Family

“Each project comes from a different place,” says Kelly Rossum of his four CDs. “I don't view these recordings as an evolution, per se, but as an eventual profile of my personality.” With the release of Family, Rossum’s profile not only is updated, but his lineage more clearly defined, his cachet as one of the region’s most musically divergent thinkers and performers reinforced. 

A distinctive and versatile trumpeter whose history includes directing the big band at Busch Gardens (Virginia), earning his doctorate in Baroque Trumpet at the University of Minnesota, and currently coordinating jazz studies at the MacPhail Center for Music, Kelly Rossum has honed his skills over two decades of performing from Bach to rock, from swing to avant garde. Even his current projects reflect a restless eclecticism that informs his compositions— soloing with the Skyway Jazz Orchestra, Pete Whitman’s X-Tet, the Jazz Is Now! Nownet, the Ellen Lease/Pat Moriarity Quintet, the Dolphy-inspired Out to Lunch Quintet, and his new Rossum Electric Company. But his small ensembles, the Kelly Rossum Quintet and now Quartet, offer the most integrated view into the heart and mind of a musician who reveres his artistic roots while always pushing ahead to wherever those connections might lead. 

Kelly Rossum©Andrea Canter

Although at least one saxophone provided a playground for brass harmony on the earlier recordings, on Family (as well as recent live quartet gigs), Kelly scaled down the ensemble to one horn voice and full rhythm section with piano (Bryan Nichols on keys with brothers Chris and J.T. Bates on bass and drums), noting that “Music becomes transparent with fewer individual voices.” And this is perhaps the most diverse music that Rossum has recorded, “a reflection of my musical family. The music stems from a rich tradition, yet it continues to evolve and grow.” Further he notes that the concept of “family” applies broadly, to “song selections, musical influences, the musicians themselves as well as actual family members.” One has to expect a broad palette from an artist who cites Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix and J.S. Bach as his key influences! 

Bryan Nichols©Andrea Canter

Family starts off with the original title track, which Kelly notes is “dedicated to my parents’ 40th wedding anniversary while being musically influenced by folk melodies.” The opening trumpet solo has a “There’s No Place Like Home” simplicity with hints of the blues that become more prominent as the tune rolls along. Rossum’s unmuted tone carries a slightly muffled vibrato, a majestic small town confidence with wistful notes. Bryan Nichols, like Rossum, is a bit of a chameleon musically, with an approach that suggests Keith Jarrett on one track, Cecil Taylor on another. Here an easygoing Jarrettish blues brings a mood of a lazy summer musings, as if floating through days of Kelly’s childhood, longing for carefree afternoons. Nichols adds abstraction with layers of line and harmony over Chris Bates’ deep basslines and J.T.’s elegant brushes, and Rossum adds the mute on his return, wahhing his way through the verse, coaxing a menagerie of sounds from his horn—trills, near-squeals, a sound that is both slightly trashy and sweet. It’s a family tree that has been allowed to grow unfettered, tangles of branches reaching skyward. Overall it’s a mood not unlike Terell Stafford’s efforts with Matt Wilson’s Arts and Crafts (The Scenic Route) but with more experimentation. The last track briefly reprises the first, with Rossum fully muted and primarily supported by hand percussion, and dedicated to “the children not yet on this earth-- there's always hope for the future of Our Family.” 

Kelly Rossum©Andrea Canter

The trumpet moves to higher register statements while J.T. similarly adds fuel. The original theme reappears, more emphatic, then recedes with Rossum offering some humorous last words. 

All family members are fair game, and Rossum’s “Mr. Blueberry” “was written for my cat, who just recently passed away, while containing some influences of the country music that my extended family enjoys.” Ambling like the soundtrack for a kid’s cartoon, Kelly leads with a laughing, dry, gurgling muted tone, the quartet partying with a funky, infectious rhythm. The leader’s other composition is a significant contrast. “After the Snow” is Rossum’s “song for reflecting on all loving relationships.” Starting with slow bass lines, tinkling fills from piano and faint brushes, it’s soft and gentle like an early morning snowfall. Nichols’ lines evolve in layers, while Kelly’s muted trumpet gives the track an elegantly cool European ambience. There’s a brief period of heated acceleration, but all returns to a luxurious finish. 

Bryan Nichols’s two contributions similarly seem to come from different family lines. Rossum notes that “as musicians, our sponsors are our family and our family are our sponsors!” as explanation for the track titled “A Word From Our Sponsors.”  The initial trumpet and percussion vamp becomes a duet, J.T. Bates’ aggressive stance joined by Chris’ rumbling bassline. But appropriately, this composition is a showcase for Bryan Nichols’ abstract and angular piano. The distinguishing qualities of quintet versus quartet are clearly spoken here; where the horn harmonies dominate the quintet recordings, the quartet provides more give and take between horn and piano. Kelly echoes Bryan’s lines in clipped phrases built in modal fashion, with flutters and smears sliding over the pianist’s off-kilter comping, with Chris Bates’ ever-skipping lines and J.T.’s constant movement reminiscent of crosstown colleague, Dave King. From a seemingly different generation comes Nichol’s magnificent “Interlude,” composed for his wedding. A thick swell of gentle sound, at times it sounds as if Kelly is playing two horns simultaneously (no overdubs!!).  

Kelly Rossum Quartet©Andrea Canter

Joe Raposo’s “Somebody Come Out and Play” is the lightest, most danceable track, given swinging treatment by Kelly’s crisp tone. If there aren’t lyrics to this tune, there should be. Again there is a mood that recalls the country swing of Terell Stafford with Matt Wilson’s Arts and Crafts quartet. 

“If I Were a Bell” has been interpreted from numerous directions, none perhaps as well known and frequently recorded as by Miles Davis. While Davis’ approach to the tune became increasingly freewheeling over the several versions on record, Kelly Rossum’s approach to the melody is even more sparse than Miles’ while, at the same time, more convoluted in its pathway. And the result is the most interesting rendition of the tune that I’ve heard. Nichols starts it off on piano as if written by Monk with a hangover, haltingly tracing the familiar introduction. Kelly’s open whining trumpet renders just enough of the original notes to uncover the melody, while Chris Bates imparts a swing feel despite the disharmonies and quirky rhythms from piano and horn. With extended solo space, Bryan’s reading gives the track plenty of abstract energy, buoyed by Chris’ strong pulse and J.T.’s usual busy percussion. Chris takes a solo, sliding up and down as if his ax is well greased, dancing around the little figures created by Nichols. Kelly returns, smears and catcalls, his skeletal melody filled in somewhat, not fully as Loesser wrote it or as Miles played it, but fanning out from the theme, seeking far-flung corners. 

If Miles Davis provides the most prominent DNA in Kelly Rossum’s gene pool, this arrangement of “If I Were A Bell” offers a cellular map of the young trumpeter’s familial origins and adaptation. Overall, Family is at once evidence of Kelly Rossum’s musical inheritance and his ongoing genetic drift. 

The Kelly Rossum Quartet will celebrate the release of Family on September 26-27 at the Artists Quarter in downtown St. Paul (408 St. Peter Street), sets at 9 pm; visit www.artistsquarter.com. CD available at CD Baby and Amazon. More about Kelly Rossum at www.kellyrossum.com