ALCHEMY SOUND PROJECT performs the music of SUMI TONOOKA

UNDER THE SURFACE

ARC Records

Sumi Tonooka, piano; Gregg August, bass; Johnathan Blake, drums; Erica Lindsay, tenor saxophone; Salim Washington, tenor saxophone/bass clarinet/flute; Samantha Boshnack, trumpet; Michael Ventoso, trombone.

The drums of Johnathan Blake roar onto the scene. They introduce this listener to “Points of Departure,” an original song by pianist, Sumi Tonooka (pronounced To-NO-O-ka).  When Tonooka enters on piano, she gives us a melody that puts me in a Thelonious Monk kind-of-mood.  Tonooka and Blake seem to be having a brisk, assertive conversation between drums and piano.  Strong in the background is Gregg August, holding the rhythm section down with his acoustic bass.  I fell in love with this tune.

Sumi Tonooka has been creating beautiful and innovative music for several years. The veteran improviser is a native of Philadelphia, PA and is heralded as an exceptional composer and profoundly talented pianist. In the past, She and her trio have formerly recorded together for the ARC Label, with an album called “Long Ago Today.”

On this recent release, scheduled to go public June 27^th, she is using bassist Gregg August and drummer Johnathan Blake.

“For 30-plus years I played with his father, John Blake, the great jazz violinist. I knew Johnathan as a boy. Now, he’s one of the premier drummers of his generation,” Sumi praised her percussionist.

This time, instead of her normal trio project, Tonooka has written music for the Alchemy Sound Project.  They are a diverse multi-generational collective. Adding them to her project expands her normal trio to a septet.  The group of seven musicians, interpret seven compositions she has written for this album titled, “Under the Surface.”  The 7-piece suite is inspired by the roots of trees and how they work together as underground systems to support the survival of all trees, even those outside their own species.

“Human’s need each other and must work together to survive and thrive, just like trees,” Sumi philosophized.

The ”Savour” tune uses a synthesized voice to introduce the melody.  The horns march into view with their dissonance and tenacious presence grabbing our attention ruthlessly.  Tonooka’s piano interjects her own strength and melodic sensibility, with August walking his bass briskly beneath the groove. First the arrangement spotlights the trio. Then, there is an interplay between the piano and Erica Lindsay’s tenor saxophone. This adds a lovely bebop feel to the suite and highlights Lindsay’s beautiful tone on the saxophone.  Blake growls beneath her solo on his trap drums, like a panther in the grass, watching and accenting Lindsay’s every melodic move.  This is followed by “Interval Haiku” that is the longest presentation within this creative suite of music, running nearly eleven minutes. This time, Samantha Boshnack’s trumpet sparkles in the spotlight, after the horns sing both harmonic and dissonant blasts of creativity.  Beautifully, Sumi Tonooka takes a piano solo, playing tag with the drums and chased relentlessly by the bass.

Sumi Tonooka is a brilliant musician, composer and orchestrator. This is an artistic album I will enjoy listening to time and time again.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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