MATT ULERY - Delicate Charms Live at The Green Mill
Woolgathering Records CD WR015
Matt Ulery, bass; Paul Bedal, piano; James Davis, trumpet; Greg Ward, alto saxophone; Quin Kirchner, drums
Recorded live at The Green Mill in Chicago, Illinois, USA on April 30th and May 1st 2021
The band, Delicate Charms, first came together for a residency by composer and bassist Matt Ulery at a music festival in Portugal, but is now reformed, since the first recording in 2019, replacing the original violin with a trumpet. Accordingly, the overall group sound has shifted from an aloof, chamber-like acoustic to that of a ‘straight-ahead’ jazz outfit. Being live rather than studio based, the recording seems, at times, to have taken on the spirit of a long-awaited ‘return to normality’, shared by both audience and performers. There are, though, passages in which all seems lost, as though the pandemic had taken all the spirit out of the play and the players. Unfortunately, the opener, We Are Just at the Limit, fell into that category and I was not enthralled. Persevering, I wondered if the escape from the lockdown had contributed the greater part of the audience’s enthusiasm.
The album contains a set of six new works by Ulery and it would be unfair to dismiss them all without consideration. Overall, the composer’s themes are hardly memorable, but the musicians do make a considerable effort in their individual performances – it is perhaps their collaborative work which is not so strong. This is the original band in name only, for this is the new ‘Delicate Charms’ and it would be unfair and inaccurate to hand on to it the accolades earned by the original ensemble. What is conspicuous is the presence of Ulery’s distinguishing and exuberant lyricism, perceptible through all of his appearances as arranger, composer and leader, whether with quintet, big band, brass band, chamber nonet or orchestra. His lyricism is complex as it depends on such different musical sources as chamber, folk, jazz and rock, further confounded by foundations as far apart as the Balkan Peninsula and South America.
The name for the new band is not really apt and that is a source of discomfort too. This ensemble is anything but delicate, the addition of James Davis on trumpet bringing a much more brittle, a harsher edge to the soundstage, which cloaks itself in a festering tautness as though about to fragment. The occasional torrents of notes from the piano hardly placate the magma from sax and trumpet and the whole is stirred into a tumult by Kirchner’s aggressive drumming. Delicate they are not.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Woolgathering Records CD WR015
Matt Ulery, bass; Paul Bedal, piano; James Davis, trumpet; Greg Ward, alto saxophone; Quin Kirchner, drums
Recorded live at The Green Mill in Chicago, Illinois, USA on April 30th and May 1st 2021
The band, Delicate Charms, first came together for a residency by composer and bassist Matt Ulery at a music festival in Portugal, but is now reformed, since the first recording in 2019, replacing the original violin with a trumpet. Accordingly, the overall group sound has shifted from an aloof, chamber-like acoustic to that of a ‘straight-ahead’ jazz outfit. Being live rather than studio based, the recording seems, at times, to have taken on the spirit of a long-awaited ‘return to normality’, shared by both audience and performers. There are, though, passages in which all seems lost, as though the pandemic had taken all the spirit out of the play and the players. Unfortunately, the opener, We Are Just at the Limit, fell into that category and I was not enthralled. Persevering, I wondered if the escape from the lockdown had contributed the greater part of the audience’s enthusiasm.
The album contains a set of six new works by Ulery and it would be unfair to dismiss them all without consideration. Overall, the composer’s themes are hardly memorable, but the musicians do make a considerable effort in their individual performances – it is perhaps their collaborative work which is not so strong. This is the original band in name only, for this is the new ‘Delicate Charms’ and it would be unfair and inaccurate to hand on to it the accolades earned by the original ensemble. What is conspicuous is the presence of Ulery’s distinguishing and exuberant lyricism, perceptible through all of his appearances as arranger, composer and leader, whether with quintet, big band, brass band, chamber nonet or orchestra. His lyricism is complex as it depends on such different musical sources as chamber, folk, jazz and rock, further confounded by foundations as far apart as the Balkan Peninsula and South America.
The name for the new band is not really apt and that is a source of discomfort too. This ensemble is anything but delicate, the addition of James Davis on trumpet bringing a much more brittle, a harsher edge to the soundstage, which cloaks itself in a festering tautness as though about to fragment. The occasional torrents of notes from the piano hardly placate the magma from sax and trumpet and the whole is stirred into a tumult by Kirchner’s aggressive drumming. Delicate they are not.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
