| Jazz |
Every January begins with the same unspoken question: will this year’s music surpass the last, or leave us wanting? In 2025, the answer arrived swiftly. A river of remarkable releases has been flowing since the year’s first days, and it shows no sign of slowing, Jason Charos’s Opening Statement among its most dazzling currents. The Florida-born trumpeter and composer offers, under the guise of an “acoustic” record, a vibrant patchwork of contemporary jazz, fusion, world music, and unclassifiable pleasures.
A former student of Brian Lynch at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, Charos now tours internationally with Samara Joy, the Grammy-winning Best New Artist of 2023, serving not only as her trumpeter but also as her arranger. (“The interplay between her voice and Charos’s trumpet solo is gorgeous,” Jazz Sensibilities wrote of Joy’s 2024 album Portrait.) Much of that same core touring ensemble appears here: alto saxophonist David Mason, tenor saxophonist Kendric McCallister, and pianist Connor Rohrer, joined by bassist Carlo De Rosa and drummer Ludwig Afonso. Together, they anchor Charos’s eight originals in deep swing, airtight ensemble cohesion, and a rhythmic vocabulary equally fluent in hard bop, Latin jazz traditions, and lyric balladry.
Rooted in the purest jazz traditions, the album at times channels the spirit of bebop, but with a modern edge. There’s an almost rock-like intent in Charos’s trumpet attack, a distinctive voice matched by the strength of his writing and arranging. He imposes a personal style without overshadowing his bandmates; each musician is given room to shine. A New Yorker by way of Florida, Charos captures the intimacy of a late-night jazz club, translating that atmosphere into soundscapes both fiery and romantic, charged with nostalgia.
The effect is cinematic, like watching a film you know, from the very first scene, will leave you smiling as the credits roll.
Opening Statement is also the meeting ground of musicians granted the rare luxury of freedom: freedom to propose, to exchange, to challenge each other until the alchemy is complete.
One can almost see them on stage, focused to the point of stillness, then grinning between numbers at the satisfaction of having tamed one complex piece before diving into the next.
I took my time with this record, not because it’s difficult to grasp, but because I wanted to linger in its atmospheres. This is music that speaks to me directly, as if written with my ears in mind. Not every album leaves such a mark; this one did.
Elegant, unpretentious, and deeply pleasurable, Opening Statement is the kind of album you return to again and again. What more could one ask for?
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, August 12th 2025
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Musicians:
Jason Charos, Trumpet
David Mason , alto saxophone (except 2&6)
Melvin Butler, Tenor saaxophone (1.3.5)
Kevin McCallister, tenor saxophone (2.6,8)
Connor Rohrer, piano
Carlo de Rosa double bass
Ludwig Alfonso , Drum (except 5)
Guests:
Brian Lynch, Trumpet (2)
Dafnis Pietro, drum (5)
Tracklist:
Winged Words
B.L.’s Bag
Love And Loss
Athens By Night
The Crown
This, Tonight
Pacing
George’s Place