Review: Clovis Nicolas’s ‘Blues in Blueprint’

Seldom will one hear a full album of blues on a jazz recording today, particularly performed as imaginatively as on composer and bassist Clovis Nicolas and his trio do on Blues in Blueprint (Sunnyside, 2026). Bearing a subtitle of 12 Variations on the Blues. Nicolas’s album deliberately emphasizes diverse forms, grooves, tempos, and a stylistic lineage,l that draws from multiple musical eras. Larry Goldings, typically thought of as an organist, is superb on acoustic piano, while drummer Carl Allen shines with his in-the-pocket drumming. Nicolas, who used gut strings for the session to create a warmer sound, enlisted acclaimed engineer James Farber to record the session. The album’s material includes rather obscure tunes by notable composers, although Nicolas and Goldings each composed pieces, with Nicolas accounting for several. Interestingly, composers such as Ornette Coleman and Carla Bley factor into the mix along with the more commonly blues-oriented composers Duke Ellington, Sidney Bechet, and Wes Montgomery. Perhaps that separation is at best blurry, as most jazz composers have some element of blues as its foundation.

The opener, “Old Stack of Blues,” is a traditional song that was popularized by Sidney Bechet in the 1940s. Its gentle, swaying swing, unique chord progression, and lyrical piano runs set the tone. Goldings takes a stop-time piano solo in the spirit of Louis Armstrong while Allen caresses the drums with his brushes. The trio revs up for Wes Montgomery’s “Twisted Blues,” a thirty-two-bar form with rapid chord changes. Nicolas steps in with a bebop-influenced bass solo. One almost expects another instrument, like a saxophone or guitar, to follow Nicolas’s solo, but Goldings’s liquid piano runs serve the tune just as well. Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s “One for My Baby” was, of course, a major hit for both Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday. The trio digs in with a slow, emotive blues, replete with piano improvisation and a subtle, but definitive close.

Nicolas’s “Hutch” is named for drummer Gregory Hutchinson, one of the several who inspired the album. Naturally, this becomes a feature for Allen, who solos and trades on melody, bringing it to a surprising, abrupt finale. Bley’s “Lawns” gets a slow R&B-inflected treatment, with Allen using rutes on drums and Goldings applying a lighter, Keith Jarrett-like touch. “The 5:30 Dive Bar Rendezvous” is repurposed from Nicolas’s Freedom Suite Ensuite (Sunnyside, 2018).  The melody features piano-bass unison lines and, once again, Nicolas proffers an organic bass solo. Close listening of Golding’s improvisation. reveals quoting of Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing).”

The trio goes free-form on Ornette Coleman’s “Ramblin’,” displaying some risk-taking and close interaction, as particularly evidenced in Nicolas’s response to Goldings early in the piece. Allen deftly steers the tricky, start-stop rhythm. The title track owes to Ellington, sourced from his album Blues in Orbit (Columbia, 1960).  The slow-tempo blues is layered in rich harmony through Goldings’s chord choices, with Allen again applying clever brushwork. The tune is a prime example of restraint. By contrast, the tempo enlivens for Golding’s “The Double Nickel,” a thirteen-bar minor blues, with dynamic conversations between the piano and drums. In a somewhat similar approach, the bandleader explores alternative blues forms in his “The Bass Speaks,” featuring distinctive chord changes and dialogues between the bass and left-hand piano.

“Goovy Globy” is an early Nicolas composition, treated here as a jazz bossa nova, featuring impressive trills by Goldings. The program closes with the nineteenth century hymn, “Abide With Me,” a tune often found in Charles Lloyd’s live repertoire. The trio adopts a respectful posture with Goldings delivering an elegant piano intro and Nicolas presenting his warmest solo in the set. The piece serves as a gentle farewell, almost like a congenial hug.

A steady diet of twelve-bar blues can be boring. Yet, Nicolas and his trio explore new aspects of the blues, vary tempos, and take some risks. On so doing, they expand the typical notion of the blues into new territory, keeping the form pure and fresh in the process.

‘Blues in Blueprint- 12 Variations on the Blues’ is out now on Sunnyside Records. It can be purchased on Bandcamp.