{"id":11110,"date":"2025-08-11T21:53:55","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T02:53:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=11110"},"modified":"2025-08-11T21:53:55","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T02:53:55","slug":"review-irabagon-someone-to-someone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/review-irabagon-someone-to-someone\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Jon Irabagon PlainsPeek\u2019s \u2018Someone to Someone\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Fresh off his complex project <a href=\"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/server-farm-irabagon\/\"><em>Server Farm <\/em>(Irrabagast, 2025)<\/a>, 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 <em>Someone to Someon<\/em>e (Irrabagast, 2025). That statement is not to imply that Iragabon\u2019s music has suddenly turned conventional. For his new quartet, dubbed PlainsPeak, he taps old friends equally adept at playing both \u201cin\u201d and \u201cout.\u201d The group\u2019s title ties directly into Iragabon\u2019s long running penchance for wordplay; his liner notes essay about Chicago shows it too. The band\u2019s name reflects his hometown\u2019s role as the \u201cpeak\u201d of the Great Plains. But read quickly, it becomes \u201cplain speak,\u201d another word to describe the group of musicians Iragabon has assembled. In fact, if you\u2019re familiar with recent jazz records from the Second City, you\u2019ve 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\u2019s debut as a leader, <em>Outright! <\/em>(Innova, 2008).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the saxophonist-leader having spent considerable time in New York, <em>Someone to Someone<\/em> is somewhat of a homecoming; it is the first Chicago band under Iragabon\u2019s name. The music is intended to reflect everything he likes about the Windy City\u2019s 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 \u201cchorale\u201d sections, mostly straight-forward. But the one immediately preceding the last is out on the edges. There\u2019s usually a rascal in the family.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hall\u2019s beats and Sommers&#8217; walking bass line set the pace for \u201cBuggin\u2019 the Bug.\u201d 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\u2019s whirlwind turn on the traps. The latter perhaps represents the title\u2019s reference to last summer\u2019s cicada invasion in the Midwest.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The two horns grow montrously fierce on \u201cMalort is My Shepherd,\u201d a title clearly deserving of explanation. Of course, it\u2019s a bit weird. Jeppsen Malort is a locally produced wormwood-flavored liqueur once described as tasting \u2018like a baby aspirin wrapped in a grapefruit peel, bound with rubber bands and then soaked in well gin.\u201d It\u2019s the unofficial shot of choice or rite of passage for newbies at Chicago\u2019s 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..&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAt What Price Garlic\u201d is a lengthy piece made of layers that morph through various time signatures of 11\/4, \u00be, 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, \u201cTiny Miracles (at a Funeral for a Friend)\u201d is a lament for a lost friend coupled with the heartbreak of so many years for suffering Chicago Cubs fans. Fret not though, \u201cPulseman\u201d has the quartet returning to their frenetic best, in a tune dedicated to not only Hall but also drummers \u201ceverywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The CD version of <em>Someone to Someone<\/em> 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&#8217;s classic <em>Out to Lunch<\/em> (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.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>\u2018Someone to Someone\u2019 will be released on August 15, 2025. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Photo credit: Chad McCullough<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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\u2019s music has suddenly turned conventional. For [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":11109,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"iawp_total_views":81,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/img_0843.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peRkRR-2Tc","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11202,"url":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/review-miguel-zenon-vanguardia-subterranea\/","url_meta":{"origin":11110,"position":0},"title":"Review: Miguel Zenon Quartet\u2019s \u2018Vanguardia Subterr\u00e1nea: Live at the Village Vanguard\u2019","author":"Jim Hynes","date":"August 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Vanguardia Subterr\u00e1nea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music, 2025) is alto saxophonist-composer Miguel Zen\u00f3n\u2019s first live album with his quartet and eighteenth overall. Its eight tracks were recorded over two nights in September 2024 at the hallowed jazz shrine in Greenwich Village. Zenon employs his longstanding quartet of pianist\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Album Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Album Reviews","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/img_1191.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/img_1191.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/img_1191.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/img_1191.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10441,"url":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/review-quantum-blues\/","url_meta":{"origin":11110,"position":1},"title":"Review: \u2018Quantum Blues\u2019","author":"Jim Hynes","date":"May 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"There are widely publicized and wildly anticipated supergroups, and then there are those - at least a few - that sprout suddenly without heralding fanfare.\u00a0 The Quantum Blues Quartet is the epitome of the latter, joining four iconic players who came together in New York in 2024 for a day-long\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Album Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Album Reviews","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/img_1978-1.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/img_1978-1.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/img_1978-1.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/img_1978-1.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10397,"url":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/review-consentrik-quartet\/","url_meta":{"origin":11110,"position":2},"title":"Review: Nels Cline&#8217;s &#8216;Consentrik Quartet&#8217;","author":"Brian Kiwanuka","date":"April 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Considering guitarist Nels Cline's history, it's no surprise that the music of the Consentrik Quartet occasionally has shades of rock. \u201cSlipping Into Something\u201d starts subtly before bursting into a drum-driven groove fit for a rock song. Tom Rainey (drums) and Chris Lightcap (bass) keep heads nodding as Ingrid Laubrock (tenor\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Album Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Album Reviews","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/NelsCline_ConsentrikQuartet_byNathanWest-1.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/NelsCline_ConsentrikQuartet_byNathanWest-1.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/NelsCline_ConsentrikQuartet_byNathanWest-1.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/NelsCline_ConsentrikQuartet_byNathanWest-1.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4562,"url":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/oliver-lake-justice\/","url_meta":{"origin":11110,"position":3},"title":"Oliver Lake: Making Justice And Love A Reality","author":"Rob Shepherd","date":"June 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Oliver Lake has been at the forefront of creative saxophone music for nearly a half-century. It is partly because of this history that on June 26, 2022, Arts for Art\u2019s always compelling Vision Festival will celebrate Lake\u2019s career with an evening dedicated to his work. While Lake will participate in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Articles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1-Oliver-Session-Poetry.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1-Oliver-Session-Poetry.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1-Oliver-Session-Poetry.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1-Oliver-Session-Poetry.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11566,"url":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/review-billy-hart-multidirectional\/","url_meta":{"origin":11110,"position":4},"title":"Review: Billy Hart\u2019s \u2018Multidirectional\u2019","author":"Jim Hynes","date":"November 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the past six months, several NEA Jazz Masters - all of them octogenarian, or close to - have released records that defy convention and obliterate preconceptions many may have about their work. The combination of age and the prestige of the prestigious NEA title is an enabler. Kenny Barron\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Album Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Album Reviews","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/img_2579.jpg?fit=1008%2C672&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/img_2579.jpg?fit=1008%2C672&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/img_2579.jpg?fit=1008%2C672&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/img_2579.jpg?fit=1008%2C672&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8484,"url":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/david-murray-francesca\/","url_meta":{"origin":11110,"position":5},"title":"Pass Everything in My Soul: A Conversation with David Murray on &#8216;Francesca&#8217;","author":"Rob Shepherd","date":"May 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The love song is one of the oldest and most primal forms of musical expression, dating back to ancient Greece, if not earlier. Charles Darwin even theorized that the love song was the first form of human musical expression. Of course, the emphasis on romance in songs has continued to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Interviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Interviews","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/category\/interviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/David-Murray-Band_FULL_LG1.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/David-Murray-Band_FULL_LG1.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/David-Murray-Band_FULL_LG1.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/David-Murray-Band_FULL_LG1.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11110"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11136,"href":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11110\/revisions\/11136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}