Awakening – Andrew Vogt (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

Jazz, when done correctly, is timeless. Such is the long and illustrious route that the genre has taken, and many and varied are the paths it was walked to explore all possible sonic avenues of potential and possibility, that it has much to call on in terms of sound and style, form and function, that it can defy era and ride across the whims of fad and fashion. Yes, jazz can be timeless when done well. Awakenings is the sound of it being done well, very well indeed.

I will apologize in advance if I’m not so au fait with the correct terminology to describe such music. Jazz is not one of my main areas of expertise, but I know what I like. And I like this. I like it a lot.

The opening, titular track acts as a gentle dipping of the musical toe in the sonic water, almost seeming to be a marshalling of the various instruments, a sonic calm before the storm of eloquence and ornateness to follow. Things get going with the spacious and mellifluous Wes’ Waltz, and then really get going with Hammerspace, just under five minutes of virtuosic complexities, fast moves, and syncopated grooves.

Dusk wanders dreamily by, an evocation of the rising of the light at the start of the day. It is an understated piece that allows plenty of room for the vocal treatments of Sarah Marie Young and Sharon Irving, which deftly and delicately dance over the top. One takes the role of seductive soul singer, the other streetwise rapper, as the instruments propel and punctuate their vocal flow.

As Dark Blues drifts into earshot, you realize that you have been led into the space that exists between more traditional forms of the genre and the jazz-infused rock of the likes of Steely Dan. Not a bad place to find yourself, and Bass Entude #1 sees Andrew Vogt exploring his own instrument, with this beguiling, stripped back and exploratory bass solo.

If you are going to end with a well-known cover, it might as well be by the Beatles. And if it is by the Fab Four, it might as well be Elenor Rigby…in my humble opinion. Here, Andrew leads his players through a wonderfully arranged and annotated take on this classic song, a journey deep into its inner workings and imagined possibilities, a blend of what the song is and what it might be.

Awakening is a masterstroke, the sort of album which will appeal to those who don’t even realize that they like jazz. It blends the analogue and the digital, the acoustic and the electronic, standard songs and original compositions, the old and the new and even a hint at what is yet to come. What more could you ask for?