Short Reviews [Heat On - 2025 - "Heat On"]

I have always had a thing for jazz groups led by drummers - after being raised on jazz by my dad, the first jazz album I ever bought with my own money was 'Drum Crazy' by Gene Krupa, and I am still fascinated by the way rhythms change when the group is being led from the back instead of the front. Here we have a multi-generational group which has been created by drummer Lily Finnegan (who is in multiple other bands playing not just jazz but punk), with Nick Macri on upright and electric bass, plus legendary Chicago tenor saxophonist Ed Wilkerson Jr. and Chi-town alto sax great Fred Jackson Jr. For this album Finnegan created brief motifs for bass and saxophones, creating a platform for the musicians to then branch out in their own way, creating the harmonies as they worked together in a manner which can only happen when the musicians have been steeped in the genre for decades. The hero of this album is bassist Macri, who somehow keeps his head and his cool while the world is rapidly changing around him, keeping the melody stable and strong which means that Lily has plenty of room to manoeuvre and create music which is related to the bass, but may be at tangents to the saxophones (who may be harmonising wonderfully, or playing counter melodies, or one could be allowing space to take his place). I can easily visualise the quartet all playing looking at each other, looking for the cues from Lily as to what needs to happen, and this togetherness certainly comes through in the music which covers a multitude of styles of which I am sure Miles would be proud. It is not traditional Golden Age, nor is it always as far off the wall as many of the releases I hear from Cuneiform, but somewhere in between although there are times when the band are working almost at odds to create cacophony from which comes harmony. I hope this is more than just a one-off project as this is exciting, vibrant and vital.