By John McDonough | Published May 2019
The avant-garde comes in different shapes, sizes and temperaments. Here Jessica Jones deploys her dry, stoic tenor to temper the sometimes-restless bedlam of the genre in a gentle chamber collection of warmth, structure and—dare I say—orderliness.
Jones has been silent these past eight years, attending to music education and mentoring. Even before that, however, her output was modest, amounting to fewer than 20 sessions during a 30-year career, much of it in the company of Joseph Jarman and Don Cherry.
Jones and her husband, Tony Jones, fill out Thelonious Monk’s sparse “Evidence” with an airy counterpoint that’s never crowded. The bandleader solos with a slightly jagged phrasing, while Tony comes floating in with a graceful disregard for tempo. The original “Wither Without You” breathes softly, like a Calderesque mobile suspended between stillness and chance breezes. “Continuum” has a boppish feel, though neither Jones nor alto saxophonist Devante Dunbar chase its classic intricacies. And vocalist Ed Reed celebrates the certainties of the status quo with optimism and catchy vigor on “Just As It Is.”
“Higher Than” is the only piece that really takes advantage of the assembled reed power, resulting in a seductive blend of velvety texture that frames Jones’ solo. And Ambrose Akinmusire cameos on the closing track as the third voice in a fragile weave of tenor and ngoni. Like much that is experimental, though, Jones seems more focused on process than outcome.
Continuum: Evidence; For All The Cats On The Continent; Wither Without You; I Want To Talk About You; Continuum; Just This; Just As It Is; Higher Than; Continuum Reprise. (50:24)
Personnel: Jessica Jones, Tony Jones, tenor saxophone; Stomu Takeishi, bass; Kenny Wollesen, drums; Devante Dunbar (2, 5, 8), alto saxophone; Ambrose Akinmusire, trumpet (9); Mamadou Sidibe (9), ngoni; Ed Reed (7), vocal.
