Christian Dillingham: Halcyon
Greenleaf Music

Chicago-based double bassist Christian Dillingham performs in a number of contexts, from classical and gospel to avant-garde, but is most identified as a jazz player. Yet while its spirit certainly infuses the performances on Halcyon, his sophomore album is also permeated by blues, rock, and folk. The latter emerges by way of Dillingham's covers of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings' “Lowlands” and Bob Dylan's “Boots of Spanish Leather,” rock comes through in the harder-edged playing of guitarist Matt Gold, and blues, well, blues is omnipresent when Halcyon is so deeply informed by the September 2023 passing of the bassist's father. Recorded four months later at Chicago's Pro Musica and dedicated to Larry Eugene Dillingham, the album's release date coincides with his dad's birthday. With so much emotional upheaval in play, the making of Halcyon has to have been a deeply cathartic experience for the bassist.

It came together in the months following that family event, which shortly preceded the release of the bassist's debut outing Cascades. Joining him and Gold are pianist Julius Tucker, drummer Quin Kirchner, and on the Dylan track singer Jodee Lewis. Dillingham augments six jazz compositions of his own with the aforementioned songs plus covers of Irving Berlin's “What'll I Do” and Duke Ellington's “T.G.T.T.” Such breadth is consistent with a bassist known for his versatility. He's a sought-after figure in Chicago jazz circles but is also heavily involved with a number of classical ensembles, and as such it hardly surprises that his playing on Halcyon would be marked by finesse and authority. As deftly shown by his solos on “What'll I Do” and “Twice Lost,” he's the kind of player who considers each note choice carefully and avoids overplaying.

Each participant is critical to the album's impact, be it Gold's tremolo-laden twang, Tucker's elegant voicings, Kirchner's ever-inventive drive, or the leader's unerring pulse. opener “Dimepiece” smoothly establishes the music's vibe with its thrusting groove and freewheeling, open-ended feel. Here and elsewhere, the quartet locates that sweet spot between tight and loose on a performance that swings with fervent determination and ebbs and flows through contrasting moods. With Gold strafing and Tucker sprinkling the music, Kirchner shows why he's one of the most in-demand drummers on the Chicago scene. Dillingham, meanwhile, is perfectly content to hold things together as the stabilizing centre of the storm.

Other pieces are less aggressive. The title track, for example, exudes wistfulness, though it also includes a rousing blues episode at its centre, with the guitarist unleashing one scorching lick after another. Gold's playing gives Halcyon a great deal of its identity, and as if his resonant guitar work isn't enough his pedal steel adds strong textural appeal to “Sinclair's Struggle.” When Sinatra sang his classic version of Berlin's “What'll I Do,” it was to a parted lover; in this context, it can't help but read as Dillingham wondering how he'll get by without his father in his life. Fashioned as a ballad-styled waltz that largely hews to the song's melodies, the heartfelt rendering the quartet delivers is a marvel of group expression. Given the project's background, the title “Peace Awaits” needs no explanation. Turbulence drives the rubato performance until, like the serenity that sometimes attends impending death, the darkness lifts and peaceful resolution arrives.

“Lowlands” sets jazz aside for an engaging foray into bluesy folk-rock, a style the quartet takes to with ease. Trying to resist the way the four dig into the singing tune is futile, especially when it allows Gold to strut his stuff so grandly. Also on the uplifting side are a breezy treatment of Ellington's “T.G.T.T.” that's as soulful as it is jazzy and “Eleanor Jean,” a sunny reverie the bassist adapted from a melody hummed by his eldest child. With Lewis's pretty voice included, the affecting acoustic rendering of Dylan's haunting folk tune takes the album out on a stirring high.

The album title was well-chosen in referring to, in Dillingham's words, “a period in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful.” Yet as grounded as it is in the pain of loss, Halcyon is neither dour nor depressing; instead, its heartfelt tone conveys gratitude for the patriarch now gone and ultimately expresses affirmation as it looks to the future with hope and resolve.

October 2024