Chip Wickham: Blue To Red
Lovemonk Records

As I listen to Blue To Red, a few moments arise that remind me of Bullitt, in particular the scene where the 1968 film's titular detective (Steve McQueen) relaxes with friends in a San Francisco bar as a swinging, flute-powered jazz combo performs. Yet while some degree of connection between Chip Wickham's album and Lalo Schifrin's soundtrack could be proposed, the primary reference point for Blue To Red involves the spiritual jazz of Alice Coltrane and Yusef Lateef.

Reference points aside, the release is a fabulous ride, a smooth and enchanting collection of cosmic jazz that'll time-travel you to the late ‘60s with no difficulty whatsoever. A saxophonist also, the Brighton-born and Manchester-based Wickham emphasizes flute on the date, which deepens its spiritual jazz connection through the presence of harpist Amanda Whiting. The ensemble's warm acoustic sound is fleshed out by Dan Goldman on Fender Rhodes, Simon Houghton's double bass and cello, Rick Weedon's percussion, and crisp drumming from Sons of Kemet member Jon Scott. Though all six tracks were written, arranged, and produced by Wickham, Blue To Red plays very much like a group album.

The title track pulls the listener irresistibly into its blissed-out world when Wickham's flute glides confidently across a lulling base of harp strums and percussive detail. Executed at a seductively slow tempo, the performance soothes with its relaxed flow and sinuous melodicism. High-energy by comparison, “Route One” digs into its modal jazz-styled material intently, Whiting ornamenting the driving groove with dazzling strums, the leader soaring aloft with a prototypically engaging solo, and Goldman electrifying the performance with his own freewheeling spotlight.

As sultry as the title track is, it's bettered by “The Cosmos,” which endears immediately for its wistful theme and a backdrop so laid-back it could induce drowsiness. With Weedon's triangle and Scott and Houghton's pulse as fuel, “Double Cross” grooves hard, especially with Goldman in hard and the leader delivering his own earthy, voice-inflected turn. If the album tends to switch back and forth between meditations and workouts, it's no less satisfying for doing so.

However much its sound is indebted to an earlier era and those late icons, Blue To Red is neither old-fashioned nor stale; if anything, the timing of the release coincides perfectly with a recent upsurge in the spiritual jazz genre. At NY's Jazz Gallery in 2017, for example, a Ravi Coltrane-led band, with Brandee Younger on harp, performed concerts under the title “Universal Consciousness: Melodic Meditations of Alice Coltrane,” while Lakecia Benjamin also recently paid tribute to both John and Alice on her superb Pursuance: The Coltranes release. Wickham's certainly makes its own superb argument on behalf of the revival.

May 2020