Josh Lawrence

Measured Response

Posi-Tone

Trumpeter Josh Lawrence leads the classic jazz quintet configuration of trumpet, tenor, piano. bass, and drums on Measured Response, his sixth album as a leader on Posi-Tone. He has co-led two with the Fresh Cut Orchestra on Ropeadope and has received three Grammy nominations, most notably with Orrin Evans’ Captain Black Big Band. Last time out we informed you that he was appointed Director of Jazz Studies at Interlochen Center for the Arts, but he has now transitioned to his native Philadelphia as Manager of Jazz Education Programs with Ensemble Arts Philly, the new presenting brand of the Philadelphia Orchestra. The album centers on his journey from northern Michigan to his familiar home turf. In this effort he teams with Posi-Tone stalwarts – tenorist Diego Rivera, pianist Art Hirahara, and drummer Rudy Royston. The bassist is Luques Curtis, with whom Royston has often teamed. With two exceptions, these are all Lawrence compositions, with one from Charlie Haden and another from John Coltrane.

Opener “Where Do We Go?” is a slow burn, tracking his and his wife’s journey from pandemic times, leaving NYC for the calm of the Poconos to his appointment at Interlochen and then back home. This theme of feeling ungrounded and yearning for home comes across in expressive solos from Lawrence, Rivera, and Hirahara brought to a definitive close. “A Tragic Tango Comedy” has that underlying dance motif but spirited jazz that runs from initial frustrated and confused tones to hard-won resilience with Lawrence and Rivera improvising freely amidst the theme. From the throes of chaos, we are taken to calm waters and the peaceful rendering of Haden’s “Song for Whales’ painted by Curtis’s arco bass, quiet shimmers from Hirahara and Lawrence’s muted trumpet.

The album title suggests a kind of controlled anger which was first expressed in “Tragic Tango Comedy” and then in a more profound, half revengeful, half regretful way regarding his previous post in “Every Choice Comes with An Invoice.” Any decision involving life changes often comes with an emotional cost, conveyed through blistering, expressive trumpet and saxophone lines, and the hard bop pulse which often reflects the metronomic ‘tick tock’ passage of time. It’s one of those let-me-get-this-off-my-chest pieces.

A more spiritual tone takes hold in the next few pieces, “Stony Mountain Mist’ beautifully blending the two horns harmonically before it evolves into what Lawrence terms the mist rising from the mountains in a ‘spectral dance.’ The tonality mixes the pure joy of connectivity with nature with a yearning quality.  “Wise One” is the John Coltrane piece, of course, the essence of spiritual jazz, a higher power guiding Lawrence back home. Hirahara’s piano playing stands out here, its reverential quality deep but truly his own, rather than trying to emulate McCoy Tyner’s approach. “Between the Lakes” is another contemplative track, emblematic of self-discovery achieved in a new environment where loneliness fights with an urge to discover new aspects of self.  Lawrence delivers a heartfelt elegiac tribute to his mentor, the late pianist and educator Barry Harris on “Prelude to a Farewell.” One can practically envision tears shed in Lawrence’s controlled muted delivery.

There are celebratory, exuberant moments too as in his salute to his energetic students in “Flip on a Dip” where Curtis and Royston push the ensemble to revel in blissful hard bop. Lawrence also penned the bluesy “Texas Tenor” for Rivera, who he got to know better personally and musically while in Michigan.  The title and Rivera’s playing both evoke the heralded Texas tenors such as Arnett Cobb, Illinois Jacquet, Buddy Tate, King Curtis, and David “Fathead” Newman.

This is a varied album that shows multiple sides of Lawrence’s artistry and represents some of his most deeply thoughtful compositions. As the title indicates, he and his bandmates play with a controlled fervor throughout.

• Jim Hynes

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