Jeff Lederer: Guilty!!!
Little (i) Music

In displaying “guilty" thirty-four times on its cover, Jeff Lederer leaves little doubt as to what his latest recording's about. In fashioning the album around political lies, criminality, and obfuscation, the saxophonist not only has the former POTUS in mind but also deserving targets such as Marjorie Taylor Greene and George Santos. To make crystal clear to whom his vitriol's directed, digital samples of their voices are woven into the performances. Lederer is merciful, however: nowhere on the album do you hear “the Orange One's voice,” as he calls it, as he suspects some might be triggered by the sound. To be fair, Lederer acknowledges that lies don't emanate from one party only but from multiple political directions.

Bitterness and disgust fuel Lederer's passion, but make no mistake: Guilty!!!, issued on his Brooklyn-based little (i) music label, is entertaining as opposed to hectoring, and with cornetist and slide trumpeter Kirk Knuffke, tubist Bob Stewart, and drummer Matt Wilson joining the leader on tenor and alto the music's more inclined to induce laughter than despair. Adding to the mayhem on selected tracks are singer Mary LaRose and trombonist Curtis Hasselbring. The album, recorded at Samurai Hotel in June 2024, features five Lederer originals plus two by band members and three by jazz greats John Carter, Charles Mingus, and Albert Ayler.

The voice of Greene, who Lederer cheekily crowns “the illustrious congressperson from Georgia,” barrels throughout “Buzzsaw,” her utterance of the word stretched into a distorted garble as the band, goosed by Stewart's inimitable tuba, wail. As Lederer and Knuffke solo raucously, Wilson bashes his kit in like-minded manner, all involved doing everything they can to drown out the Republican Party hellcat. Convicted felon and former Republican George Santos rears his head on “Cheapening the Process,” which Lederer set as a bossa nova because he's “kind of a fake Brazilian.” With LaRose adding wordless vocals to the band's sultry swing, it's blessedly easy to leave the sound of his voice behind and surrender to the infectious groove and inspired solos from the tenor-wielding leader and Knuffke. To evoke the filibuster tradition of speakers refusing to yield the floor, the unhinged “Piccolo Buster” features Lederer doing the same with endless volleys on the woodwind. The title cut has the instrumentalists accompanying Adam Schiff for every one of the damning “guilty” verdicts against the former president.

Knuffke's “We the People” turns cartoonish and surreal when the voice of Senator Katie Britt's rebuttal to President Biden's 2024 State of the Union address is worked into its rollicking band expression. For a provocative rendition of Carter's “And She Speaks,” the jokes are set aside for a solemn meditation on the violent treatment by police officers against African American women (e.g., Breonna Taylor). The wry tone of Mingus's “Fables of Faubus” aligns seamlessly with the album's, but it's the band's affectionate voicing of the bassist's great music that recommends the cover more than the vocal parts. Rather than end on a downtrodden note, Lederer caps the set with Ayler's celebratory march “Truth is Marching In.”

October 2024