Album Review: Brian Settles Trio’s Folk: braving the rough waters of tradition with creative comrades

Brian Settles. Courtesy Timothy Forbes Photography

One of the more studied saxophonists of the D.C. area, Brian Settles has released an album that feels like a new start – a new beginning – rather than a follow-up to his debut, 2011’s Secret Handshake. Where the preceding record was a strong exploration of various aesthetic and timbral approaches, the newer Folk presents Settles’ music with much more focus and deliberation.

top 5 albums of 2013
Folk is No. 2. Read CapitalBop’s full list.

 
Most notable is the narrowing down of his ensemble to the classic piano-less saxophone trio format, creating a more streamlined palette for composition and improvisation and linking up with tradition. Settles’ trio has taken this tried-and-true instrumental configuration and approached it with its own personal originality. Longtime cohorts Jeremy Carlstedt on drums and Corcoran Holt on bass lend themselves fully to the collective creation, coming together with Brian’s gracious and subtle, yet piercing, tenor tone.

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The band rocks in a swaying, nautical kind of way, like a ship sailing through a fierce but steady current. Its sound and propulsion set concisely inside the structure of the compositions, maneuvering through improvisations, intuitively building tension and releasing it, as if the three musicians are breathing with the same lungs.

The recording successfully captures the fact that this is an extremely “viby” trio, something too often lost in modern bands and recordings that don’t give the instruments room to breathe. Brian Settles’ Folk feels much more like an album, rather than a collection of songs; it’s a complete statement. As Settles’ body of work continues to unfold, it remains to be seen whether this album marks a new beginning or another important document in the accrual of an already strong career. Whatever it may become, it is without doubt a contemporary record with a classic sound.

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About Luke Stewart

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Luke Stewart is CapitalBop's co-founder and director of presenting. He's also a renowned DC/NYC-based musician and organizer of other important musical presentations, with a presence in the national and international professional music community. He was profiled in the Washington Post in early 2017 as “holding down the jazz scene,” selected as “Best Musical Omnivore” in the Washington City Paper’s 2017 “Best of DC,” chosen as “Jazz Artist of the Year” for 2017 in the District Now, and in the 2014 People Issue of the Washington City Paper as a “Jazz Revolutionary,” citing his multi-faceted cultural activities throughout DC. In DC his regular ensembles include experimental jazz trio Heart of the Ghost, Low Ways Quartet featuring guitarist Anthony Pirog, and experimental rock duo Blacks’ Myths.  As a solo artist, he has been compiling a series of improvisational sound structures for Upright Bass and Amplifier. As a scholar/performer, he has performed and lectured at Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Medgar Evers College, George Mason University, Wayne State University, University of Montana, New Mexico State University, and the University of South Carolina. He holds a BA in International Studies and a BA in Audio Production from American University, and an MA in Arts Management and Entrepreneurship from the New School. Reach Luke at [email protected].

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