| Jazz |
Poetic, inspired, and inspiring—this is an album that might surprise you. Although it’s ostensibly a bassist’s album, Jack Noble must secretly have a passion for the piano to compose such finely crafted melodies. Yet, for the entire range of instruments, Jack Noble seems to have grasped the most complex principles. In this excellent configuration, we find Autumn Dominguez on Alto Saxophone, Mike Clement on Guitar (tracks 3, 7), Seth Collins on Piano, Jake Noble on Bass and Compositions, and Tanner Guss on Drums.
Jack Noble is based in New Orleans, where he is well-known as both a bandleader and a highly sought-after sideman. His debut album, *Letting Go of a Dream*, was initially conceived as a platform to honor his greatest musical influences: Bill Evans, Charlie Haden, and Kenny Garrett. However, as soon as the writing process began, a more comprehensive vision for the album started to emerge. “When I started writing this music, I realized I wanted to tell the story of my own journey of self-discovery amid our increasingly digitized society.”
Anyone can clearly see the inspirations of this artist, starting with Bill Evans, whose approach to rhythmic sections Noble likely draws from. However, Jack Noble’s inspirations seem to me to be far more societal and humanistic. To understand this, it’s good to rely on his own words: “I like to think about how we live our lives following a plan, and then—bam—all of a sudden, something or someone enters our lives and changes its trajectory in an instant.” Noble wrote *Farewell to the Kid from Spring* with the idea of an intimate bass-piano duet in mind. “This piece evokes the nostalgia of a simpler time in the wilds of Arkansas, far from my current life in a noisy city.” Throughout the piece, the chemistry between Noble and Collins is evident, as they conjure together a dreamlike state.
But an artist remains true to himself, and in the end, Jack Noble is still an extraordinary melodist who knows how to craft both the setting and the instrumental solos, which gain meaning and value every time. His ability to write music that is far from straightforward and yet render it accessible to the masses—this alone is an art that not everyone possesses. This is the kind of album that you must sit down to listen to; it’s impossible to imagine letting it play as background music. You have to be actively engaged in the listening process. As you might have guessed, this is far from a “calling card” album whose sole purpose is to generate gigs. Here, Jack Noble, at the risk of shocking, delivers something from deep within, breaking the mold and making him an artist who will be hard to forget.
Since he is a young artist, considered by many (and rightly so) as “promising,” there is very little information available about him—no website, hence no accessible biography, which would have been interesting to create for this article. Nevertheless, the pleasure of discussing this work is very real, and I can only hope that many of you will purchase this album, for which I will provide the link after these few lines. Let me not forget to mention that, as worthiness does not wait for the number of years, this album joins our towering stack of “Essential” albums.
Thierry De Clemensat
USA correspondent – Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, August 13th 2024
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