Matt Ulery: Become Giant
Woolgathering Records

Certain jazz artists' composing voices are instantly recognizable, with Ornette, Mingus, Monk, and (Carla) Bley names that come readily to mind by way of example. One could add to the list Matt Ulery, whose compositions, including those featured on his latest Woolgathering Records set, always bear his indelible stamp. Seemingly every release from the Chicago double bassist features a different lineup, and his twelfth record is no different. On Become Giant, Ulery and long-time cohorts violinist Zach Brock and drummer Jon Deitemeyer partner with the Chicago-based KAIA String Quartet—violinists Victoria Moreira and Joy Curtin, violist Oana Tatu, and cellist Hope DeCelle—for a vibrant and propulsive set of chamber jazz. The trio's rapport has been captured in other contexts before, on 2019's Wonderment, for example, but adding the string quartet naturally changes things up. KAIA also shares history with Ulery, however, as the quartet's worked with him on other projects, including the quintet Loom.

The seed for Become Giant was planted about five years ago when Los Angeles Philharmonic violinist Nathan Cole approached Ulery to write a piece for Cole's string quartet and featuring Brock as a violin soloist. The bassist accepted but also amended the proposal to include himself and Deitemeyer. That commission became Become Giant, which when presented on September 1st, 2017 was forty minutes long and structured in eleven movements. The iteration presented on the recording is a shorter ten-part treatment that's coupled with a 2020 work, Shine Faintly with a Wavering Glow. If the performances sound fresh, they should: the septet recorded the material at JoyRide Studio the day after an October 2021 performance at Constellation in Chicago.

Both the material and playing straddle classical and jazz, the result an authentic hybrid that resists easy slotting into either. As is often the case with Ulery's music, through-composition rests comfortably alongside improvisation, with Brock in particular called upon in the soloing department. In the opening movement, the string quartet introduces the piece with a Romantic expression redolent of early twentieth-century Vienna, though hints of Ulery's melodic sensibility can be heard seeping in. It's fully present in the paired movement that follows, with Deitemeyer now an assertive presence and Brock taking charge. Here and elsewhere, the combination of string quartet textures, drums, double bass, and inspired lead violin soloing makes for a heady and dynamic mixture that's well-served by the writing. The pace slows for the fourth movement, the kind of plaintive dirge at which the Chicagoan excels, and after the music rises to a wail, Brock delivers a cadenza of expressive power and invention. The music continues its surge through the subsequent movements, the quartet's pizzicato patterns buoying the music's lilt in the sixth part and Deitemeyer softening his attack with brushes for the seventh. The concluding three-part movement blows in like the coolest of breezes, Ulery's melodic signature present in the sweetly singing phrases of the strings. The music takes a yearning turn, as the drummer ignites the ensemble with an infectiously swinging pulse, an insistent Brock sails across the frothy base, and one of the work's primary themes shines until the work reaches a resounding close.

September 2022