trained blend of Hindustani, improv, and European folk traditions. While Crotty was here in July, he played the Zameen Art House with fellow cross-cultural travelers Lara Wong and Melón Jiménez. He has previously played at the jazzfest solo, where his picked playing carries the precision and bounce that you also hear locally from the likes of Gord Grdina's oud or Emad Armoush's groups. We get that on "Task at Hand", where bassist John Murchison and drummer Jeremy Smith are locked into his thing. (Buy CD/digital (Bandcamp) | Available on streaming)

David Occhipinti: Camera Lucida

Toronto guitarist David Occhipinti's second album with this chamber-ensemble concept comes long enough after the first, 2012's Camera, that only violinist Aline Homzy and clarinetist Max Christie are back. But bassist Dan Fortin, who plucks and bows keenly with no drums in the picture, and the ebullient vibraphonist Michael Davidson are ideal additions both in the band and via their label called Elastic Recordings. Among the woodwind guests here is Virginia MacDonald, and we hear something distinct from her usually swinging playing on "Ice Dance", out now as one of two singles. The other single, the romantic "Song of Calypso", puts Occhipinti's shimmering guitar tone back into focus. When you hear the rest of the record, check out the dissonances of "Canticum Abaci", the waltzing and Occhipinti/Homzy trading of "Octavia", and the beautiful unaccompanied guitar moment on the kinetic "Seurat cha-cha". The release shows in Toronto are at Jazz Bistro on September 9th and 10th. (Pre-order CD (Bandcamp) | Releases Sep. 12)

Dan Pitt & Noah Franche-Nolan: arid landscapes

Guitarist Dan Pitt came here last year with his quintet and also ended up recording this exploratory duo record with pianist Noah Franche-Nolan, whom he'd shared time with in Toronto before 2020. Franche-Nolan has been immersed in a wide sea of projects lately (his jazz trio plays Zameen Sep. 19), including the ambient electronic Portraits from the Interior World in 2023. That project had a track called "Arid Landscape", featuring Pitt. They've gone plural with 10 new pieces on this upcoming record, and they bring much more melody and instrumental interplay than Portraits did, ending up more approachable than the name, electroacoustic process, and barren cover might suggest. The singles prove their range: the flowing "Summerhill" and scratchy revs of "The Dust Storm" are polar opposites. Stick around on the whole record for the tender guitar of "Blink I" and "Blink II". Arid Landscapes will play in Toronto at Sellers and Newel September 12th and at Drom Taberna on the 14th. (Pre-order CD (Bandcamp) | Releases Sep. 19)

FRIENDSHIP: Reasons Why You Won't Find FRIENDSHIP on Dating Apps

The cover's "Jenny 29", not to mention the ages of BC-raised, NYC-based pianist Jenny Xu's bandmates, is a fun reminder of how quickly a band can become long-tenured in this music. In three albums from Xu's first interview here to when she, bassist Ben Feldman, and drummer Kofi Shepsu all came on the podcast, FRIENDSHIP have gained an uncommon track record together. When guitarists join them, they knock it out of the park; Charles Altura, an alum of Chick Corea & The Vigil and Ambrose Akinmusire, soft-shreds authoritatively to contrast another one of Xu's biting tune titles on "Sandcastle (Without a Clue at 42)". The piano trio swings and rocks through an all-original program with some extra keys overdubbed. We get electric bass for a ballad intro on "Tom Lawyer" as Xu patiently develops a dramatic theme, then brings Feldman back into frame for a bass solo. This trio could end up classic for their generation in the vein of 90s Brad Mehldau, and it's all because they swiped right early on each other then logged off. (Buy digital (Bandcamp) | Available on streaming)

William Carn: The Unburdening

Multi-Juno-nominated trombonist William Carn, best known for his Carn Davidson 9 with Tara Davidson, has gone so much more eclectic on his second Choices release that each track is bursting with ideas. The closer "Peace Be" is a brass chorale, then it's a gentle churchy sendoff of less than a minute from vocalist Selena Evangeline. "Brother" introduces Brad Turner's stately trumpet as the first melodic voice on the record, then it dials up nervy keyboard funk as Carn enters on trombone. He sings wordless vocals in the background and plays synths too, making a fine keyboard-bassist on "Ascension" with Elizabeth Shepherd drummer Colin Kingsmore. The rest of the Toronto guests include keyboardist Todd Pentney, Davidson and Luis Deniz on alto saxes, Lina Allemano on trumpet, and drummers Larnell Lewis and Davide Direnzo. Yes, bandleaders can orchestrate work this creative and personal from everyone's own homes, and the stigma around not bringing them together in a professional studio all the time must eventually diminish. (Buy digital (Bandcamp) | Available on streaming)

Looking for a big album which came out this summer but doesn't appear above? Go here to read about that!