Entre Amigos

self-titled

Self-released

Jazz supergroups abound these days. You’ll find two other reviews of that ilk on these pages in this week alone, not to mention upcoming Blue Note releases next month. Let’s not forget touring groups like The Cookers, Heavy Hitters, and so many others. Entre Amigos (Amongst Friends) is both the name of a such supergroup and their debut album. The four members of this quartet have been friends for a decade, recently basking in the joy of a month-long tour of Asia, playing their brand of spontaneous improvisation coupled with composition. Arguably the biggest ‘name’ is tenor saxophonist and band leader Roy McGrath who is a force-of-nature in these eight pieces, democratically composed by each group member – pianist Hana Fujisaki (2), bassist Kitt Lyles (3), and drummer Gustavo Cortiñas(2), .  That leaves McGrath with one compositon. As mentioned, these tunes have been thoroughly road tested. This is the first installment and expect a sequel to follow in 2025.

This totally acoustic album draws heavily on hard bop and post-bop with Latin strains filtering in.  Here is some brief background on each of the musicians.  McGrath, perhaps surprisingly, was born and raised in Puerto Rico, subsequently educated in Boston, New Orleans and Chicago. As stated, he is a beast on the tenor and his Caribbean heritage also seeps in at times. He received a Latin GRAMMY nomination for his 2017 Remembranzas. Cortiñas is a multi-lingual Mexican-born drummer who also brings in strains of his native country and Latin America. He has released five original albums as a leader, including philosophical discourses on colonialism and resistance in Latin America, migration and empathy in times of border walls, and other facets of the human experience. He had his own album as a leader, Live in Chicago, on these pages this past February. Lyles was the bassist on that one as well. Fujisaki is an elegant pianist who studied at the  Yamaha Music School in Japan, where she won multiple awards as an organist and composer. She moved to the U.S. in 2012 and studied Jazz and Latin music, ultimately earning her M.M. from Northwestern University in 2018. Lyles was born and raised in South Carolina and uniquely marries southern roots with jazz. He has issued two albums as a leader, Real Talk (2015) and Wake Before Dawn (2020).

McGrath bats leadoff with his own  “The Almost-Mourning,” about the process of healing and recovering after the potential loss of connection to family.  His command of the tenor impresses from the outset with his balance of warmth and aggression  in a sound that is oft brassy rather than woodwind like. Fujisaki shows her bright fluidity in her solo as do her bandmates in their turns. Lyles’ pensive ballad “So Sad So Lonesome” shows that this group can play intimately and emotionally when called for. McGrath is in a Ben Webster-like mode here while the bassist keeps it all glued together. The quartet revs up with Fujisaki’s “Matsuri,” which carries a delightful melody and a brisk start-stop rhythm that highlights her precise touch on the ivories. McGrath, meanwhile, has such command of the high register on his horn, it sounds as if he is playing soprano. Each of these compositions make way for solos from McGrath, Fujisaki, and Lyles with Cortiñas delivering a terrific turn here as well.  The drummer’s “Windy City” is a sonic painting of Chicago, with its author again soloing impressively.  McGrath is flying, with a few sequences featuring almost a call-and-response motif in different registers of his horn.

Fujisaki’s gorgeous ballad, “Half Moon” emotively contemplates the state of “being imperfectly perfect,” with a large dose of the blues, yet another example of how astutely this quartet handles tender material. As the title suggests, Lyles’ “Monkody” captures the music of the iconic pianist and the quartet locks in locomotive style for this burner. Cortiñas caps it with an exclamation point in the finale. “Borderlands” is the drummer’s rather cinematic and lively sonic interpretation of his native land, and he uses all aspects of his drum kit, more in the role of a percussionist than a drummer. Per usual, McGrath takes his stunning flight. Lyles contributes the closer “Wellspring” that reflects the words of Lebanese Poet Khalil Gibran who marries sorrow and joy, the former occurring a the outset of the piece before blossoming into the latter, kicked off by the bluesy runs of Fujisaki’s both nimble and authoritative pianism that ignites at first solemn tones form Mcgrath before the piece morphs at the 7:21 mark into an outright swinger with crisp, rapid-fire clusters and trills from McGrath, building to a crescendo before ending on a mournful note.

These four are tight and incredibly emotive. What’s even better is that we have a sequel to look forward to.

–  Jim Hynes

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