Christian Scott is a young face in jazz that could conceivably bring a blast of fresh air to the genre. The sheer amount and scope of collaborations that ey has done in the last few years is impressive, and includes a whos-who list in music (Mos Def, Prince, and DJ Muggs are just three). Instead of merely resting on eir laurels, Scott has just released eir latest album, “Yesterday You Said Tomorrow”. “K.K.P.D.” immediately ratchets things to eleven, as Scott’s trumpet work immediately struggles with some wide-arching guitar work (laid down here by Matt Steven) and a much more guttural, primeval set of drums placed on the track by Jamire Williams.
Flawlessly moving over into an indie rock state of mind, Scott throws together a cover of Thom Yorke’s (Radiohead’s) “The Eraser”. Where the original track was dreary and utterly overwhelming compared to the rest of Yorke’s discography, Scott is able to lighten things up considerably. This is done through slowing things up, tying together the trumpet work here with a reinvention of brush-work. Perhaps most fulfilling during “Yesterday You Said Tomorrow” is the inclusion of hard-edge political sentiment into Scott’s work. This is seen particularly on two later-disc tracks, “American’t” and “Jenacide (The Inevitable Rise and Fall of the Bloodless Revolution)”.
Rather than removing the impressive attention to detail and thoughtful arrangements that have been commonplace during “Yesterday You Said Tomorrow”, Scott and the rest of eir band puts an exclamation point to the emotional political material that is broached here. The disc ends on a similarly-strong point, as the disc’s final cuts – “An Unending Repentance” and “The Roe Effect” represent both a solid ending to “Yesterday You Said Tomorrow” as well as spin things in a slightly different way to allow listeners to easily move into whatever styles or approaches Scott and eir band take the next time out.
Top Tracks: K.K.P.D., Angola, LA & The 13th Amendment
Rating: 8.2/10
Christian Scott – Yesterday You Said Tomorrow / 2010 Concord Jazz / 10 Tracks / http://www.christianscott.net / http://www.concordmusicgroup.com