CD Review - Jeff Lederer - Guilty!!!

Jeff Lederer

Guilty!!!

(Little [i] Music) www.littleimusic.com

I hope Jeff Lederer is okay. He released this politically-charged, this-might-cost-me-some-fans-but-if-they-can-t-handle-it-screw-them album on October 7 (my birthday), commenting on the absurdity of the political climate, not limited the presidential race that was running whole hog at the time. Then a month later, the stupidity of the country reared its ugly head, assuring us the village might be burned in order to save it. What did Lederer think? And now, is he worried that The Man might come after him and this album?

The saxophonist is no stranger to wild concepts. In the past, Lederer has combined Albert Ayler compositions with sea shanties, to a rollicking effect. He also paired up songs from Ayler's infamous New Grass album with Shaker hymns on Heart Love (2018). Last year's Schoenberg On the Beach dug into the music of Arnold Schoenberg. Considering the year that 2024 was turning into, a set of politically-charged jazz tunes isn't out of the question.

Guilty!!! overflows with bold moves. They begin with the cover, an homage to Jackie McLean's 1965 Blue Note album It's Time! which had ten rows of exclamation points following the title. This one has the titular word written 34 times, one for each felony conviction that the current President-elect was handed earlier this year. That number continues in the title track, a composition co-written with trombonist Curtis Hasselbring, who transformed a recording of Adam Schiff reading the word 34 times, turning it into a melody. Unsettling and unnerving at first blush, once the ear knows what to expect, the focus shifts to the melodic introduction of the song and the groovy brass and sax horn tune that follows. The group can't resist repeating the 34 words again at the end, but they deliver it more like a Minor Threat lyric.

Samples of different members of Congress appear throughout the album, creating scenes that might be closer to Kramer's samples on early Bongwater albums than any jazz album. "Buttigieg vs. Sanders" includes both of those men, the tune reflecting on a time when both came close to getting a nomination a few elections ago. "Cheapening the Process" spears George Santos, "Deportation Operation" was inspired by a speech from our new leader and "We The People" draws from Senator Katie Britt's whispery, misleading rebuttal to President Biden's State of the Union. Though the voices play a big part of each track, they don't overshadow the music, which takes the idea of an acoustic brass (and reed) band to places where it rarely ventures. Stewart and Wilson create some steady foundations that give the horns a chance to go wild.

Along with the original musical commentary, Lederer also brings in a few non-originals with related issues. John Carter's "And She Speaks" touches on violence against Black woman, with some free vocals from Mary LaRose which feel a bit unsettling. Charles Mingus's "Fables of Faubus" updates the names of those who were speared in the lyrics, though LaRose, drummer Matt Wilson and the band come off a tad closer to a Wait Wait Don't Tell Me panel than a group of pissed off jazz musicians. (In other words, it's a little too lighthearted.) But the blowing can't be beat. 

The general tone of Guilty!!! places in league with other albums born during times of civil unrest. If it might not be quite as heavy as Max Roach's We Insist! Freedom Now Suite, the closing interpretation of Ayler's "Truth is Marching In," evokes another bold statement - Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra. That album closed with a one-chorus version of "We Shall Overcome," following a musical recreation of the chaotic Democratic Convention of 1968. The message was clear - at least to these ears: We're beaten down but we're not giving up. We shall overcome in the end. 

With "Truth Is Marching in" Lederer is delivering a similar message. Despite the bullshit out there, the truth will get us through, as long as we're willing to let it march in. Lederer and Knuffke intone the opening melody with Stewart and Hasselbring poking at it, and then Wilson leads the procession. 

Maybe this overstates the idea, but maybe the times call for it. 

Who knows, maybe Lederer could be our next president. I mean, if we learned anything this past November, it's that anyone can be president.