Simon Moullier: Inception
Fresh Sound Records

Sometimes the best move an artist can make is to not make one, a case in point Simon Moullier's Inception. The vibraphonist's first trio set, 2021's Countdown, was so terrific, he was smart to stick with the same format for volume two. Best of all, in not bringing a second frontliner into the fold, Inception places the spotlight squarely on him, and the music, recorded at NYC's Sear Sound Recording Studio in October 2022, in no way suffers.

As before, standards dominate, with this time the leader, bassist Luca Alemanno, and drummer Jongkuk Kim bringing the same level of enthusiasm to material by Mingus, Davis, Tyner, and others as they did to Countdown. The leader's enjoyed longstanding relationships with both partners. Kim was also with Moullier on his other 2023 release, Isla, a quartet date rounded out by pianist Lex Korten and bassist Alexander Claffy, and the drummer was Moullier's classmate at Berklee College of Music. Alemanno, on the other hand, attended the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz (now the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz) with Moullier, the place where the seed for the trio was, in fact, planted six years ago.

A rousingly infectious groove introduces the album, with Horace Silver's “Ecaroh” (“Horace” in reverse) leading the way. Sultry, Latin-tinged, and swinging breezily, the tune achieves lift-off the moment Moullier starts soloing. Executed at maximum velocity are the trio's feverish takes on McCoy Tyner's “Inception,” itself delivered as a trio performance on the pianist's 1962 debut album, and the album's lone Moullier original, the breathless “RC” (short for rhythm changes). A tad less frenetic though no less tight are the group's fabulously swinging readings of Mingus's “Peggy's Blue Skylight” and Davis's “Pfrancing.” In these pieces and elsewhere, the time the musicians have spent together is evident in the synergy of their playing, which feels effortlessly telepathic. As dominant as Moullier is, Alemanno and Kim make their presence felt throughout in inspired ensemble playing and solo spots (see the bassist's inspired turn in “Pfrancing”).

Not everything's uptempo. A ruminative solo vibraphone rendition of the Billy Strayhorn classic “Lush Life” is a highlight, while the trio's smooth reading of Michel Legrand's “You Must Believe in Spring” is as fresh as the titular season. The mellifluous, boss nova-fied treatment of Antônio Carlos Jobim's “Desafinado" makes one long for an entire album dedicated to Brazilian music, and, no fool he, Moullier's planning on doing precisely that somewhere along the line.

Be forewarned that he carries on the tradition associated with Keith Jarrett and Glenn Gould of shadowing playing with vocalizing, something one listener might find endearing and another grating. In keeping with his love for horns, Moullier says, “I've always wanted to erase the vibraphone, … transcend the instrument and make it sound like something else.” Were he to survey any number of listeners, he'd discover they're probably happy he hasn't when, in their eyes, his vibraphone playing is the best thing about his music.

November 2023