ELEPHANT by Adam O'Farrill

Review: Adam O'Farrill - ELEPHANT

After more than a decade establishing himself as one of the leading young jazz trumpeters around (having worked with Mary Halvorson, Vijay Iyer, Mulatu Astatke, Tyshawn Sorey, as well as leading groups both compact and large), Adam O'Farrill has yet to lead a small-group recording featuring him as the only horn player. For Elephant, O'Farrill steps to the front of a quartet consisting of Yvonne Rogers (piano), Walter Stinson (double bass), and Russell Holzman (drums)—at least, he eventually does. Elephant's opener, "Curves and Convolutions," actually starts out with a circular piano pattern complemented by a staccato yet sturdy rhythm figure; it's not until more than a few bars in that O'Farrill squonkily introduces himself with a bracingly free-sounding muted trumpet line. Although he eventually falls into place with the established proceedings, he also seems to give the rest of the group permission to spin off on their own trajectories. Despite its title, the track may not be "math-jazz," but it certainly positions O'Farrill and the Elephant quartet as a group of players that's not only highly skilled and smart, but also more than willing to give into flights of improvisational fancy and occasional whimsy.

From that declarative opening, the group bravely digs right into the album's keystone number, "Sea Triptych," a three-part suite that is elegant, exploratory, and emotionally dynamic (the middle part somehow manages to be both gentle and intense). Similarly sprawling is the near-12-minute "The Return," which doesn't strive to be quite so epic, but nonetheless allows the group to explore a variety of tempos and timbres. About two minutes into "The Return," there's a moment where it seems that the floor just falls out of the arrangement, leaving O'Farrill's trumpet and the rhythm section on a sort of atmospheric stasis until they declaratively lock back in for a visceral and kinetic exchange. Both "Eleanor's Dance" and "Herkimer Diamond" toy with an electronica vibe, and Rogers proves to be as interesting a synth player as she is a pianist, but both pieces are dominated by their looping, loping rhythms that are wildly engaging, but far too quirky to inspire any dance floor abandon. To the contrary, "Thank You Song" is one of the most forward and straightforward numbers, with a tight, propulsive rhythm (drummer Holzman gets plenty of room to shine here) and a strong and confident melody line shared by O'Farrill's trumpet and Rogers' piano. By album's end—the Brazilian-tinted Ryuichi Sakamoto piece "Bibo No Aozora," the only cover song on Elephant—O'Farrill and company have settled into a near-traditionalist vein, with subtle piano lines, warm trumpet tones, and tap-tap-tapping cymbal touches that are far less restless than the twitchy complexities that opened Elephant.  © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz