Chris Aschman – Triangles

Chris Aschman, a Californian jazz musician based in Oakland, has recently released “Triangles,” a fine piece of sonic artistry that will unquestionably appeal to anyone who appreciates expertly assembled and flawlessly performed jazz music.

This composition represents the third single from “Volcanic,” his highly anticipated debut full-length album. Now, if you paid attention to what’s happening on the contemporary music scene, you probably have noticed that many jazz artists deliver excellent works, but sometimes, they lack a particular emotion that’s undoubtedly vital for this genre. By excluding vocals from the sonic equation, the works of modern jazz somehow lack the soul, heart, and passion that jazz once had many decades ago. With “Triangles,” Chris Aschman brings that particular emotion back into jazz music by crafting a sonic structure that keeps the listener focused and tied to the seat from start to finish. By replacing lyrical storytelling with a more orchestral one, he guides listeners on an epic journey through the expansive sonic universe, built upon lush themes, melodies, harmonies, and beats. Perhaps “Triangles” shines with all the fundamental elements of traditional jazz, with a structure that indicates his profound love for the genre, but you’ll also notice how he incorporated some of the finest sonic ingredients of contemporary jazz, fusion jazz, smooth jazz, and lounge, making this composition lean towards a more contemporary sound. It’s a clever blend where all those elements, techniques, approaches, and directions affect the final outcome, which, in this case, sounds fascinating, hypnotic, addictive, and worth repeating over and over again.

From the initial notes and beats, you’ll definitely notice how much time, effort, heart, and soul Chris Aschman invested into this fine piece of sonic artistry. Every rhythmic pattern, bassline, chord progression, harmony, melody, theme, and improvisation has its place and purpose, making “Triangles” an outstanding work that vividly showcases what contemporary jazz music has to offer. This composition relies upon Chris Aschman’s impressive trumpet performance. With the catchy and memorable main theme, he builds the entire sonic ecosystem that keeps you engaged, forcing your listening apparatus to take a deep dive, relax, and enjoy the ride. This theme further transforms into mindblowing solos and improvisations, proving that not only does Chris Aschman have all the tools of the trade and cards up the sleeves to successfully construct captivating pieces like these, but also has the ability to present a new, fresh, unique, innovative, exciting face of contemporary jazz music. With his performance, it feels like you’ve been listening to jazz music for the first time. His unpredictability meets the logic in so many beautiful yet misterious way, like painting a sonic imagery right in front of your eyes. Warren Wolf’s vibraphone performance gives this composition more warmth, depth, clarity, and tremendous support to Aschman’s performance. Each note arrives as more than a necessary maneuver that lurks somewhere in the background, making this composition so lush, deep, and complex. Wolf’s vibrafone solo is another detail worth praise, as his abilities definitely elevate “Triangles” to new heights.

Kai Lyons’ guitar performance also immensely contributes to this masterpiece. With all the licks, themes, melodies, harmonies, and chord progressions, the guitar leans more into soul, funk, lounge, and rhythm and blues territory, yet somehow fits perfectly into the modern fusion jazz thematics. Sometimes vividly present and sometimes hearable, yet enough to accentuate particular segments, the guitar performance is such a nice addition to this sonic equation that definitely helps “Triangles” shine even more during particular moments. Of course, this epic sonic journey wouldn’t be complete without the equally impressive rhythm section. You’ll notice how vividly hearable, equally intricate, warm-sounding basslines lurk beneath trumpets, vibraphone, and guitars, offering more than necessary heaviness, clarity, and depth while simultaneously acting as a binding element that glues the mentioned instruments together with rhyhtmic patterns. Those rich, deep, dense, heavy low-ends contribute groove and detail without ever overwhelming the remainder of the orchestrations. Based around a 3/4 funky calypso-inspired groove, “Triangles” owes so much of its complexity and danceable nature to the exceptional drumming performance. You’ll notice how the odd-time signature applied over all the beats, breaks, fills, accentuations, and other percussive acrobatics enhance everything the remainder of the band performed on this composition. Each hit of the snare, kick of the bass drum, accentuation on the hi-hat, and splash over the cymbals has its place and purpose, making this track rhythmically rich, groovy, and complex.

With “Triangles,” Chris Aschman breaks all the rules and shapeshifts the boundaries of what contemporary jazz music could and should be. It’s a masterpiece that vividly showcases a creative genius, talent, skills, knowledge, and experience of an artist and musician, who’s willing to take a step further in order to create a fascinating piece. If you love your jazz music packed with beautiful themes, thrilling sonic and rhythmic maneuvers  that will keep you occupied from start to finish, then you should immediately place “Triangles” on your music radar.