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Review:
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Michael Sarian is a jazz trumpeter, and in
fact he was the trumpeter for The Jonas
Brothers on their 2023 tour. Personally, I
don't know what The Jonas Brothers sound like,
but they are popular, sell a lot of records,
and play to lots of people. That might make
Mr. Sarian one of the most heard jazz
trumpeters in the modern world!
Esquina is his latest record,
and here he is joined by Santiago Leibson on
organ, bassist Marty Kenney, and drummer
Nathan Ellman Bell. I am not really up on
contemporary jazz, so none of those names
meant anything to me. I will tell you though
that after listening to this record, I am
impressed with Kenney. The basswork on this
record is really cool and impressive.
Now, those three are the band. Sarian is the
lead man, playing trumpet through a lot of
effects. (If you scroll down on his website, he has a
gear list that has eight effects on it! (It's
almost like he's in Slowdive or
something....) The distorted trumpet makes a
cool strange sound. In fact, what Sarian is
doing reminds me a little of Spaceheads,
although with a fuller band.
There are five songs here. One is 20 minutes
long, and one is 25 minutes. And then there
are short "radio edits" of those two tracks.
There is a lot of music there, and as a jazz
record, it wanders and changes all the time,
so there is a lot to take in. However, it is
fun. The band does some interesting things,
and it's a jazz record, so if one part seems a
little dull, wait a minute and everything will
be different.
So I was listening to this record, 45 minutes
of jazz in, and suddenly the music parted and
the bassist stepped forward with a really cool
riff. The rest of the band joined in, and I
thought "Wow, they really sound like
Portishead here." And I went and looked at the
promo, and the middle song is in fact their
cover of Glory Box, the third single
from Portishead's debut record. And Sarian and
his band do a great job with it, taking
Portishead's jazzy electro pop and making it
purely jazz. It's a really cool version.
So: this is a good jazz record featuring some
cool playing, and featuring one really nice
Portishead cover. Overall, this is cool. Dig
it man.
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