Preminger has clearly channelled his “dark days” to produce something rather special and continues to deliver the highest quality work
Criss Cross Jazz: CRISS 1427 CD
Noah Preminger (tenor saxophone); Kim Cass (bass); Terreon Gully (drums); Ely Perlman (guitar)
Recorded in Astoria, NY on 14 December 2024
Noah Preminger has been on something of a roll. Actually, he has been on a roll for quite a while, debuting as a leader on 2008’s Dry Bridge Road and now with over 20 albums to his name. His musical choices have been no less impressive, with projects including music inspired by Delta Mississippi Blues musicians (Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground); reworked scores from the films of his namesake Otto Preminger (Preminger Plays Preminger); and with Rob Garcia, co-leading the ‘Dead Composers Club’ interpretations of the works of Chopin (The Chopin Project) and Hildegard von Bingen (Hildegard Project).
Preminger’s new album Dark Days, his fourth on Criss Cross, continues his run of accomplished recordings, but the inspiration here is much closer to home. The title is a reference to his state of mind when writing the album, born of a series of deep personal challenges. With an album titled “Dark Days”, you might have expected something that is all rather somber or pained, but not so. Yes, there are passages of intense emotion and poignancy, but also of excitement, beauty and exhilaration, resulting in an album of great subtlety and impact.
His twice weekly engagements at Wally’s Jazz Café in Boston provided an opportunity to develop the material through performance but also seem to have had a therapeutic effect providing a pleasing balance to the collective work. You don’t so much feel like you are sharing the composer’s pain throughout this album, rather their emergence from troubled times with a growing sense of hope.
Preminger has a lyrical saxophone sound with great control that leads you calmly through the pieces, even when things become more heated and complex. I noted early career comparisons made with Donny McCaslin and Shabaka Hutchings, and you can hear that in his directness, often punching through the notes. But here it is a considered directness, and it is the slower, quieter pieces that particularly impress with the precision of his blowing.
Preminger leads a quartet well-suited to his imaginative compositions. This is the 14th time that Kim Cass has recorded with Preminger and he has a highly distinctive, positive sound with plenty of technique. When Preminger describes Cass as being “like Jaco Pastorius on upright”, it is not too much of an exaggeration. Terreon Gully’s swirling drum patterns provide highly responsive support, continually morphing textures, such that you can literally hear him thinking all of the time. Ely Perlman brings a fluid guitar style, at will triggering flighted solos and providing an inspired foil to Preminger’s blowing.
The opener ‘Hummus’ is a complex number, bringing energy from the start with a steady drum and bassline and Perlman’s liquid ripples building anticipation and setting up a Middle Eastern vibe. Preminger punches out a staccato melody as a recurring and grounding frame before stretching out with a full-bodied solo and weaving in Perlman’s coursing guitar flights.
‘Hymn #1 (For Moving On)’, written by Perlman, is a slower piece, laying down a shimmering, atmospheric feel, punctuated by guitar notes. Preminger sets out a lightly blown melody, before Perlman takes the first solo making his guitar sing with emotion. Preminger’s own solo works in and around the melody, before returning to the gentle washes of sound. Simply lovely.
The energy picks up again on ‘Mopti’ (the name of a town in Mali on the Niger River) which breathes African rhythms into a catchy revolving folk dance with shimmering guitar notes and joyous playing all round. ‘Casa Pueblo’ is a gorgeous piece with a revolving melody that just… keeps… on… going. Preminger’s playing is so warm, controlled and precise here, and Cass takes a solo that fits right in.
‘FTSC’ is another of Preminger’s complex pieces, setting up a repeated punchy sax riff, breaking first for Perlman’s guitar explorations, then Preminger’s searching solo, with some delightful interplay between the two over Gully’s frenetic drum bursts. This is one of the tracks I kept returning to again and again, yielding more with each listen. As indeed does the title track ‘Dark Days’ which, as you would expect, comes from an emotional place. Cass’s bass intro places you on uncertain ground from the start before Preminger’s sad blues phrases build emotion. When Cass’s bass riff starts to sound the first notes of a possible change in mood to a more hopeful place it is suggestive of a direction of travel rather than a journey complete.
The album concludes with the gently uplifting ‘Barca’, inspired by one of Preminger’s favourite places, Barcelona. His blown notes take on a more warming tone here and a reassuring melody is first hinted at, then progressively emerges. Cass’s fast-fingered bass work is particularly impressive and it all ends on a reassuringly positive note.
On this album Preminger has clearly channelled his “dark days” to produce something rather special and continues to deliver the highest quality work. Recommended.
