No other media outlet in Montreal has so many people on hand to provide expert coverage of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. Many of us are scouring the outdoor site and concert halls: Jacob Langlois-Pelletier, Frédéric Cardin, Stephan Boissonneault, Michel Labrecque, Varun Swarup, Vitta Morales and Alain Brunet bring you their album reviews and concert reports. Happy reading and listening!
I should begin by saying that the prospect of reviewing Joey Alexander’s latest album, Continuance, was an intriguing one to me chiefly because I hadn’t kept up with his work for the better part of a decade. My assumption, naturally, was that an Alexander release would feature technical finesse on the piano, talented sidemen, jazz standards, and the slickness, (as well as straight eights and quintuplet partials), typical of a modern jazz release. I must confess, I was still conjuring images of that twelve year old who caused grown musicians to punch air in jealousy. Of course, that was 2015; and so you understand my curiosity to see what had changed.
From a reductive point of view, I think my earlier assumptions were correct. Technical ability, talented sidemen in the form of his touring personnel, and contemporary slickness, all made their appearances. However, in other aspects, I was pleasantly surprised. This is all to say, breaking out of the “child prodigy” box is surely a difficult task as there will always be pressure to continue what earned you a spot at the dance. However, I do believe Alexander is using Continuance to let us know he’s moving on from what he used to do in favor of something a bit different.
For one thing, It would certainly seem that the days of relying on jazz standards to fill the majority of album runtimes are well behind him. Across his last two albums, (seventeen songs), only two have been covers. Both appear on this release, and neither are standards. The first cover is the pop ballad “I Can’t Make You Love Me” which Alexander arranges as an R&B tune by laying heavy into the “blue” notes and having his drummer provide us with a fat sounding backbeat. (Probably with the classic bandana/tea towel on the snare trick). The other cover is the Christian hymn “Great is Thy Faithfulness” which is arranged as a 12/8 shuffle with all the ghost notes, brief metric modulations, and other gospel hallmarks you could want.
The rest of the album is made of original tunes which I do think contain a lot of subtlety in different spots. The tape warble effect on the synth strings in “Hear Me Now” definitely surprised me and made me smile. Other moments of subtlety include how delicate the whole band sounds when accompanying Theo Crocker’s solo in “Why Don’t We.” Maybe we shouldn’t be too
surprised since, even as a youngster, Joey Alexander has played and interpreted music with a maturity some take an entire lifetime to achieve. There’s a lot to praise and be optimistic about in this album; the arrangements are effective, the playing is solid, and the vibes are incredibly chill in spots. However, I do wonder if this album would have been more head turning had it come out even five years ago. Despite a clearly more involved product, and an attempt to change directions, to my ears Continuance is in many ways your standard modern jazz fare with some neo-soul and RnB thrown in. While I know it’s a little unfair to a twenty year-old who began managing an artistic career when most of us are still reading Asterix, I haven’t quite been convinced to re-enter the world of Joey Alexander as a full-fledged fan. More of an appreciative casual observer. Keep in mind, however, that he likely had me disgruntled and punching air at some point during my music school days, so what do I know? For the faithful and the interested, however, Joey Alexander will be playing at this year’s Montreal jazz fest June 28th at 9pm at Théâtre Jean-Duceppe.
