Before the coronavirus slammed the brakes on live music this spring, New York jazz fans had recently grown accustomed to a new thrill: If you went out enough, you would inevitably walk into a club and find the vibraphonist Joel Ross onstage, playing in yet another musician’s band. Studious and self-assured, with a casually debonair style and a warm but faraway air, the Chicago-born Mr. Ross, 25, became ubiquitous on the scene over the last few years without forcing himself in, by virtue of his rhythmic distinction and his adaptive spirit. But Mr. Ross and the band had recorded that music years before the label picked it up, and by the time it came out in spring 2019, it felt like a relic. Featuring originals by Mr. Ross and his bandmates, as well as a few pieces by musicians who have influenced him, it speaks to a new level of group cohesion. And for Mr. Ross, that’s everything: It means more tangle, more sharing, more possibility.

Source: New York Times October 21, 2020 16:41 UTC