Taking a more stripped-down approach than the expansive electric path he's been pursuing since 2013's
Water and Earth, trumpeter
Jeremy Pelt's 2016 album,
#Jiveculture, is a visceral exploration of small-group post-bop. It's also
Pelt's first album featuring legendary bassist and
Miles Davis associate
Ron Carter. Also joining
Pelt here are longtime bandmates pianist
Danny Grissett and drummer
Billy Drummond. While
Pelt has never completely eschewed swinging, harmonically challenging, straight-ahead jazz, his previous efforts,
Water and Earth,
Face Forward, Jeremy, and
Tales, Musings, and Other Reveries were notable for their more experimental flourishes that combined
Pelt's love of hip-hop and electronic dance music with his reverence for '70s-era jazz fusion, a la
Miles Davis'
Bitches Brew. For much of his career though,
Pelt has excelled at the kind of organic, modal-based jazz that
Davis played in the mid-'60s. This is the approach he takes on
#Jiveculture and one that works perfectly with the addition of
Carter, whose languid, supple bass style helped to define modern jazz. Here,
Pelt and company dive headlong into a set of originals and lesser-played standards, including a jaunty take on
Carter's own "Einbahnstrasse." Similarly compelling is the relaxed midtempo swinger "Dream Dancing," which brings to mind both mid-'50s
Miles and '80s
Wynton Marsalis.
Davis is also evoked on the angular "The Haunting" and the lyrical, sad-eyed ballad "Akua," with
Pelt utilizing a plaintive Harmon mute. Ultimately, while
#Jiveculture is a more stripped-down, traditional jazz production than
Pelt's previous releases, it's also one of his more densely packed, flowing with harmonic and melodic ideas that are all the more striking when set against the straight-ahead framework of a quartet. ~ Matt Collar
![Alfie [1966] [Original Music from the Score]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/4988031165232_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Alfie [1966] [Original Music from the Score]")
