The vibraphonist Bill Ware is perhaps best known for his work with The Jazz Passengers and Groove Collective. He has a cross-genre bent that includes work with Steely Dan and Elvis Costello. He is also incredibly prolific. Since 2016, he has composed over two hundred and fifty pieces, including sixty during the pandemic. These pieces often gravitate toward dense passages, wild courses for his bandmates to navigate. Martian Sunset, recorded at the famed Van Gelder Studios, courageously revamps his sound with an eye towards simplification. Drawing inspiration from the striking openness of Joe Lovano’s Paramount Quartet featuring Julian Lage, the leader decided only a few days before his recording session to throw away what he initially planned. In its stead, he wrote new music rooted in the blues and reconfigured for a new band.

The Club Bird All Stars takes its name from a long-shuttered Japanese club that, in the mid-nineties, provided him a three-month residency with a rotating cast of horn and rhythm players. For the new ensemble bearing its name, Ware tapped his longtime collaborator, guitarist Rez Abbasi to join a quintet of pianist Matt King, bassist Jay Anderson, and drummer Taru Alexander. All of the band’s members are certified talents and bandleaders.

The title, Martian Sunset, itself evokes a futurism and, fittingly, shadows of Sun Ra fill space in its dozen compositions. Yet, sonically, of the album more fully reflects the hard bop of the late ‘60s by people like Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, and Cannonball Adderley who cut such legendary tracks at Van Gelder.

The opener, “Around The Horn,” features a bouncy melody with Ware taking the lead, before solos pass among Abassi, King, and ultimately back to Ware as Anderson and Alexander lay down a steady groove. “That Dirty Road” starts as a blues tune but rapidly morphs into a spacey, ethereal number well-suited to the three main soloists. The layers of harmony resonate, leading to a robust bass solo from Anderson.  The band’s reflective approach continues with the odd colored harmonies of “Safer Journey,” which pays respect to individuals with mental health challenges. As detailed in the liner notes, that group includes Ware himself, who struggled mightily during the pandemic.

 

In the rollicking “Little Lizzard,” guitarist Abbasi articulates his lines, sounding like a horn player as Alexander delivers shifting rhythms on his kit. Alexander continues shifting patterns – representing the rocky terrain of Mars on the title track – while inspired by the work of Sun Ra and Ornette Coleman. Built from fragments of previous compositions, “In a Spiral” becoming even more dizzying in its resonating blend of guitar, piano, and vibraphone even as Alexander and Anderson keep the music grounded.

The quintet finally returns to more of a hard bop approach on “Happy Bird,” an uptempo piece with a John Coltrane whole-tone harmonic pattern. Gripping interplay forms between Abbasi, King, and Ware as all go full throttle. A piece Ware identified as his purest composition, the elastic groove of “Don’t Get Me Wrong” builds its melody from the composer’s own vocalizations. The piece sits right comfortably between the density he is known for and the openness he yearns for in his new work. It proves to be an especially dynamic feature for the ever exploratory Abbasi, who also thrives again on “Hangin’ at The Rez,” named for the hippie hangout in Maplewood, New Jersey, where Ware grew up.

“Dog Furr” is an anomaly with uncredited vocals. Moving forward, Alexander pushes the momentum in “All the Way Down,” another piece that retains bluesy overtones. Closer “Blue Alteration” is an older piece that fits the mood of the record and provides an underpinned groove ideal for the soloists to improvise over. Like so many of these pieces, prepare yourself for unexpected changes.

At first listen, Martian Sunset may seem eclectic and a little disorganized. But further listening reveals its cohesiveness in spirit and groove. It’s not easy for an artist to so wildly change course on a project only a few days before entering the recording studio but Ware pulls it off.

‘Martian Sunset’ is out now ln Sunnyside Records. It can be purchased on Bandcamp.