Ever a deeply felt composer,
Anthony Branker
brings an added layer of tender sophistication to his work with 2024's
Songs My Mom Liked
. The album is a tribute to his mother, Joan, a Trinidadian immigrant and New Jersey resident and Medical Supervisor who passed away just a few months after the album's release following a long battle with dementia. Here,
Branker
(a Princeton and Rutgers professor) highlights some of his compositions that his mother particularly loved and which connected them even in the wake of her cognitive decline. These are largely reworked versions of songs from his early recordings, including, among others, 2006's
Spirit Song
, 2009's
Blessings
, and 2011's
Dialogic
. As on those albums,
(a former trumpet player) does not play an instrument and instead supplies the songs and arrangements which have been his main focus since suffering two brain aneurysms in the late '90s. Helping to breathe new life into these songs is an all-star ensemble of progressive jazz improvisers, headed by tenor saxophonist
Donny McCaslin
, whose exploratory, motivic playing is a perfect fit for
's work. Also on board are several players who have worked with him in the past, including trumpeter
Philip Dizack
, pianist
Fabian Almazan
, bassist
Linda May Han Oh
, drummer
Rudy Royston
, and guitarist
Pete McCann
, as well as vocalist
Aubrey Johnson
.
's work often has a modal quality, bringing to mind the moody, dreamscape atmosphere of
Miles Davis
' group from the mid-'60s onward. This style is evident from the start, as on the opening "Praise" and the shimmering, desert caravan-sounding "Sketches of Selim" where both
McCaslin
and
Dizack
take turns painting blue-toned lines over the spiraling form. There's also an implied spirituality to
's music, especially in the song titles like "Imani (Faith)" and "Three Gifts (From a Nigerian Mother to God)." Yet, rather than invoking an introverted and reserved spirituality, these are some of the most exuberant, sonically adventurous performances on the album, as on "To Be Touched (By the Spirit)," a
John Coltrane
-esque song where
dives into the band's crashing, sonic fray, like a surfer challenging a big wave. There are also other, more existential themes at play, as on "The House of the Brotherhood of Blackheads," whose title is borrowed from an historic European merchant organization whose iconography features Saint Maurice, a Black Egyptian soldier who martyred himself rather than persecute Christians for Rome. The collision of race, identity, and sacrifice implied in the song (themes often explored in
's work), is underscored by the band's propulsive '80s burnout-style of post-bop interplay. Similarly, on "The Holy Innocent," a song from 2009's
that
dedicates to "KB and the Children of Gaza," his band infuses the yearning melody with a hint of woeful dissonance that feels infused with the tragedy of war. That
's mother liked these songs feels like both a celebration of their loving and supportive relationship, as well as an evocation of passionate, deeply thoughtful artistry she helped to instill in his music. ~ Matt Collar