Melissa Pipe Sextet: Of What Remains
ODD SOUND

Naturally, the first thing one notices about Melissa Pipe's debut release as a leader is that the Montreal-based musician's credited with baritone saxophone and bassoon. Few jazz recordings have featured the latter, but to her credit it's not used for novelty effect but with integrity. It first caught her ear when she was formally studying jazz saxophone and composition and considering a second woodwind to pair with it. Enchanted by its distinctive sound and recognizing how learning it might open up creative avenues, she chose bassoon over the more conventional flute and clarinet. That potential opening-up was augmented when it led to parallel studies that saw her hone her skills as both a jazz saxophonist and as a bassoonist working in a chamber classical idiom. As expected, Of What Remains shows her blending those streams into an album that fully earns the label multi-dimensional.

A perhaps surprisingly large number of musicians, among them Sara Schoenbeck, Judith LeClair, Paul Hanson, Michael Rabinowitz, and Rebekah Heller, have embraced the bassoon, but it's still rare to see the instrument in a jazz ensemble. Reflecting her love for the instrument, Pipe even brought contrabassoonist Michael Sundell aboard for three of the nine tracks. Her sextet's purposefully designed to accommodate jazz ensemble and chamber formats, and consistent with that Of What Remains alternates between them during the forty-five-minute set. With Pipe joined by trumpeter Lex French and fellow woodwinds player Philippe Côté (tenor sax, bass clarinet), the sextet's front-line is able to move fluidly between chamber- and jazz-oriented material. Providing solid support are pianist Geoff Lapp, bassist Solon McDade, and drummer Mili Hong.

After “Complainte du vent” establishes the album's arresting tone with a sombre bassoon-and-bowed bass intro, “La part des anges” perpetuates it, this time with the full ensemble's textures fleshing out the dreamily atmospheric piece. The tune could be regarded as a microcosm of the album, in fact, for shifting from its chamber-styled intro into a jazzier noir exercise featuring Pipe wielding baritone alongside cool, late-night musings by Côté, French, and Lapp. Mixing things up, Pipe's baritone contributes a honking drive to “In due time,” a lively blues-jazz workout featuring the leader trading solos with a growling French. Bluesier still is “Apothecium,” which lopes through its changes at a slow and sultry pace. With Sundell sitting in, “Ici, ainsi” blossoms from brooding chamber classical into Latin-tinged swing, the segue blurred by the ease with which the musicians execute. As it also does on the later “Day,” her bassoon solo also provides a compelling example of how effectively it can function as a soloing instrument in a jazz setting. “Day” also makes a powerful argument on behalf of her group when the modern jazz material is delivered with such nuance and style. Ending the album with a beautiful chamber treatment of Tõnu Kõrvits' “Puudutus” was an inspired notion too.

A generous host, Pipe grants McDade and Lapp ample solo space in “Fragment No. 2” and does the same with French and Côté throughout. She hardly relegates herself to the background, but she doesn't hog the spotlight either. Co-produced by Pipe and Côté, Of What Remains is a fine debut from the Montreal-based artist, and she's certainly done herself a world of good in having soloists as superb as French, Côté, and Lapp accompany her. Even better, there's little to criticize, aside from the fact that this writer at least would have liked her bassoon to have been featured even more prominently.

June 2023