Scott Tinkler - Backwards (Extreme, 2007) ****

I find it amazing that musicians who are extremely talented and have earned their reputation in mainstream jazz and big bands, create music that is totally different and avant-garde when leading their own ensembles or when playing solo. Trumpeters like Herb Robertson, Thomas Heberer and Axel Dörner fall into that category, and so does Australian trumpeter Scott Tinkler. In the 1990s he already released several trumpet trio recordings, which are truly great : adventurous and accessible at the same time (and downloadable via eMusic). On "Backwards", his overdubbed solo recording, he pushes the boundaries of trumpet playing, not as far as Greg Kelley or Nate Wooley, still paying attention to the lyrical side of things, the expressivity and the pleasure of creating sound, rather than just extending techniques for the sake of it (even more stunning : this record does NOT contain any overdubbing, see Scott Tinkler's comment on this post : it is mindboggling then how he manages to sound like two trumpets playing at the same time, especially on the first track!). Tinkler creates an incredible intensity just by playing his horn in unfamiliar regions, sounding at the same time deeply primitive, alternating just two stretched notes fully of agony, incredibly spiritual, and very avant-garde (blowing in water as Rob Mazurek already did, but here luckily only on one track!). In that sense he is closer in spirit to the Norwegians Eivind Aarset and Per Jørgensen : deep-rooted and universal emotional expressiveness prevails over technique. If you're a trumpeter, don't miss this. If you're not a trumpeter, look for it.

Listen and download from eMusic.
© stef