Album Review: 'Paraphrase' by the Matt Blostein and Vinnie Sperrazza Band

Matt Blostein and Vinnie Sperrazza Band: Paraphrase

I anticipated my first year living in New York being something of a musical treasure hunt: searching out hidden venues, independent record stores, and stumbling upon unsung heroes of the jazz scene. To be sure, they’re all out there, but they’re not hard to find. Finding interesting jazz music in New York City isn’t like finding a needle in a haystack; it’s like finding hay in a haystack. Perhaps the rare treasure in this city isn’t a worthwhile concert, but an appreciative, sizeable audience.

My experience in the Brooklyn scene suggests, however, that audiences aren’t so important as communities. Jacob Garchik pointed this out when I interviewed him for this publication. A community of musicians and friends will support each other’s shows even when there’s not a lot of money involved. In these communities, music seems to quickly take on the personalities of the musicians involved, who are more concerned with communication and expression than with adherence to a particular tradition.

Recordings like Matt Blostein and Vinnie Sperrazza’s Paraphrase exemplify this. A labor of love among artists with great sensitivity to one another, Paraphrase is thinner and more delicate than most mainstream jazz. The absence of a chording instrument provides harmonic freedom for soloing, and the compositions aim for melodic direction over harmonic explicitness.

That’s not to say that this is strictly free jazz. Solos often follow changes outlined by Geoff Kraly’s walking bass lines, and are driven by compositional intent. Vinnie Sperrazza spends most of the album swinging hard, always present but never showy. His function as engine in the ensemble is on display in his composition “One Hour,” where concerted figures in the horns give way to a swinging trombone solo. Sperrazza builds drama, and playfully breaks up his swing as Jacob Garchik gets going on a blissfully unpredictable trombone solo.

Both horns show unorthodox approaches to their instruments. Neither Garchik nor Blostein spend much time using traditional blues or bebop language, but rather spin melodies of interesting intervallic content, which in Blostein reminded me a bit of Paul Desmond, and Garchik of Ed Neumeister. Jazz phrases begin, but wander into unexpected territory, changing color and direction. Garchik’s playing can go from spasmodic to slippery mid-phrase, and Blostein navigates the extreme registers of the alto saxophone with ease.

Paraphrase is one of many products of a particular community of musicians in Brooklyn, one worthy of wider recognition. Stop in at Barbés on a weeknight and see who’s playing.

Release Date:

February 15th, 2011 on Yeah Yeah Records

Personnel

• Matt Blostein – alto sax, compositions
• Vinnie Sperrazza – drums, compositions
• Jacob Garchik – trombone
• Geoff Kraly – bass

Track List

1. Paraphrase
2. One Hour
3. Helicopters
4. TJ
5. Ripple
6. Bullfrog
7. Duet Aria
8. Let Your Arms Fall Down