With their latest album, “InAround,” the Mitch Marcus Quintet returns to a musical territory it has spent more than two decades making its own: a volatile meeting point between progressive jazz, post-bop, free improvisation and the harder textures of jazz-rock. Scheduled for release on September 18, the nine-track album reunites Marcus on tenor saxophone with Evan Francis on alto saxophone and flute, Jeff Miles on guitar, Peter Brendler on bass and Jerad Lippi on drums.
The most intriguing aspect of the InAround configuration is the conversation between Marcus’s tenor and Francis’s alto/flute. The two-saxophone design allows melodies to be stated in unison before fragmenting into separate voices, while Miles’s guitar then sits in an unusually flexible role: it can become another melodic voice, provide harmonic material underneath the horns or supply the rock-derived bite that takes the quintet’s work beyond orthodox acoustic post-bop.
The title piece opens the album, and “InAround” wastes no time setting the tone. With a runtime of nearly 11 minutes, every performer gets their shot at sharing the spotlight. True to its name, the piece moves inside, outside and around conventional jazz structures rather than simply abandoning them.
“4-7-11” is another standout track that adopts a more melodic approach than its predecessors. It moves through shifting rhythmic structures and abrupt changes of direction as Marcus treats instruments almost as characters. The tenor and alto can argue, agree, collide or finish each other’s sentences while bass and drums completely change the rhythmic landscape underneath it.
“Hope” emerges towards the album’s closing moments, providing a much-needed reprieve from the intensity, aggression and complexity of the earlier numbers. With its muted performance built around flute and percussion, this single acts as one of the album’s more reflective counterweights.
What makes InAround promising is the fact that very few groups occupy quite the same territory Mitch Marcus does. His melodies speak, the rhythmic changes create drama, and improvisation advances ideas rather than just decorating the composition. For those who like jazz restless, rhythmically adventurous, and willing to get messy, InAround looks like a substantial continuation of the jazz language Marcus has been refining since 1999.