The Late Trumpeter Jaimie Branch's Third And Final Recorded Flight Will Elevate Your Life
she passed away unexpectedly at age 39
On my previous endeavor, June of 2020 writer Jeff Flaim covered, and we discovered avant-garde trumpeter Jaimie Branch and her supercharged, trumpet, drum, bass, cello quartet: Lester St. Louis, cello, voice, flute, marimba, keyboard, Jason Ajemian, double bass, electric bass, voice, marimba, and Chad Taylor, drums, mbira, timpani , bells, marimba. What do you call this? Punk Rock improvisatory jazz?
The off the charts energy level of beating drums, bass, churning cello and Branch's joyous trumpet, plus she's here on vocals, keyboards, percussion and happy apple (whatever that may be) augmented with special guests on trombone, flute, bass clarinet, conga, percussion and vocals. It's a raucous, joyous party throughout—until the final song. Until then it could be a marching band.
Side one ends with "The Mountain", a cover of The Meat Puppet's "Comin' Down" that turns into something Welch-Rawlings could have conjured (but more satirical and less earnest), though the album was born in her DUMBO (for those unfamiliar, "Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), Brooklyn studio and hatched in of all places, Omaha, Nebraska where Branch was an artist-in-residence at the Bernis Center for Contemporary Arts—that happened following an American tour and ten days in Europe where the group honed the new material into what's on this record.
Side two opens with a "Baba Louie" a celebratory calypso that will have you jumping out of your seat and dancing around until it takes a thick, viscous reggae turn and stops. There's an incantatory, insistent, drum pounding "Take Over The World" and then after all of the elevation, the closer is a deep, dreamy "World War ((Reprise))" on which Branch sings an ominous warning backed by what sounds like a heavily tremoloed toy organ.
She was on her way to that takeover, within a small, but growing worldwide circle. She was a fighter, savaging oppressors and celebrating life's good and grand moments with fire and energy but was cut short way too young.
The recording took place at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in an empty space Branch converted into a performance hall. The sound is absolutely spectacular, three-dimensional, well-focuses and suffused with the room's natural ambience. Branch's trumpet shines brightly, well focused and bathed in the room's reverb. It's a sonic and musical party you do not want to miss. You'll return to it often, I promise.
The packaging includes a color foil jacket and a large folded insert with photos, credits and the full story. After a spin in the KLAUDiO cavitation cleaner the sides were silent (some pops and clicks before that) but the sound of this record is as alive and spacious as the music.
