The Winter Concert by Chloe Jackson-Reynolds

https://sr3323.bandcamp.com/album/the-winter-concert

Genre: Jazz

Rating: 5/5

released on bandcamp January 5, 2022

17 year old CJR pulls off a jazz masterpiece completely of our time. One of the first things I want to be clear about is that I love this album and although it was made by a (presumably) female teenager, there’s no preferential treatment here in terms of my appreciation. This is straight up how it stacks up against the field. This isn’t high school talent show bullshit. This is the real deal.

She cites Braxton and Dolphy as influences but it’s hard to pin down like that. There’s some phrasing that reminds me of AB but very little of the austerity. And Dolphy? Well, she’s playing the flute.

This is described as a concert on a Discord call. She lives in Saskatchewan. I have no idea what she looks like but I can picture her near a window, warm inside with the brutal cold just feet away, all alone, unless you count the others going about their business in their suburban home, and the handful of listeners on Discord, creating one of the best jazz releases of the year.

She plays a variety of flutes and saxophones and recorders into a digital delay effect and accompanies herself in a brilliant triumph of the DIY ethic. It reminds me of Your Arms Are My Cocoon https://birdboyblizzard.music.blog/2021/06/28/your-arms-are-my-cocoon-deluxe-edition-by-your-arms-are-my-cocoon/ except jazz instead of emo. A young creative force that will not be stopped.

A lot of this music has the temperament of an ECM release and especially of one of my favorites, Dave Holland. Other parts remind me of R. Carlos Nakai. That she listens to Braxton and Dolphy but expresses herself more gently speaks to the honesty of her art.

I look forward to digging back through her catalog and hearing her next release.