" data-original-title="" title="">Jarom��r Honz��k and his newest release Hard To Understand. Recorded and mixed by Milan Cimfe and subsequently mastered by Pavel Karl��k (all at Sono Records Studio), these plush recordings reveal detail in the compositions mirrored in the quartet's empathetic musicianship. On tracks like "Just Thinking," there's no sense of a leader/follower hierarchy but rather a mutual sensitivity in and to the moment. The band always sounds like it knows right where it's going during a cut such as "Rain Cloud" and thus radiates a solidarity that also echoes through even the quietest numbers like "Simple Truth;" the collective awareness of surroundings makes for listening no doubt as engrossing as was the experience of playing. None of the nine tracks, including two parts of "Tamquam," go on for an inordinate length of time, but the cumulative effect of the record is nonetheless deep and abiding.

Francois Carrier/Tomek Gadecki/Marcin Bozen/Michel Lamber
Wide
FMR Records
2020

Captured live on a single date, through recording then mixed and mastered by Francois Carrier himself (who also designed this package's cover art), Wide is as spontaneous as it is self-sufficient and independent. Three tracks, totaling some sixty-three minutes running time, create a palpable ambiance as broad as it is deep and while each musician of the four remains keenly aware of the others, there's no discernible rush to fill the space(s). On the contrary, the quartet seems to relish the openness, each player fully extending his imagination and the capabilities of his respective instrument. And, proportionally speaking, that's true on "Radiancy," the shortest track here at 9:44, as well as on the two longer cuts, the titletune and the ever-so-appropriate "Leeway." The latter in particular manifests the mutual confidence of these musicians and is, in turn, emblematic of the shared credit applied to the title, one that will conceivably satiate listeners but also make for compelling replays once the first is complete.

Tony Barba
Blood Moon
Shifting Paradigm
2020

The saxophonist/bandleader/composer of all this material sets an emphatic tone for this deceptively unorthodox work from the very outset of its opening title track. Trade-offs between soloists are virtually indiscernible and that's even with the almost tactile presence of audio recorded and mixed by Mark Whitcomb, subsequently mastered by Justin Perkins; the four-way interactions ultimately constitute a musicianship relying as much on intuition as technical aptitude. Songs such as "Hide Alerts" boast tantalizing changes in both melody and rhythm, while the deliberate gait the ensemble assumes on the latter number belies the nuance each individual brings to the arrangement: it is the work of a group in tune with each other, the tunes, their playing and the studio process. As on "Rounding Up," the quartet conjures up the respective mood of each selection without unnecessarily belaboring the structures or their departures therefrom; as a result, the cumulative effect imprints an indelible impression over the course of its roughly fifty minutes duration.

Chris McCarthy
Still Time to Quit
Ropeadope
2020

Throughout most of his debut album for the Ropeadope label, pianist/composer