Vanishing Bloom | Outside the Changes, Q3 2025
My new favourites from the rest of the world: Taborn / Cline / Gilmore, Dawn Clement, Jacob Garchik, Jake Baldwin, & more
It's time for Outside the Changes, gathering my favourite new non-Canadian albums that I wouldn't otherwise cover.
We've already done two editions of this series: one for the second quarter (April, May, June) and one for the first. Today, we look back at July, August. and September.
I have 12 albums for you today, in alphabetical order by artist name, plus three honourable mentions:
Craig Taborn, Nels Cline, & Marcus Gilmore: Trio of Bloom
I notice two kinds of high-profile trio albums coming out lately. This is my favourite out of one kind, and down below we have my pick of the other. This series has covered Cline and Gilmore as leaders already: as for Taborn, I met him when he played solo piano for Coastal Jazz's IronFest 2023. They convene for an adventurous opus here. We have an computerized re-up of Wayne Shorter's "Diana" from Native Dancer, a freebop freakout titled "Why Canada" (no question mark, so it's not a question eh!), and much more.
Dawn Clement: Delight
Origin Records
Clement made last edition's honourable mentions; in just the first three tracks here, she goes from fiery modern piano trio leader to utterly satisfying Monk interpreter to vocalist. For the rest of an album that flies by, she alternates between singing with a touchingly honest capture and continuing to bring the heat on keys. I dig "Tokudo", a tune from the bassist Williams that he's previously played with the likes of Charlie Rouse and Kenny Barron.
Jacob Garchik - Ye Olde 2: At the End of Time
Of the two albums that came out this quarter featuring six guitarists, this one's my jam. The trombonist Garchik has assembled two rocking quintets to complete the epic prog-story. He belongs to two up-and-coming disciplines in our "industry": the D&D/RPG-informed worldbuilders (see Charles Chen with Building Characters) and the Substackers. Sci-fi and physics maximalism as a way to be cooler and/or nerdier than the tech villains? I'm here for it.
Jake Baldwin: Vanishing Point
Oregon-raised, Minneapolis-based trumpeter Jake Baldwin was a brand-new discovery for me at the end of this summer. His quartet (guitar, electric bass, drums) hits me right where I'm at. The opening title track rocks, and "Space Heater" will go down as a tune of the year for me with its insistent sweetness and subtle edge. In the (is it too easy to say) Midwest Emo of it all, riffing hooks and twisting knives, right through to the positively Ron Miles placement of "You Are My Sunshine" at the end, I'm immersed.
Jakob Bro & Midori Takada: あなたに出会うまで / Until I Met You
I've often asked guitarist Jakob Bro's music to break my heart. Bro's collaboration with Japanese percussionist-composer Midori Takada, decades his senior, does it tenderly without the large-ensemble liberation folk fanfare of some of his other groups. I'll go back there when I want that, but this delicate treasure wants for nothing additional.
Jaleel Shaw: Painter of the Invisible
Philadelphia saxophonist Jaleel Shaw duets with young vibist Sasha Berliner on "Gina's Ascent" and its intro, and he weaves through the frontline role with guitarist Lage Lund on "Distant Images" and "The Invisible Man". Those are the two guests joining a great quartet of Lawrence Fields on piano, Ben Street on bass, and Joe Dyson on drums. This album just sounds wise, like Shaw has lived a thousand lives since he launched his record label with Optimism (my favourite Robert Glasper album, hehe) in 2008.
Jimmy Greene: As We Are Now
A thoroughly good straight-ahead record cut in early 2024. Greene plays mostly tenor and a bit of soprano. The rhythm section is pianist Aaron Goldberg, slightly younger drummer Jonathan Barber, and Dezron Douglas, who has always been busy and a bass idol of mine yet is maybe still underrated. Other nice additions include one brief vocal from Javier Colon on "Seventeen Days" and the B3 playing of Shedrick Mitchell, who played piano with Kenny Garrett and has lately worked as musical director for Samara Joy, on two tracks.
Lex Korten: Canopy
The heaviest album ever made that contains a Legend of Zelda tune.
Linda May Han Oh: Strange Heavens
Stupendous and as anti-enervating as "modern jazz" or "chordless trio" can be. This record has some session fun and casual melodic sparks that I've been missing in the Vijay Iyer / Linda May Han Oh / Tyshawn Sorey trio records. The bass playing is incredible and covers a broad range of sounds, all powered by a lot of harmonics and expert touch. Automatic cash to bet that the track called "Folk Song" is one of my favourites.
Peter Knight: Too Long; Didn't Read
Trumpeter Peter Knight came to the 2024 jazzfest with Hand to Earth, an Australian indigenous fusion ensemble. (They also just dropped a new record.) His TL;DR ensemble includes his son on drums, Helen Svoboda on wordless vocals and bass, and guitarist Theo Carbo, who came to this year's festival in the group Open Thread. Semi-ambient and intelligently electronic, TL;DR gives me a fresh look at one of the more intriguing trumpet players I heard live last year.
Pino Palladino & Blake Mills: That Wasn't A Dream
The famed session bassist Palladino's first record with LA producer, guitarist, and certified Hey Lover Boy Mills – the jazztronically downtempo Notes with Attachments – was the soundtrack to my downward spiral in 2021. Now that I'm feeling more like myself again, it's a joy to have a second record from them, and Sam Gendel and others alongside, to set a different mood for wherever life takes me next. They really got me with the tuning on "Contour".
Webber/Morris Big Band: Unseparate
Vancouver-born Angela Webber and Toronto-born Angela Morris are two Brooklyn saxophonists and composers who have two avant-minded big band records together now. This one comes via Out of Your Head Records, five years after the first on my client Greenleaf Music, Both are True. It's as energizing and spirited as it is crunchy.
Honourable mentions
- Cécile McLorin Salvant: Oh Snap. A brat-like approach. I was hyped after track one, then it splatters all over the place. The piano trio of Sullivan Fortner, Yasushi Nakamura, and Kyle Poole poking through now and then, a folk-revival song with two guests on "Take this stone", and even more excursions in just 34 minutes.
- Charlie Hunter & Ella Feingold: Different Strokes for Different Folks. I won't hold this one quite so tightly in my 2025 memory as Pino and Blake, but it's great for more guitarists'-guitar grooves and jams in a similar vein.
- Rafiq Bhatia: Environments. The guitarist Bhatia and percussionist Ian Chang are known for scoring Everything Everywhere All at Once as part of the group Son Lux. Trumpeter Riley Mulherkar dropped his own stunning solo album in 2024 and plays with The Westerlies, who put out a good one this year. They're also all in Dave Douglas' orbit. Here they play electro-ambient soundscape improv together.
