Blue Hour
Red Palace/Irabbagast, 2024
9/10
A stunning collaboration, Brian Marsella brings his piano, Yamaha CS-60, Korg BX-3 and Ritm-2 to Jon Irabagon’s mezzo soprano, tenor and sopranino saxophone for these 6 highly exciting tracks.
“A Day That Will Live In Infamy” opens with a distinct atmosphere, where the well timed sax is met with Marsella’s charming key bouts and plenty of noises that resemble field recordings, and “Zeros and Ones and a Nine” follows with a cinematic backdrop alongside Irabagon’s sax acrobatics that add to the mysterious climate.
Halfway through, “The Inner Turmoil of the Young Pagaent Contestant Who Insisted Skittles are the Pathway to the Eradication of Tyranny” showcases a lot of versatility in Irabagon’s sax prowess amid Marsella’s atypical noise gestures, while “Centrifuge Machine Goes to the Scrapyard” comes with plenty of sci-fi tendencies via the creative sounds and artistic presence.
The last piece, “Bird Games With a Tragic Ending”, pairs the sax and keys with a free jazz exploration that intrigues us for the 10+ minutes.
Marsella and Irabagon have many years playing together under their belt, and that’s more than evident across these infectious modern jazz selections.
Travels well with:Irabagon/Pride/Barr/Mendoza- I Don’t Hear Nothin’ But The Blues, Volume 3 Part 2: Exuberant Scars; Gustavo Cortiñas- Live In Chicago