From Matthew Ottignon
Earshift
Switching between reeds, the ever-adventurous musician/composer, Matthew Ottignon delivers a great set on his latest outing, enlightened by some audacious compositional ideas aided by his extraordinary improvisational acumen.
The leader comes with a new self-titled, all-female ensemble, Volant, creating music that is tight, sometimes ethereal and always inspirationally spontaneous.
With bassist Hannah James, percussionist Holly Conner, and pianist Lauren Tsamouros, Ottignon effortlessly juggles timbres on each track as he evokes his vision of harmonic textures. My favourite tracks are the lead-off Moon Rock, channelling the spiritual music coming out of the West Coast of the USA, Bilpin, which dazzles under the inspirational soulfulness of the baritone sax of the leader with ominous undertones mirroring the resilience of the land in regrowth after the bushfires of 2019, and Murmuring, equally enticing as a result of progressive creativity, changing shape with tensile unpredictability, adorned with exciting saxophone solo moments. Throughout the album, Ottignon enlists the assistance of his very able quartet mates to deliver impressive material that is quirky, uplifting and hopeful, blending traditional jazz elements with his modern flights of fancy.
– Barry O’Sullivan