The use of electronics is done with great skill and much good taste and the overriding sense in listening to the music is the strong melodic content and Howard’s delicate and warm sound on both trumpet and flugelhorn.
Elsden Music EM13
Jim Howard (trumpet, flugelhorn, electronics, percussion, moog)
After presenting an album of improvised duets alongside Julie Walkington’s gongs, hand percussion and singing bowls on Beyond the Treeline this time Howard has stepped boldly into the limelight with an all-solo set.
A logical step and a recording that the trumpeter has been wishing to make for some time the resulting music is wonderfully diverse and eschews the pitfalls that blight so many solo albums that can often be just a tad self-indulgent.
Acutely aware that a solo set can be a little daunting for many, Howard has cleverly varied the programme in both mood and texture, and while he does improvise the emphasis is on the compositions and arrangements. The use of electronics is done with great skill and much good taste and the overriding sense in listening to the music is the strong melodic content and Howard’s delicate and warm sound on both trumpet and flugelhorn.
Blurring the line between composition and improvisation seems to be an aspect of his music that the trumpeter relishes, and the melodic contours of the compositions are mirrored by the lyrical solos, and a fine example of this can be heard on ‘The Twinkling Lights of a City Far Below’ with Howard’s haunting muted trumpet and contrasts dramatically against the open horn introduction to ‘Together Alone’ before the choir of overdubbed brass adds further depth to the lovely melody. This type of arranging for brass is also captured beautifully on the title track, this time with trumpets that can be heard faintly behind the open horns in a clever and most effective touch.
The music flows effortlessly throughout from the exuberance of ‘To Have And To Haven’t’ with Howard heard on drums, and the deeply affecting and wholly improvised ‘For M.A’ dedicated to the trumpeter’s friend and percussionist Martin Allen and ensures that the attention is never allowed to wander.
In making such a recording, Jim Howard acknowledges the influences of fellow trumpeters Arve Henricksen, Nils Petter Molvær and Jon Hassell, but is not overawed by the company he keeps. An admire of Hassell’s “use of space”, Howard is also willing to leave space and silence in these intriguing compositions but does so in a manner that allows the music to breathe, and the space serves to point up the lyrical aspect of the compositions.
Also, very much aware of his surroundings, the trumpeter has used the electronics and studio sparingly and as complex and detailed as the arrangements are Howard has conceived the music in such a way that it can be performed live, and it is hoped that the trumpeter can indeed take this music out on the road. Until then, this wonderful recording will do very nicely.
