Michael Gregory Jackson, After Before

A new Michael Gregory Jackson album always promises to be an event. After Before (self-released) is no exception. His highly original guitar wielding is given an excellent setting with the current members of his Clarity Quartet: Niels Praestholm, bass, Simon Spang-Hanssen, tenor and soprano sax, and Matias Wolf-Andreasen, drums.

There is cohesion and spirited togetherness in this band. They run through some extraordinarily worthwhile original compositions, including a couple of those inimitable songs Michael writes and sings, existing in a lyrical place all their own.

But there is of course a new jazz contemporary thing happening with the band as well, as you expect from Michael.

There is nothing derivative about Michael's playing. He has always been a school of one and he continues to be, though there is never a standing still. There is a funky kind of leverage to his soloing on this one, along with a scatter overall fullness when he feels that.

The band is very simpatico, each in his own way a voice of distinction. Together they make very beautiful music.

Michael Gregory Jackson, if you need to know, occupies a space in the jazz guitar world that is wholly original and extraordinarily schooled in its steady-state singularity. After Before is a new step along the way, deserving to be numbered among his very best albums, in ways that hang together as "new," very much new.

Highest recommendations!

XADU, Random Abstract

In the realm of guitar-based fusion, all of course depends on the quality of the improvisations and the freshness of the compositions. We get both with the band XADU and their album Random Abstractions. It showcases the electric guitar excellence of Dusan Jevtovic and the fine drumming of Xavi Reija.

They have two previous albums that were covered on these pages (type in the search box above for the reviews): Dusan with Am I Walking Wrong and Xavi with Dusan and bassist Bernat Hernandez on Resolution. Both albums were very good. As the duet XADU they have moved a step further.

This is metal jazz if you like, with compositions that enliven things considerably and excellent musicianship. Dusan reminds ever so slightly of Terje Rypdal in his advanced harmonic-melodic ingenuity. Xavi drums with fervor and imagination, rocking freely with a pulse that is less tied to bar lines than it is additive and subtractive, which frees up the time and gives Dusan a flexibility in phrasing that allows him literally to take off.

The tunes are the opposite of formulaic. Dusan's "New Pop" has a chord progression that stays in your head uniquely. That may be the high point but it all has substance and innovative qualities.

This is an album that needs to be heard. Guitarists will have much to hear on this one, but everyone who responds to fusion will find something different and very much directionally ahead.

Highly recommended!