js Trumpeter Marquis Hill is one of several current jazz artists who is mapping future paths for jazz by looking back to jazz’s African roots. Marquis takes those roots and mixes them with current trends in DrumnBass, neo-soul, hip-hop and modern jazz and creates some of the more happening directions in music today. His latest album, “Composers Collective: Beyond the Jukebox”, utilizes not only his current band, but also an all-star cast of collaborators, many of whom share Marquis’ vision for future jazz.

Opening track, “A Star is Born”, lays down Marquis’ blueprint, African rhythms driven by DnB beats and presented with complex structures and chord changes that avoid any sort of cliché’. The presence of Joel Ross on tuned percussion drives home that permeating African flavor. The DnB rhythms continue for the next couple tracks until we hit, “The Cool”, a neo-soul instrumental that features Hill on layered echoed trumpet lines. Although modern synthesized sounds are used for good effect throughout the album, they tend not to get in the way of the instrumentalists and their prowess on their given instrument.

The many instrumental hip-hop and neo-soul tracks sprinkled through out the album take on an almost library music type presence. “Beyond the Jukebox” is just brimming with useful soundtracks for those looking for a current hip sound. Marquis doesn’t mind reminding us that he can still swing with the best and “Smo Melody …” gets into some high energy post bop with Caroline Davis guesting on saxophone. On “Life Days’, Marquis gets into some African fusion as he trades licks with guitarist Jeff Parker. Vocalist Samora Pinderhughes delivers a classic heart breaking ballad while Christie Dashell sings on neo-soul groove number, “Chef’s Kiss”. “Beyond the Jukebox” is driven with cool modern beats, but this album is much more than another ‘acid jazz’ groove fest. Marquis has serious compositional chops that he puts to good use with arrangements that will hold your interest and keep you guessing as to what is coming up next. Want to hear what is new in jazz, this album is a good start.

js There was a time when the idea of a relaxed or even ‘mellow’ approach to free jazz improvisation would have been quite the oxymoron in a genre usually given to intense emotional outbursts, but those days have long passed. It was the Art Ensemble of Chicago and other AACM artists who introduced the idea of free improv as a collection of minute events that could easily move from quiet to very intense, depending on the intent of the performer. Since then, the innovations of this Chicago Ensemble have taken root and today’s free jazz improviser is freer than ever, and welcome to explore his craft in any mood desired, including this mostly very mellow set by the new ensemble, Escape Lane, on their equally new release of the same name. This may be somewhat relaxed sounding music, but the concentration of these performers, and their imaginative approach to their instruments is just as intense as a room full of screaming tenor saxophonists of times past, or present.

There is an interesting mix of approaches here amongst the four musicians involved. Trumpeter Marquis Hill remains mostly melodic throughout, recalling similar approaches by fellow trumpeters such as Booker Little and Don Cherry, who also kept a melodic approach while often being surrounded by a maelstrom of activity. Drummer Dennis Fournier often recalls Paul Motian’s ability to sound vaguely busy, yet relaxed, while on cuts like “Lever de Soliel…” he introduces a Billy Higgins style African influenced groove, only to let it go halfway through the proceedings. Guitarist Jeff Parker can recall Jim Hall, but also is the one most apt to go for pure sounds and noises, which he finds without any effects or devices by using the physical quality of his strings and the volume knobs on his guitar. Bassist Joachim Florent, like many a jazz bassist, is a bit in the background and could have used a little more boost in the mix, but he still gets a few moments to step forward.

Most of the music played on here is truly ‘free’ in that the band rarely gets on a shared groove except for the aforementioned opening to “Lever de Soliel …”, as well as the closing of that same lengthy (20 minutes plus) track when Fournier goes into a bit of a post bop ride. “Rough Grooved Surface” is a break from their usual relaxed approach as the band builds to a climax driven by Fournier’s free bop drive and capped by Jeff Parker’s frantic guitar solo that recalls AACM’s Michael Gregory Jackson. After this, the album closes with “Une Petit”, which ends things with Hill soloing melodically over Parker’s sparse string noises.

“Escape Lane” is a highly creative and focused album and one of the best jazz albums of 2017, avant-garde or otherwise. Its also one of the better free jazz records in the entire 55 plus years of the genre. Listening to the unobtrusive approach of these musicians might have you wondering, is this the sound of lounge music in the new century, now that would be something.