'Epistle' by Jacob Chung
Remember the swing revival of the mid to late 1990s? Canadian saxophonist Jacob Chung wasn't even born when that anomalous episode of alt rock-adjacent music history transpired, and he and his ensemble swing with more verve and excitement than a barrel of Squirrel Nut Voodoo Daddy Cherry Poppers on the set of a Gap ad.
And though Chung cuts a smart profile in a well-tailored suit and vivid tie, he and his band of players born in or around the turn of the current century aren’t about making a sartorial statement on his debut album, Epistle. What they are about is connecting the dots between the sophisticated heat of jazz royalty such as Duke Ellington and Count Basie with a post-bop drive. It’s the kind of combination that allows Chung and his cohort to record nothing under six minutes length with all six Epistle selections practically breezing by. Even the album’s sole downtempo reverie showcasing his pianist Felix Fox-Pappas’ florid stateliness doesn't overstay its welcome.
The set’s title and central tri-part suite originate from Chung's embrace of Christianity in the Reformed theological tradition and fitting some of its doctrinal concepts to a kind of lyric-free liturgy. But Chung's musical demonstration of his faith in no way should alienate non-believing jazzbos who can take to his quartet's sound without getting on board with his spiritual motivation. Epistle is the kind of swinging jazz revival that can brighten a post-pandemic world.
