By Lee Rice Epstein

As a jazz drummer hitting highschool and faculty within the ’90s, Jim Black’s
taking part in was a revelation to me. With saxophonists Chris Pace, Andrew
D’Angelo, Tim Berne, and Ellery Eskelin, Black helped make jazz sound
thrilling and trendy. And 30 years on, he’s nonetheless making a number of the finest,
most addictive jazz music round. On his newest for Intakt, recorded and
blended final summer time and fall in Berlin, Ain’t No Saint
units a excessive bar for sheer delight.

A two-horn entrance line with bass and drums rhythm part is a bit like a
homecoming, calling again to earlier teams like Endangered Blood, Human
Really feel, Yeah No, and Bloodcount. Black’s assembled a global quartet,
with tenor saxophonist Julius Gawlik and bassist Felix Henkelhausen from
Germany, and Danish alto saxophonist Asger Nissen, younger gamers who prepare dinner
at a blazing temperature. “The Set-up (for Baikida Carroll)” is a sly
opener, concurrently inviting and deceiving. From there, the band blasts
via a tight set of originals. Not like a typical jazz blowing session,
which might overstay their welcome with prolonged, middling solos, The Schrimps
play with an excited fervor, not frantic however fierce.

A handful of tracks, like “Snaggs” and “Crashbash,” swing with tight
grooves from Henkelhausen and Black and addictive melodies from Nissen and
Gawlik. Others showcase ethereal group improvisations, like “Bellsimmer,” which
regularly morphs right into a heavy outro, Henkelhausen’s bass pulsing and shoving
its approach into focus. Ain’t No Saint closes with the 2 lengthiest
songs, “The As soon as” and “Bowerdfield.” Again to again, they permit the group to
finish in a barely extra summary vein than the majority of the album. On
“Bowerdfield,” Gawlik begins within the higher register, with Nissen performing
elegant leaps and pirouettes. It’s an intriguingly open-ended conclusion,
the group leaving the stage regardless that they clearly have extra to say.
Let’s hope we get to listen to it quickly.

Jim Black & The Schrimps, 2021, dwell at Jazzwerkstatt Peitz:

Jim Black & The Shrimps – dwell @ Festungsturm | JAZZWERKSTATT PEITZ from berta.berlin on Vimeo.