Solo Trumpet (2)

 By Stef Gijssels

No lack of solo trumpet albums this year. I've just finished writing the last update when new materia pops up. So here we go, from completeness' sake. 

Various Artists - NYC Liminal Series, Vol. 4 - Trumpet (Chaikin Records, 2024)

The first update is a release by Brian Chase's Chaikin Records, a young label that - not unlike your humble servant - is fascinated by solo material. The already released "Vol. 1 - Bass" (2020), "Vol. 2 - Cello" (2020), "Vol. 3 - Drums" (2021). And now Trumpet. The four featured musicians are Peter Evans, Steph Richards, Joe Moffett with two pieces, and Nate Wooley. 

All material was recorded in spring of this year. This is definitely not music that will provide much comfort or bring you in a Christmas atmosphere, but for people with open ears it is a real treat. All four musicians go the extra mile in a relatively short performance, ranging from three to twelve minutes, without any further concern than to deliver this one single improvisation. 

The joy of the album is also the variation in tone, style and sound of each player. Peter Evans really pushes the envelope on his piccolo trumpet, while Steph Richards offers much warmer tones on her flugelhorn, but also with surprises and sudden changes in mood and technical delivery. Joe Moffett is not surprisingly the trumpet player who goes beyond all boundaries, searching the possibilities and limits, in a kind of personal physical battle with his instrument. Nate Wooley's piece is inspired by the visual art of Audra Wolowiec, and is more abstract, with structural repetitions and perspectives, using his amplifier as a tool to create even more never-heard innovative sounds. 

For the aficionados ...

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Brad Henkel - Croon (Neither/Nor Records, 2023)

We have reviewed Brad Henkel before, on Anastasios Savvopoulos’ OUXPO – Deterritorialiazation" (2019), on Mazen Kerbaj - Walls Will Fall - The 49 Trumpets of Jericho (2018), on Frantz Loriot Systematic Distortion Orchestra - The Assembly (2016). We can also mention other collaborations with Mia Dyberg, Jacob Wick and Ernesto Rodrigues. 

"Croon" is his first solo album. It is a wonderful exhibition of novel sounds that the trumpet may produce, for quiet multiphonic whispers to clarion-clear tones, and everything in between. The titles of the pieces may already give you a glimpse of their nature: "Bay", "Whir", "Croon", "Squall", "Purr", "Clamor", "Chant", "Mope". You wonder how he does it. Some techniques defy understanding, like the singing while playing trumpet on "Chant", yet it all sounds a little too programmatic, providing an overview of possible sounds, as if we're in a museum. I wish I could have heard the use of the same techniques in an album with a stronger musical vision, a translation into something more committed. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.