Review: Jon Irabagon PlainsPeek’s ‘Someone to Someone’

Fresh off his complex project Server Farm (Irrabagast, 2025), where he led a nonet in blending electronics and hues of Artificial Intelligence with acoustic jazz, Jon Iragabon now moves to a more conventional chord-less quartet on Someone to Someone (Irrabagast, 2025). That statement is not to imply that Iragabon’s music has suddenly turned conventional. For his new quartet, dubbed PlainsPeak, he taps old friends equally adept at playing both “in” and “out.” The group’s title ties directly into Iragabon’s long running penchance for wordplay; his liner notes essay about Chicago shows it too. The band’s name reflects his hometown’s role as the “peak” of the Great Plains. But read quickly, it becomes “plain speak,” another word to describe the group of musicians Iragabon has assembled. In fact, if you’re familiar with recent jazz records from the Second City, you’ve likely seen the names of the bass-drum tandem of Clarke Sommers and Dana Hall. Joining Iragabon, who plays alto sax throughout, is trumpeter Russ Johnson, who was also present on Iragabon’s debut as a leader, Outright! (Innova, 2008).

With the saxophonist-leader having spent considerable time in New York, Someone to Someone is somewhat of a homecoming; it is the first Chicago band under Iragabon’s name. The music is intended to reflect everything he likes about the Windy City’s jazz scene, from straight-ahead music to the more adventurous avant-garde. The opening title track unfolds slowly, with an immediately striking contrapuntal harmonic between the two horns. It then becomes a feature for Sommers and Hall, specifically an arco bass solo followed by a drum break before another reprise of the theme. Iragabon describes it as a love song to his family, where each has responsibilities to each other and to themselves.There are several “chorale” sections, mostly straight-forward. But the one immediately preceding the last is out on the edges. There’s usually a rascal in the family.  

Hall’s beats and Sommers’ walking bass line set the pace for “Buggin’ the Bug.” It too begins in a fairly straight-forward way but Iragabon admits to challenging both to improvise at will. As a result, the shuffle beat gets lost as the rhythm mates interact with the two fiery horns, before the quartet returns to the theme and makes way for Hall’s whirlwind turn on the traps. The latter perhaps represents the title’s reference to last summer’s cicada invasion in the Midwest.  

The two horns grow montrously fierce on “Malort is My Shepherd,” a title clearly deserving of explanation. Of course, it’s a bit weird. Jeppsen Malort is a locally produced wormwood-flavored liqueur once described as tasting ‘like a baby aspirin wrapped in a grapefruit peel, bound with rubber bands and then soaked in well gin.” It’s the unofficial shot of choice or rite of passage for newbies at Chicago’s jazz shrine, The Green MIll. The unsettled nature of the music may reflect the acclimation to the taste while the deceleration at the end may indicate it finally becoming digestible.. 

“At What Price Garlic” is a lengthy piece made of layers that morph through various time signatures of 11/4, ¾, 5/4, or 9 beats to the bar as it straddles turf between the straight-ahead and avant-garde. Iragabon equates it to a deep dish pizza with multiple layers. It would be the perfect soundtrack for one finding their way through a corn maze or mirrored amusement park labyrinth, especially at Halloween. By contrast, “Tiny Miracles (at a Funeral for a Friend)” is a lament for a lost friend coupled with the heartbreak of so many years for suffering Chicago Cubs fans. Fret not though, “Pulseman” has the quartet returning to their frenetic best, in a tune dedicated to not only Hall but also drummers “everywhere.”

The CD version of Someone to Someone has the aforementioned six pieces. But when inserted into a player, there is also a hidden and unnamed ten-minute-plus track. It unfolds slowly while giving ample solo opportunities to each member. There are portions here as well as in other pieces of the album that, were a vibraphone present, would evoke Eric Dolphy’s classic Out to Lunch (Blue Note, 1964), especially in terms of the two horn interplay. Here we are over six decades later with Iragabon defying convention in his own quirky way.  

‘Someone to Someone’ will be released on August 15, 2025.

Photo credit: Chad McCullough