Jump Up (Cellar Live Records)
Brad Turner Quartet with Guest Seamus Blake
Released June 7, 2019
Juno Award Nominee Jazz Album of the Year: Group 2020
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m5Ng1Sw25B65PJuAxSIGLJC2RX8qQNBEs
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/39GNOjGuGwBNaT62hORzQ5?si=Yr3CdgUyQP-iBvhxlGRD5A
About:
This could be the most significant recording on my label thus far. Why? Rewind to the 90s, when I was attending Capilano University (then Capilano College): around 1993, Brad Turner returned from getting his master’s degree at The University of North Texas and started teaching at Capilano. He was a mythical-type figure the students had heard about, but never met, and we immediately took notice when he arrived at Cap. Brad was playing piano and trumpet at an astonishing high level, and directing a big band that was playing a lot of his charts. He was supportive, but he demanded the best. Nothing less would do. He was The Man, the musician we all strived to be. (Most of us are still trying!)
He released his first quartet recording (with the late Chris Nelson on bass), Long Story Short, in 1994, followed by 1997’s There and Back. Then something really special happened. Brad joined forces with tenor saxophonist Seamus Black for a weekend at The Jazz Cellar – a club that, unbeknownst to me at the time, I would own five months later!
Cory Weeds
Track Listing:
1. Poco (Brad Turner) 08:43
2. Jump Up (Brad Turner) 07:18
3. Not a Dream (Brad Turner) 08:34
4. Likes (Brad Turner) 07:36
5. Cedar (Brad Turner) 06:09
6. The Enthusiast (Brad Turner) 06:38
7. Superlux (Brad Turner) 07:51
8. Little People (Brad Turner) 06:05
9. Catastrophizer (Brad Turner) 11:08
Personnel:
Brad Turner: trumpet & flugelhorn
Seamus Blake: tenor saxophone
Bruno Hubert: piano
Andre Lachance: bass
Dylan Van Der Schyff: drums
Recorded at The Warehouse Studios in Vancouver, BC on December 30, 2018 by Sheldon Zharko
Produced by Cory Weeds and Brad Turner
Mixing and Mastering by Chris Gestrin
Photography: Aslam Husain
Layout: Perry Chua
Review:
Jump Up—culled mostly from a single studio session at the close of a snowy, three-day stint at a Vancouver club—finds trumpeter Brad Turner making the most of a small window of time, unloosing nine original hardbop-leaning tunes with swinging urgency alongside tenorist Seamus Blake. While the gig was only a weekend and the session a single day, there’s no shortage of familiarity among the five musicians here. Blake ignites the band, the two horns sparring at every turn. Turner, whether on trumpet or flugelhorn, is a confident composer, employing inspired harmonies with Blake’s bellowing tenor leading the up-tempo material. The titular “Jump Up” is a burner with drummer Dylan Van Der Schyff summoning a waterfall of cymbals, while pianist Bruno Hubert patiently hammers a thick progression. He switches to Rhodes for the simmering “Likes” and pushes the band into looser territory for “Superlux,” a modal hot-pot of soaring soul. Bassist André Lachance kicks off the 11-minute “Catastrophizer” as Turner dribbles out woozy lines amid Blake’s fiery testimony. The rhythm section is a chaotic swell beneath the two horns, its manic energy hinting at the artistry unfurled during the troupe’s live engagement.
Sean J. O’Connell (DownBeat)
