| Jazz |
Summary: A refined post-bop album where Brian Lynch and Charles McPherson deliver a vibrant, intergenerational jazz dialogue, elevated by Samara Joy’s poised vocals.
Brian Lynch & Charles McPherson’s Torch Bearers: A Luminous Post-Bop Tribute Bridging Generations
When a trumpeter sets out to honor a jazz legend, one who happens to be among the most brilliant alto saxophonists of his generation and, over time, has become one of the music’s most revered voices, the result can be something deceptively modest. Such is the case with Brian Lynch (featuring Charles McPherson), Torch Bearers, an album whose understated title belies the depth, intelligence, and emotional resonance contained within.
Rooted in a post-bop sensibility, the recording unfolds across a sophisticated yet lucid architectural framework. Its harmonic intricacies and rhythmic elasticity never obscure its accessibility; rather, they invite the attentive listener into a space where clarity and complexity coexist. At the center of this endeavor is Charles McPherson, whose playing here feels strikingly contemporary, lean, incisive, and unencumbered by nostalgia. Opposite him, Brian Lynch proves not only a formidable instrumentalist but also a thoughtful interlocutor. What emerges is less a showcase than a sustained and luminous dialogue, one in which phrasing, tone, and intention are shared currencies.
Most of the compositions are jointly or individually signed by Lynch and McPherson, underscoring the collaborative ethos of the project. The album closes, however, with a pair of standards by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke, followed by a final nod to another towering figure of the jazz pantheon, Dizzy Gillespie. This programming choice feels deliberate: the album traces a lineage, each piece subtly invoking a different facet of the tradition while remaining firmly anchored in the present.
A notable presence is Samara Joy, whose contribution is as poised as it is technically assured. Her vocal approach, deeply informed by classical training, lends an almost sculptural precision to her phrasing. On McPherson’s “The Joy of Love,” her entrance is marked by an unhurried control of vibrato and a finely calibrated sense of space; she resists the urge to overswing, instead letting the melody breathe with a chamber-like restraint. By contrast, in passages that lean more decisively into rhythmic propulsion, particularly in ensemble sections adjacent to Lynch’s “Pursuit of a Dream, her phrasing can feel slightly less percussive than the band’s momentum might invite, a tension that is as revealing as it is aesthetically coherent. These choices, rather than diminishing her role, highlight the album’s broader dialogue between tradition and evolving vocal idioms.
“I carry the torch of my heroes,” Lynch has said, a statement that serves as both mission and method. Each artist contributes three original compositions, reinforcing the album’s balance between homage and invention. If Dizzy Gillespie has the final word, it is perhaps because his spirit, restless, exploratory, foundational, hovers over the entire project.
The setting itself deepens this sense of continuity. Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, the session taps into a space long regarded as sacred ground in jazz history. As the noted critic Ted Panken has observed, the studio functioned as a “ground zero” for countless landmark recordings that shaped the aesthetic values of McPherson (born 1939), Lynch (born 1956), and Joy (born 1999). One can almost hear the echoes of those who passed through its doors, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Horace Silver, imbuing the recording with a warmth that feels almost analog in its immediacy. Even in digital form, the album carries the grain and glow of vinyl, as though infused with the accumulated spirit of its surroundings.
Lynch’s desire to record with McPherson dates back decades. “I always wanted to record with Charles,” he has noted, “but something always intervened.” That long-deferred collaboration now takes its place within a distinguished discography that includes the Grammy-winning Simpático and The Omni-American Book Club. Torch Bearers, his 26th album as a leader, reflects a career shaped by formative associations with Horace Silver and Art Blakey and the The Jazz Messengers.
What ultimately distinguishes this recording is the depth of rapport between Lynch and McPherson. Their musical kinship is audible in nearly every phrase, forming a unity that elevates the project beyond mere tribute. It is, instead, a living conversation, one that honors the past while insisting, quietly but firmly, on the vitality of the present.
The album’s rarity lies not only in its pedigree, but in the precision of its listening: each solo unfolds with narrative intent, each exchange feels earned, and the ensemble’s restraint allows nuance to surface where excess might otherwise dominate. In that sense, Torch Bearers does more than commemorate, it clarifies, distills, and quietly reasserts the enduring grammar of jazz.
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, March 17th 2026
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Musicians:
Brian Lynch, trumpet (flugelhorn on “The Joy Of Love” and “7-24”)
Charles McPherson, alto sax (featured artist)
Samara Joy, vocal (2, 6)
Orrin Evans (1,2,4,9)
Rob Schneiderman (3,5,7,8)
Luis Perdomo (6), piano
Boris Kozlov, bass
Kyle Swan (all except 6), Ulysses Owens (6), drums
Charles McPherson appears courtesy of Smoke Session Records, Samara Joy appears courtesy of Verve Records.
Track listing:
- Luck Of The Draw (Brian Lynch) 6:03
- The Joy Of Love (Charles McPherson/ Samara Joy) 6:15
- Kyle’s Dilemma (Brian Lynch) 6:10
- 7-24 (Charles McPherson) 5:20
- The Juggler (Charles McPherson) 6:02
- Pursuit Of A Dream (Brian Lynch/ Samara Joy) 5:30
- Luminescence (Barry Harris) 5:32
- But Beautiful 10:52
- Blue N’ Boogie (Dizzy Gillespie) 6:45