https://mattcliffe.bandcamp.com/album/dreams
Genre: Spiritual Jazz
Rating: 5/5
released on bandcamp February 1, 2022
Cliffe plays every instrument on Dreams except for the piano on the second track. His style reminds me of several greats including Don Cherry, Charles Lloyd, Eric Dolphy, Aaron Copland. He also applies minimalist techniques on the piano. He very successfully pulls from a plethora of influences (although in actuality I have no idea what he listens to) He plays saxophone (pretty sure it’s a tenor) on the first and fourth tracks and piano and flute everywhere else. The Bandcamp notes don’t mention the actual instruments but I’m pretty sure I got it right.
In my opinion, the music is too traditionally emotive and not abstract enough to fall under the categories of free or avant-garde. It’s more modal and every song catches a spiritual hook or melodic structure. This is very impressive beautiful music. The compositions unfold intelligently with the piano providing patterns while the flute or sax explore, except on the sixth track where the instrument roles are reversed.
Warmth Highest 