CD Review: SLUGish Ensemble - In Solitude

SLUGish Ensemble

In Solitude

(Slow & Steady) www.slowandsteadyrecords.com/albums/insolitude

The term "sluggish" should not be confused with "plodding." The latter term can refer to music that moves at a slow pace with no sense of direction or deliberation along the way. The former term, which in this case drops a letter from the spelling as it defines this group, indicates an approach that slows things down to a point where minor details suddenly become major. 

Steven Lugerner (bass clarinet, baritone saxophone, alto flute) leads the SLUGish Ensemble, who have released two other albums prior to In Solitude. The six piece band includes two keyboardists (Javier Santiago on piano and Steve Blum on synthesizer), guitar (Justin Rock), bass (Giulio Xavier Cetto) and drums (Michael Mitchell). Lugerner, 35, serves as Faculty Director of the Stanford Jazz Workshop and has performed with a long list of jazz heavyweights, from Albert "Tootie" Heath to Myra Melford. His other ensemble, Jacknife, plays the music of Jackie McLean.

With a list of jazz bonafides like that, Lugerner heads down a completely different avenue with SLUGish Ensemble, creating music built on a sparse sound more closer to indie rock than jazz. The approach recalls some work by Jeremy Udden's Plainville group, who also got a lot out of simple settings. But while Udden's work often felt like a soundtrack to scenes of Middle American landscapes, Lugerner's approach is more urban. The seven tracks, in fact, were inspired by walks through his San Francisco neighborhood during the pandemic. 

Cetto and Mitchell set up a groove in "Del Sur" and they barely deviate from it. In fact, five minutes go by before the bass lines gets some variation. Everyone gets some solo space, always returning to the bass clarinet melody. "Portola" is also built on riffs, with everyone layering on top of it for variety. Lugerner swtiches to baritone here, sounding more like a tenor initially because of the range and economical batch of notes he chooses. 

By "Moraga" the repetitive quality seems like it might be wearing thin, until guitarist Rock steps in. His clean sound is the foundation for some sharp rhythmic lines and movement across the range of the fretboard. It keeps things lively while also making the band sound like a strange collision of the CTI and Matador labels - creating ambience and basic grooves. 

"No Justice No Peace," which is dedicated to George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbury, creates tension first with Lugerner's aggressive bass clarinet and then Santiago's feverish piano. What's interesting is the way both soloists pull this off without disrupting the flow of the rhythm section. Similarly, towards the end of "La Bica" the baritone sax and some background noise seem to conjure a busy street scene. When the music ends and the sound of sirens are all that remains, it's clear that sound collage wasn't imagined.

In Solitude is yet another album brought to us by the lockdown of the pandemic. But the loneliness many felt during that time is something Lugerner reshapes into a feeling of solitude, "the acceptance of being on your own and being at peace with it." In that peace he has found a way to appreciate his surroundings and use them as inspiration.