Jon Irabagon's "Server Farm"

Photo by Chris Benham.

Chicago-based Filipino-American saxophonist Jon Irabagon played on two of my favorite albums from last year: Patricia Brennan's Breaking Stretch and Miles Okazaki's Miniature America. I first became aware of him via his boppish 2009 album The Observer and his work with the tradition-saturated experimental quartet Mostly Other People Do the Killing. He's also been a mainstay in Mary Halvorson's groups, and recorded extensively as leader and co-leader, notably on his I Don't Hear Nothin' But the Blues series with drummer Mike Pride.

For his latest release, the album Server Farm -- due out February 21 on his own Irabbagast Records label -- the composer addresses the encroachment of Artificial Intelligence into every aspect of human endeavor with a suite of five new compositions, adding vibraphone and voice to his sonic palette, altering his horn's sound with pedals and post-production, and employing AI-like analysis to incorporate phrases and motifs from his collaborators' own work into his compositions. No surprise that the album is co-produced David Breskin, who also did the honors on last year's Brennan and Okazaki sets.

And what collaborators! The ten-piece band of New York's finest augments Irabagon's regular quartet (pianist Matt Mitchell, bassist Chris Lightcap, and drummer Dan Weiss) with violinist Mazz Smith (who sings Irabagon's lyrics to the closing "Spy"), the leader's MOPDTK bandmate Peter Evans on trumpet, guitarists Miles Okazaki and Wendy Eisenberg, percussionist/electronic musician Levy Lorenzo, and (on the Ellingtonian "Graceful Exit") standup bassist Michael Formanek. A formidable lineup for a challenging set of compositions that also allows the players much expressive freedom.

Opener "Colocation" is based on the pitches of Lorenzo's kulintang, a set of gongs used in traditional Filipino music. The piece has a forward motion reminiscent of early '70s fusion, with Evans' trumpet, Lightcap's electric bass, and Mitchell's Fender Rhodes leading the charge. A second, contrasting section is a moody tone poem, overlaid with electronic effects, before horn fanfares herald the return to forward motion. "Routers" is a study in contrasting rhythms; Irabagon's solo here is particularly piquant. "Singularities" opens with an Ornette-ish theme, then takes off into a section of dense collective improvisation. 

On the aforementioned "Graceful Exit," violin, arco bass, and trumpet sing a song of lyrical beauty. The edgy closer "Spy," with lyrics that imagine a bumblebee as spy drone, mirrors the unease of our dystopian time with rustling polyphony as Okazaki and Eisenberg (the latter my fave among the current crop of NYC axe-slingers) make like Larry Coryell and Sonny Sharrock on Herbie Mann's Memphis Underground. 

Now that the gloves are off, it's time for the artists to stand against the tech bros. Perhaps inadvertently, Jon Irabagon has sounded the clarion call.