Review by Matt Collar
The second album from Christian McBride's outré quartet New Jawn, 2023's Prime is somehow even more expressive and harmonically adventurous than its predecessor. Unlike his other projects, including his trio and Grammy-winning big band, the bassist's New Jawn is a maverick ensemble whose frenetic sound shares little in common with the straight-ahead swing and modern jazz McBride is known for. This is exploratory, free-leaning post-bop and avant-garde jazz that's easily some of the most adventurous music of the bassist's career. Once again joining him are trumpeter Josh Evans, saxophonist and bass clarinetist Marcus Strickland, and drummer Nasheet Waits. The album opens with a brassy yawp on McBride's "Head Bedlam" as Evans and Strickland scream at the sky as McBride and Waits pummel the ground below them. They build with a primal intensity until giving way to a slow, thumping funk groove over which they each solo with a menacing, snake-like attitude. Yet more thrilling moments follow, as on "Obsequious" and "Dolphy Dust," propulsive free-bop workouts that evoke the dangerous alchemy of saxophonist Eric Dolphy's mid-'60s group with trumpeter Booker Little. Yet more atmospheric are tracks like "The Lurkers" with its bowed bass and "Moonchild" with its airy, baroque trumpet and bass clarinet harmonies. Along with the originals, they dive into spry readings of Ornette Coleman's "The Good Life" and Sonny Rollins' "East Broadway Rundown." The Coleman and Rollins' covers work to underline the influences at play in New Jawn, showing just how adept McBride and his group are at pulling from jazz' avant-garde past while continuously pushing towards its expansive, improvisational future.