But when he brings the sticks and heart to bear, he means business. And it all shows up for The Meeting, a trio comprised of Branly on drums, Will Brahm on guitar, and Sezin Ahmet Türkmenoğlu on bass. These guys can play.
Branly never disappoints. His playing ranges from the frenetic and precise to the melodic and even emotional. Brahm is the Jazz guitarist’s Jazz guitarist, playing tight and energetic and can soar with the best of them. Türkmenoğlu adds that sense of propulsion to the melodies and harmonies. Take my word for it and listen at least three times—to concentrate on each of them individually.
Born in Cuba, the music on The Meeting is heavily influenced by Cuban styles. And he turns it all into straight-ahead Jazz. These guys just own it—from their own originals to the well-chosen standards.
Brahm’s Bis Bis opens the album with its cool Afro-Cuban feel. Beautiful guitar work with those cool Latin rhythms. This is how you start an album. He also contributed the Brazilian rhythmic Presume and the Blues/Cuban fusion of Blues 14. The thing about Brahm’s playing is his obvious mapping of the fretboard, never lost, never mashed up, always clean and direct.
Sezin Ahmet Türkmenoğlu added his original One Day, a warm lullaby with gorgeous tones from the bass. It is a lovely piece with great contributions from Brahm. Behind the melody is an up-tempo drum and cymbals percussion. A lovely tune.
The standards are If I Should Lose You by Ralph Rainger, Jerome Kern’s Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Infant Eyes by Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson’s Gazelle, and Cherokee by Ray Noble but made famous by Charlie Parker. In each of those, Branly switches tempos and rhythms into Latin styles that gives new meaning and feeling to the well-known pieces.
Branly’s original is the title track, The Meeting. Percussionists don’t compose in keys but in time signatures. While the time is not too out of the ordinary, it is what Branly does with it that makes it sing. And this is what he does with each of the ten tracks.
The Meeting is a work of extraordinary artistry in composition and arrangement and is exquisite in its meaning and emotion. This trio, especially this trio, is the perfect format for expressing what Jimmy Branly had in mind from the start.
~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl