Janel Leppin
is one of the most restlessly creative forces in 21st century jazz and rock. Her recorded history includes duo outings with her husband, guitarist
Anthony Pirog
, a self-issued digital release in 2006, and playing on recordings by
Eyvind Kang
,
Marissa Nadler
Rose Windows
, and art-punk outfit
PRIESTS
. Her solo and session discography includes
Sister Mirror
(an improv album with
Susan Alcorn
and
Meghan Habibzai
); the
Mellow Diamond
recording (her indie singer/songwriter project where she plays a dozen instruments), and
Songs for Voice and Mellotron
. She founded and leads the vanguard jazz-rock sextet
Ensemble Volcanic Ash
, and records duo sets with
Pirog
as
Janel & Anthony
.
To March Is to Love
is
EVA
's second album -- their eponymous debut appeared in 2022.
Leppin
plays cello and piano and is assisted by guitarist
, bassist
Luke Stewart
, drummer
Larry Ferguson
, and saxophonists
Sarah Hughes
(alto) and
Brian Hughes
(tenor). The album contains 11 instrumental compositions, recorded over a single day in 2023 balancing modern composition with improvisation.
The set is bookended by two tribute tracks, the brief "Ode to Abdul Wadud," a jazz cellist whose work with
Julius Hemphill
on
Dogon A.D.
provided
lifelong inspiration, and "Casals' Rainbow" for legendary cellist
Pablo Casals
. Both men were musical revolutionaries, while
Casals
participated in politics, too. The former commences with a drum solo before
join his crashing cymbals in a sequence that straddles a line between jazz and prog. "Tennessee's a Drag" is centered on a repeating cello vamp adorned by guitar, bass, rolling tom-toms, with the twinned sax lines articulating a forceful yet melodic structure that in places recalls early
King Crimson
. "Union Art" is a riff-centric prog tune with glorious improvisation during its final half. "Oh Johnny Dear" is a complex, knotty chamber jazz composition using cello as the root the band revolves around. "Sateatime," in waltz time, weds modern chamber music to the ensemble's jazz progression. The title track is offered in two distinct parts: the first is essentially an introduction with interwoven electric guitar, arco bass, and cello;
' alto carries the vamp and
' tenor adds gossamer fills. The longer second section commences with foreboding interplay by tenor, guitars, bass, and restrained cello.
Stewart
begins improvising and the band answers with a vamp-like chord progression. Two minutes in, the saxes take over the fore, pulsing a vamp before
solos atop rumbling tom-toms and a biting electric guitar. When the saxes return, the jam breaks into avant-jazz with kinetic interplay.
plays piano solo on the fugue-like "Casals' Rainbow." She initiates a scalar progression in lower middle register, then, without abandoning it, weaves in another in the higher register as well as ostinato fills and trills.
reveals what's possible when top-shelf players communicate in carefully articulated compositions; they allow for individual freedoms that add weight and dimension to the
's utterly original sound. ~ Thom Jurek