Amongst the many challenges facing any young artist at the beginning of their journey, perhaps the greatest is learning to be comfortable weaving themselves into the music they create. There are many, many, many brilliant young jazz musicians working today, But few that are able to introduce themselves through their music alone.
Enter Domi Edson.
With this, her debut effort, Domi places herself - and her bass - front and center. Through eight carefully curated tracks, including several of her original compositions, Edson extends a firm handshake - and by the time you’ve gotten through the record, you might just feel that you know her yourself.
Edson is joined on this date by two other young musicians, Amaya Arevalo on piano and Bobby Wiens on drums, who are emerging talents in their own right. The trio opens with Edson’s composition “Book Club Blues,” a nod to her penchant for the written word. Arevalo’s solo tells a weaving story of its own here, with twist and turns followed eagerly by her triomates. The set continues with the classic tune “My Ideal.” Edson’s arrangement is a nod to that of her mentor and role model Dawn Clement, who has long inspired Edson both as a musician and as a fellow woman in jazz. Edson’s bowed solo is lyrical and vocal-like, with memorable phrases drawing from Clement’s vocal solo on her own recording. “Three and One” is the most overt homage to Edson’s primary influence, the Jeff Hamilton trio, on the record. In particular, the brushwork of Wiens echoes Hamilton’s famous touch with the brushes, and Edson’s arrangement brings a fresh and modern perspective to this well-worn warhorse. Edson offers tribute to John Clayton with her bowed, chant-like solo introduction to Nature Boy, and her solo on this track is one of the highlights of the record.
“Lie-lah,” the second of Edson’s compositions to appear here, is a lonely, haunting tune that reflects Edson’s relationship with the Christian (and heavily commercialized) Christmas holiday. Edson’s Jewish faith is too often misunderstood by those around her, and, as she writes, “few understand that Hanukkah and Christmas are not equivalent holidays, but too many people think they are because they occur around the same time.” “Lie-lah” steals its first seven chords from a reharmonization of “Silent Night” and is Edson’s recounting of the isolation and emptiness she feels as her loved ones observe a holiday she can’t relate to while still feeling joy for their happiness. Arevalo’s contemplative, open solo on this track captures Edson’s goals precisely.
“Fresh Corduroy” is Edson’s ode to her second, not-so-secret life as a skier. (For those not in the know, “corduroy” is skiing slang for the pattern made by grooming machines on a ski run - a welcome sight for any skiing aficionado.) Edson welcomes guitarist Hunter Bergman to the band for this selection, and Bergman serves up a tasty solo reminiscent of - you guessed it - Clayton-Hamilton collaborator Graham Dechter.
The slow, solemn reading that the trio gives the standard “Smile” reflects Edson’s unique relationship to the tune. On the morning of November 9th, 2016, she, like so many Americans, woke up in a nation she no longer recognized. That morning, in a 7 AM rehearsal at Central Washington University, “Smile” became a sanctuary for her and her bandmates as they processed their emotions and came to grips with their new reality. The performance of the tune on this album may just be the most compelling track here - Wiens’ thundering drums during the final statement of the theme give the tune an emotional rawness that reveals the turbulent emotions masked by the chipper nature of the tune.
Edson’s final offering here, her composition “Zoomies,” introduces listeners to Edson’s best friend and most trusted companion - her cat, Kingsley. The track’s title references the well-known tendency of cats to randomly, for lack of a better term, “go crazy,” sprinting and meowing frantically for no apparent reason (usually at inopportune times, like 3 AM). This tune is just good, unadulterated fun - from the first moment, listeners feel like they’ve been dropped onto a surfboard already cresting a wave.
Through this, her successful debut, Edson makes three things clear: 1. she knows who she is, 2. she won’t be apologizing for it, and 3. she’s here to swing. She and her bandmates have here created a collection of songs that merit repeated listening and that capture an emotion, a time, a space, a piece of Edson’s life. Welcome, Domi - it’s great to meet you.
-Denin Slage-Koch