Three nights at Dizzy’s Club to find the music, one day in the studio to capture it. Wolfe is happy with the result. You will be too.
Resident Arts Records
Ben Wolfe – bass, composer; Joel Ross – vibraphone; Sullivan Fortner – piano; Chris Lewis – tenor saxophone; Aaron Kimmel – drums
Bassist and composer Ben Wolfe has been a prominent fixture in the jazz scene for decades, his New York career stretching back to the mid-1980s. For Any Time After Now, he’s brought together a fresh ensemble and written music that serves the group rather than showcasing himself. Melody and atmosphere take precedence, and every player — vibraphonist Joel Ross, pianist Sullivan Fortner, tenor saxophonist Chris Lewis, drummer Aaron Kimmel — sounds like an essential color in the mix.
Part of what drives that approach is personal. Wolfe is a synaesthete — he experiences sound as colors, shapes, and textures — and Fortner shares a similar perception. That connection shapes the album’s tonal palette in ways that are hard to pin down but easy to feel. The music has a visual quality to it, something almost painterly, where how the ensemble blends matters as much as any individual statement.
The title track comes out swinging — a hard bop groove with a West Coast cool undertow — Fortner’s piano owns the melody before dropping back into the rhythm, letting Ross’s vibes trade lush and velvety phrases with Lewis’s sax. Kimmel’s drum solo, a shuffling rolling beat, gives way to the whole group coming back with the opening theme, Wolfe’s bass driving a steady pulse throughout.
Throughout the record, Fortner, Ross, and Lewis pass melodic lines between them like a casual conversation among old friends. “Waltz II” is a dreamy dialogue between piano and vibes, Fortner’s comping so melodically alive it weaves itself into the fabric of what Ross is playing. “If Only” moves at a still slower pulse, the two voices intertwining seamlessly — Fortner’s notes placed so deliberately it feels like he’s stepping carefully, carrying something precious he doesn’t want to leave behind.
“Blues” has a playful, easygoing swing, Lewis’s sax opening in the lower register, cool and unhurried, before climbing higher brightening the mood. Fortner’s piano pulls back on the beat with beautiful rolling lines, his right hand surprising with sudden flurries of notes way up the keyboard. Piano, vibes, and bass sounding jaunty — the kind of sound that brings to mind the lighthearted, jazzy 1950s soundtracks of French filmmaker Jacques Tati, who had that same casual, unforced charm.
“Do You Love?” opens with another gorgeous melody from piano and vibes, in no hurry to leave. The record winds down through the easygoing shuffle of “Down with Gravity,” Lewis at his most relaxed, playing a simple, infectious melody then stretching out over it, his tone slightly breathy, his lines easy and searching, Wolfe’s bass following with a nuanced lyricism, the woody fullness of his tone a pleasure in itself. “Til Next Time” closes things out with vibes and piano over steady rimshots, Wolfe placing single bass notes slowly and melodically, with the same careful intent that defines the whole record.
Three nights at Dizzy’s Club to find the music, one day in the studio to capture it. Wolfe is happy with the result. You will be too.
