Paul Dietrich: 5+4
Shifting Paradigm Records

The fourth album by Wisconsin-based trumpeter Paul Dietrich continues a trend that's become ever more popular, namely expanding the standard jazz ensemble with strings. It's something Chicago bassist Matt Ulery's been doing for years, and in 2020 trumpeter Emily Kuhn did the same with Sky Stories. The practice isn't exclusive to American artists: Londoner Laura Jurd augmented her 2019 set Stepping Back, Jumping In with string players, and the latest release from Toronto saxophonist Allison Au, Migrations, features strings too. All such projects speak to the ambitiousness of their creators and the sophistication of the musical forms they're exploring.

It's not the first time Dietrich has tackled a large-scale project. After issuing quintet albums in 2014 and 2017—We Always Get There and Focus, respectively—2019's Forward featured an eighteen-piece ensemble. As intimated by its title, 5+4 is exactly half the size of that group, with Deitrich coupling jazz quintet with string quartet. In the core group, the trumpeter's joined by Dustin Laurenzi on saxophone and clarinet, pianist Jason Kutz, bassist Brian Courage, and longtime Ulery compadre Jon Deitemyer on drums; violinists Paran Amirinazari and Wes Luke, violist Kayla Patrick, and cellist Lindsey Crabb make up the string section.

Such weddings of jazz- and classical-associated resources pose myriad challenges for the composer and bandleader. To his credit, Dietrich has worked hard to integrate strings fully into the arrangements rather than use them as window dressing-like add-ons. Similar to Ulery, the trumpeter has experience working with both small and large ensembles and in the classical milieu as a composer too. As a result, he's adept at guiding his partners through episodic, through-composed pieces that make room for deftly woven solo episodes. The music bears the stamp of his sensibility as a writer but also the personalities of his fellow musicians when they're granted ample space to impose their identities on the material.

As the kinetic jazz-funk opener “Springs” shows, Dietrich's got a special partner in his long-time collaborator Laurenzi; the arrangement also provides the first of many examples illustrating how deftly strings have been integrated into the ensemble. Pleasing too is how terrifically the others support the saxophonist during his solo, with Kutz's chords tastefully prodding and Courage and Deitemyer building dramatically behind him. Each musician plays with a sensitive awareness of the need for restraint when nine players are involved; at the same time, none ever plays as if personal expression has been handicapped by the nonet size.

Plucked strings add to the elegance of the chamber-jazz feel of “Suspend” as string and horn patterns intertwine harmoniously and Dietrich and Laurenzi solo thoughtfully alongside the ever-evolving surround. The album's chamber-classical side moves to the fore during the stately lament “Some Things Last” in its elegant writing for piano and strings. A few pieces are enlivened by folk melodies, the infectiously radiant “Folk Song” obviously but also “Out Here,” which augments opening melodic voicings by the strings with lyrical counterpoint by Dietrich and Laurenzi. Don't skip the haunting closer “Closing,” by the way, which seduces with its slow pulse and stately character.

The leader solos many times on the album (see his adventurous, long-form excursion on “Folk Song”), but it never feels as if he's dominating. Laurenzi's featured as abundantly, and others have their moments too. Kutz's value as a soloist in this nonet context is resoundingly affirmed by the blues-inflected and quietly majestic solo he contributes to “Out Here,” and Courage and Deitemyer in a sense do nothing but solo when their playing constantly adjusts itself to the music as it's happening. Much as Ulery, Kuhn, and others have before him, Dietrich and company have created on this fine release contemporary chamber-jazz that's wholly vital and thoroughly rewarding.

November 2023