Breathing new life into the classic Ornette Coleman alto/trumpet/bass/drums quartet format, saxophonist Peter Epstein and collaborators Ralph Alessi, Sam Minaie and Mark Ferber play melodically inventive originals with “total commitment to the music, to each other, and to the moment at hand.”
– Mark Werlin, NativeDSD/HRAudio

Alto/soprano saxophonist Peter Epstein left New York in the early 2000s, but his 2007 quartet was made up of colleagues he had been performing with for between 15 and 25 years, although not in this grouping. Epstein notes the intimate and personal qualities of their shared conceptual and aesthetic views. “In my mind, in my ear, I simply hear these guys playing when music ‘plays’ in my head.” It’s not surprising then that this record feels so cohesive and lived-in: there’s a nuanced clarity of communication, a focus and immediacy that only comes with what he describes as “such a relaxed but total commitment to the music, to each other, and to the moment at hand.”

Epstein’s compositions range from primarily quiet, introspective pieces like “Polarity” to more intense, uptempo numbers like “Hurtle” and “Constance” and the mid-tempo “Email from Nigeria”, a 10/8 tune that perhaps harkens back to his deep engagement with Ewe drumming as a student at CalArts in the 90s. He has a knack for writing interesting melodies and pieces with contrasting sections or ambiguous moods, but sees the written material as almost secondary. “The tunes need life and vibe and interpretation breathed into them by the collaborators that I rely on so heavily.” And here that produces a mercurial, hard-to-pin-down, highly internalized synthesis of many strands of jazz history and influences from outside the music (for example, the mathematically vertiginous metrical subdivisions of South Indian classical music, another music Peter has studied). Also, and it might be partly the instrumentation, there’s surely some kind of spiritual connection (if not a close stylistic one) with Ornette Coleman’s classic quartet with Don Cherry.

Peter Epstein, alto & soprano saxophone, compositions
Ralph Alessi, trumpet, cornet
Sam Minaie, bass
Mark Ferber, drums

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In this hybrid of jazz improvisation and Balkan rhythms, communication forges a collective sound that is consistent and personal.
– Mark Werlin

Longtime friends and musical collaborators Peter Epstein and Brad Shepik both became well established on the New York scene: Shepik as an intense and committed guitarist, Epstein as an equally versatile saxman, a superb composer and performer.

It was Epstein who proposed Lingua Franca, a duo collaboration with both of them contributing pieces. Shepik suggested a young drummer he knew, Matt Kilmer, to complete the trio. The result, recorded in great sounding Analogue, is alternately groove-based and more meditative, timeless, often with a folky feel.

The album is exclusively available in DSD Stereo & 5 Channel Surround Sound DSD 256 and DSD 128 plus Stereo DSD 512 from NativeDSD.

Peter Epstein and Brad Shepik had been friends and musical collaborators for a decade when Lingua Franca was recorded in 2003. Both had become well established on the NY scene — Brad as one of the most intense and committed guitarists, at home playing in, out and on the edge, a lynchpin in several world music influenced jazz ensembles (Dave Douglas’s Tiny Bell Trio, Matt Darriau’s Paradox Trio, Pachora); Peter was an equally versatile saxman, a superb composer-performer with interests ranging from improv to Bach to Balkan, Indian and west African music. Peter was an essential part of Brad’s middle-eastern inspired quintet that recorded The Loan (1997) and The Well (2000) for Songlines. When Peter proposed a new duo collaboration with both of them contributing pieces, Brad suggested bringing in Matt Kilmer, a young NY-based percussionist he’d performed with in Paradox Trio and Simon Shaheen’s group.

The result is even more diverse than their previous work together, as it alternates between different grooves and a more meditative, timeless, often folky feel. The individual elements that make up the music are sometimes clear (e.g. the reggae tune “Sunrise,” the bluesy “Miro” the Celtic “Emerald”), but more often they are effortlessly and elegantly combined (e.g. Monsaraz’s eastern modality plus its 12-bar blues-influenced form and chord progression).

Brad comments: “In terms of musical style I’m not able to dissect the influences in a definitive way, but I was looking for material that we could have some fun with as a group. We also wanted to do some free improvisations.”

Peter adds: “I wanted to do a project where we could also include sounds more associated with America: jazz, blues. So there’s a bit of leaping around from reference to reference, but that’s almost on purpose; what’s of real interest here for me is the way in which we can play these very disparate sounds in the creation of an album where the commitment and communication within the group tempers those differences, by establishing a group sound / concept that remains consistent and personal throughout. For me the title Lingua Franca refers less to the overlapping of various musical cultures and more to overlapping personal musical concepts, with each musician representing a distinct musical culture unto themselves.”

So what makes it a Jazz record?
Brad: “For me the jazz element is in the improvising and in the way the trio shapes the music collectively from moment to moment.”

Peter: “In a way, I suppose I am my own melting pot. All of these different sounds and concepts have gone in but what comes out is something unlike any of the original sounds. Being a ’jazz musician’ now means that we can call a Balkan tune, free improvisation or an original the way we used to call a waltz, ballad, or bebop tune (even alongside the waltz, ballad, or bebop tune).”

Peter Epstein, Saxophone
Brad Shepik, Guitar
Matt Kilmer, Percussion

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