Steve Wyzard
HOPE
It's hard to believe that John Patitucci will be 66 this year and has been in "the business" for over 40 years. It seems like only yesterday (the mid-1980s to be precise) that he was being introduced as the new, unstoppable "jazz bassist of the future". Now that the future is here, so is Patitucci with his first solo album in 6 years, Spirit Fall, on Edition Records. Recorded in one day in August 2024, this album features Chris Potter on saxes/bass clarinet, Brian Blade on drums/percussion, and is a rarity in the Patitucci catalog for being an unaccompanied trio.
Previous Patitucci albums have been known to include a "cast of thousands", so to hear his playing in a stripped-down, non-chordal trio like this is a major selling point. Having performed with both Potter and Blade on many occasions in the past, he tells us in the liner notes that the session for Spirit Fall was "natural and effortless". He performs on acoustic bass on 6 of the 10 tracks, while on tracks 4-7 he brings out his 6-string electric bass.
Throughout the album, the emphasis is on group interplay first, with solos not as extended as one might have expected. If I could recommend just one track to sample, it would be the dynamic "Lipim" (which means "hope" in the Yemba language), Spirit Fall's fastest composition. With Potter multi-tracking his tenor and an amazing Blade performance, the listener is left wishing this could have gone on much longer than 7:39. Other highlights include the impressionistic "Thoughts and Dreams", the title track's soprano sax and cadential close, Potter's bass clarinet intro to "Light in the Darkness", and Patitucci's solo spotlight on their cover of Wayne Shorter's "House of Jade".
Don't let the mysterious album cover fool you: Spirit Fall is light and breezy, and already a contender for Jazz Album of the Year. The final track, "Sonrisa" seems to sum everything up with a Latin/Caribbean swing and a miraculous duet between Patitucci and Blade. While previous Patitucci albums were known for running long, Spirit Fall's 59:01 runtime is just right. If you are familiar with these players, this album is self-recommending.
