Letting Go of a Dream by Jake Noble
Debuting album as a jazz artist with a concept pierce may seem like a risky move. The risk New Orleans double bassist/composer Jake Noble takes with Letting Go of a Dream pays off fairly handsomely. The unifying element tying together the set’s seven pieces is Noble's journey of self-discovery. The theme allows for Noble and his ensemble to waft, at times almost in a fashion mirroring new age/contemporary instrumental music, through diaphanous, misty melodies analogous to maturation, nostalgia and other feelings and processes.
One of Letting Go’s pivotal segments draws from a pianist Bill Evans composition, with fellow keyboardist Seth Collins recasting the chordal structure as alto saxophonist Autumn Dominiguez extends Evans’ original melody. Though Noble and his accompanists maintain a light atmosphere as the band leader lets go of his Dream, things occasionally headier. That doesn't always work to the tunes’ favor. To their credit, drummer Tyler Guss and guitarist Mike Clement may be most in sync with Noble’s understandable tendency to place the low end forward in his mix (he’s a bassist, after all), but all players acquit themselves as sympathetic to Noble’s designs. Noble’s reach and grasp match pretty well for his first time leading a group recording, and Dream bodes for even better realizations of his ambitions to come
