Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.A pulsating first-house show by young American vibraphonist Joel Ross delivered rhythmic tension, lyrical interludes and intense group thought. Ostensibly promoting nublues, his recent, well-received Blue Note album, Ross and his long-running Good Vibes project presented new material in the continuous stream of an uninterrupted set. As the evening unfolded, solos rose to peaks, supple interplay provided rhythmic bounce and themes materialised out of nowhere.The evening opened with the unaccompanied Ross rippling through arpeggios and commanding audience attention while the band settled in. Soon, melodic fragments cohered, chromatic dribbles evolved into speedy lines and a variable tempo became more sharply defined. Ross’s opening tour de force ended with a riff played in unison with upright bass, a cue for the clear lines of “Blued” with its urgent and uneasy pulse.Ross gives deep traditional roots a sharp contemporary edge. That first tune was simple enough, but underneath was a froth of rhythmic ambiguity that layered multiple tempos and combined hip-hop and swing. The ping and hiss of drummer Jeremy Dutton’s cymbals implied fast modern jazz, fractured snare-drum crackle introduced a hint of rap and bassist Kanoa Mendenhall played the steady walking line of a medium-tempo jazz waltz. Yet the result wasn’t chaos; instead there was detail to relish and rhythmic tension that gripped.The piece developed from piano and vibes swapping phrases to solos for both and ended with a climactic rattle-and-snick drum solo whose internal dynamics followed the band’s unison support. The short press-roll ending was a cue for snaky rhythms and “Yup”, an appealing mixture of fugue and late-night vibes. “Trinity” followed with no pause for breath and then “Now and Forevermore” appeared, followed by “Mean + Shout”.Ross’s compositions combine clear melodies with enough underlying complexities to give soloists food for thought. On his latest album, saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins is the dominant lead but, at this gig, it was the band who were in the spotlight. Pianist Jeremy Corren combines the strong left hand of modal jazz with fleet-fingered investigations and is in control of gospel inflections and the blues. And bassist Mendenhall, impressive throughout, developed a downbeat rumination of slurred notes, firm lines and sonorous strums.But it is Ross who most sums up the past and ushers in the new with state-of-the-art musicianship. A succession of solos with differing tempos and moods found him pushing at harmonic boundaries, digging deep into the blues and building tension step by step. Sudden bursts of speed made the audience gasp, but these were always bedded in, as part of the plan.The individual parts were impressive, but it was the quartet’s focus that created the most buzz and uplift in this standout night. It ended with a snippet of Thelonious Monk’s “Evidence”, which launched more dynamic interplay and solos that raised the roof. “I’ve worked a lot on the band,” Ross told me after the gig. In tonight’s blend of free-flowing improvisation and attention to detail, it showed.★★★★★vortexjazz.co.uk
