By Ed Enright | Published October 2024
Trombonist Ed Neumeister, a veteran improviser and bandleader known to spearhead brave feats of experimentalism, gets deep inside the rock music of his youth — five familiar tunes by the Beatles, two by Led Zeppelin, one made famous by Otis Redding and another hatched only a few years ago by Taylor Swift — on his latest outing. A collection of other artists’ popular tunes that serve as fresh fodder for his quartet, augmented on select tracks by a three-piece woodwind section, Covers represents an entirely fresh tack for Neumeister, who has been operating at the forefront of creative music for more than 40 years and has released over a dozen albums under his own name. In addition, he has collaborated as a player and composer with virtually everyone under the jazz sun, and he’s been a member of classic ensembles like the Buddy Rich Big Band, the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra and Lionel Hampton’s groups. The core band on Covers includes Gary Versace on piano, organ and accordion, bassists Drew Gress (on seven tracks) and Cameron Brown (on three), and Tom Rainey on drums. Billy Drewes, Caroline Davis and Ingrid Laubrock join the fray on three neatly arranged tracks, providing supplemental saxophones, flutes and clarinets as needed. Covers amounts to a deeply personal expression from Neumeister, a reflection on at time in his life when he was barely familiar with the jazz world he would soon inhabit with all its creative potential. It’s the sound of top-level jazz players making music for the sheer enjoyment of it, with just enough planning to keep form intact and synchronize the brilliant reharmonizations dreamed up by Neumeister and Versace. Neumeister puts his own idiosyncratic personal touches on the melodies of these memorable songs, while Versace holds the reins on the harmony, sometimes asserting bold and bright chord substitutions, and at other moments setting free any notion of “changes” whatsoever. The entire recording comes across as a chill hang where the free spirits frequently venture into whimsical territory while still showing tremendous respect for the source material and investing absolute trust in their leader’s modern-nostalgic vision.
