Jeremy Pelt: Tomorrow's Another Day

Trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, a force on the jazz scene for more than two decades, simply does his own thing on Tomorrow's Another Day, the twenty-fourth album as leader of his own groups, inviting any interested listeners to come on board for the ride. Pelt's thing these days apparently includes an abundance of special effects, reverb, heavy (and at times intrusive) rhythms, leavened with occasional flashes of the remarkable improviser he can be and often is.

To help him carry out his purpose, Pelt has recruited an able supporting cast, led melodically by vibraphonist Jalen Baker and guitarist Alex Wintz, and rhythmically by bassist Leighton Harrell, drummers Allen Mednard or Deantoni Parks, and keyboardist Frank LoCrasto on two numbers ("No A.I.," "Tomorrow's Another Day"). Pelt and Parks co-wrote the trio of songs on which Parks keeps time (the opening "AnteMeridian," "Milocraft (It's a Cartoon World" and "Basquiat"). Pelt wrote everything else except the Barbra Streisand chart-topper, Jule Styne and Bob Merrill's "People."

For some reason, the Pelt-Parks collaborations seem to be heavily edited, as though someone were starting and stopping the tape during exchanges between trumpet and drums. While it doesn't interrupt the flow of the music, it is nonetheless audibly spastic and unsettling. As it happens on each of those tracks, the tweak must have been deliberate, and so must be considered an element of the recording for the purpose of assessment. Without making comparisons, it does seem as though Pelt is veering now and then into later-Miles Davis territory.

This would be less problematic if the music itself were more pleasing. As it is, there is nothing aside from the animated "Earl J" (on which Pelt offers his most incisive solo) and gentle "Amma Is Here" that linger in the memory bank for more than a moment or two. Coincidentally (or maybe not), those are the numbers on which Baker and Wintz also shine brightest. Elsewhere, they are relatively inconspicuous.

As for Pelt, he has clearly reached that enviable place where he no longer has to prove himself to anyone. The flip side is that he is able, for better or worse, to go his own way and hope that avenue draws an appreciative audience. While Tomorrow's Another Day succeeds at times, there are too many other moments in which it falls short, musically and aesthetically.

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