Anna Webber

Away from their academic roles, Canadian tenor saxophonist/flautist Anna Webber now at the New England Conservatory and American drummer John Hollenbeck who teaches at McGill, join long-time associate New York pianist Matt Mitchel, for a 10th anniversary reunion of their Simpletrio. The playing focus: 10 enigmatically titled Webber compositions.

Bookended by two modest groove tunes that expose their innate interaction as they blend reed honks, patterning and splattering keyboard stokes and metronomic drum beats, the exuberant mood they express animates the entire album. Although a track like 8va is languid enough to highlight Webber’s expressive bass flute lowing matched with intermittent piano clips, tough pressure and sophisticated linear melodies with mercurial timbral divergences characterize most of the other tunes.

“Idiom VII” for instance is built around a repeated unison riff, with interludes of reed tongue slapping, drum press rolls and carousing piano pumps. Meanwhile “Miiire” is a spidery tune that becomes speedier and more dissident as it unrolls without losing its horizontal flow. Prominent are Webber’s transverse flutters and peeps and Hollenbeck’s rim clanks, which at points unfold in tandem with the piano for more prominent sound coloration.

Countering the old saw that those who can do, and those who can’t teach, is this session involving Webber, who is Co-Chair of NEC’s Jazz Studies Department and Hollenbeck who has taught jazz drumming the McGill’s School of Music since 2015. Alongside Mitchell they prove they can definitely do.

— Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. SlingshØt 2. Idiom VII 3. Fixed Do 4. Foray 5. Five Eateries (In New England) 6. g Equals GM Over r Squared 7. Miiire 8. 8va 9. Ch9tter 10. Moveable Do (La-La Bémol)

Personnel: Anna Webber (tenor saxophone, flute, bass flute); Matt Mitchell (piano) and John Hollenbeck (drums)

–for The Whole Note February & March 2025