Homegrown
Self-Released, 2023
9/10
The trombonist and composer Andrew Danforth brings along Sean Imboden, Christopher Pitts, Nick Tucker and Carrington Clinton for this emotive, modern jazz experience.
“Homegrown” begins the listen with Pitts warm keys amid the soulful brass and flowing melodies of the gentle climate, and “New Wood Floors” follows with Clinton’s crisp drums and Tucker’s playful bass complementing the bright trombone.
At the halfway point, “Absence Of The Avenue” uses lower registers of the piano amid the dense horns of the layered album highlight that’s darker in scope, while “Vacant” is an intimate and bare display of Danforth’s sublime trombone prowess.
“Orange Hue In The Uplands” and “Prairie Breeze” exit the listen, where the former is a hazy and dynamic delivery of timeless jazz spirit that benefits much from Imboden’s sax skills, and the latter finishes with a dreamy demeanor of elegance and grace that’s highly thoughtful.
An excellent debut that’s inspired by his upbringing in Indiana, Danforth’s formula is one of an articulate, harmonic, beautiful and sometimes sad vision that, at 8 tracks, ends entirely too soon.
Travels well with: Craig Akin- Me, My Bass And I; Trio Profundo- Mosaic