AMN Reviews: TOC & The Compulsive Brass – Air Bump (2016; Circum-Disc)

TOC is Jérémie Ternoy on Fender Rhodes, Ivann Cruz on guitar, and Peter Orins on drums. They describe themselves as “free hypnotic pop punk, post-rock, jazz-core.” Here, they team with four brass players to form a septet that claims to be influenced by New Orleans jazz, but instead provide their own outside take on that genre.

Over four tracks, the group moves from slow drones with extended techniques, to pulsing uptempo explosions and wailing melodic motifs over driving rhythms. The horns sweep in and out making punctuated statements in interlocking patterns with the guitar. But for the most part, Air Bump is a set of loosely-organized improvisations. All of this leads to a blow-out at the end of the last track that puts an exclamation point on the recording.

Angular and free in every sense of the word, TOC & The Compulsive Brass provide a unique, unfamiliar, and welcome take on modern jazz. Highly recommended.