TRANSVERSE

Calligram Records

Chad McCullough, trumpet/flugelhorn; Gordan Spasovski, piano; Kiril Tufekcievski, acoustic bass; Viktor Filipovski, drums.

“Transverse” is the name adopted by this quartet. It’s a remarkable international collaboration between American trumpeter, Chad McCullough and three awesome Macedonian jazz musicians.

“While visiting family during the summer of 2019, I sat in with a band at a small café in Skopje, Macedonia.  The result of that chance encounter has been countless concerts, late nights, long meals, laughter, and sharing so much music together.  I’m so lucky to consider these wonderful musicians my friends, and I’m so fortunate to get to share in the creation of music with them.  This album is a result of the borderless expanse that music can traverse,” Chad McCullough expounded.

Pianist Gordan Spasovski reflected on their music in their press package. “It’s a subtle melding between the contemporary jazz sound and the Macedonian folklore rhythms.”

The group opens with a traditional Macedonian folk tune, arranged in a very jazzy way.  It’s called “Lake Ohrid Lament” but is based on a song called, “Oj Ti Momche, Ohrigjanche.”  The pianist has arranged this song.  Chad McCullough carves out the melody on his horn, slicing across space with his warm improvised melody, while Viktor Filipovski solidifies the tempo on trap drums. Towards the end of the arrangement, he is spotlighted on a spirited drum solo. Kiril Tufekcievski adds his bass notes, often being quite melodic on the double bass. Spasovski’s piano contribution is quite beautiful, boisterous and full of arpeggio energy.

McCullough has composed “Falling Tide” that was inspired by the tidal cycles.  Their sound together is rich and full of camaraderie.  It incorporates an unusual form on this composition, with shifting keys, including dramatic contrasts between dark and light moods.  McCullough is given time to explore these harmonics on his trumpet, searching through tones that reach whistle high notes in the extreme upper register. During the drum solo, Filipovski uses both his hands, his mallets, brushes and his sticks to explore the rhythms.

“Across the Deep” is written by the pianist.  The quartet explores Straight-ahead jazz during this arrangement.  Perhaps you will hear influences borrowed from jazz masters he says have inspired him like McCoy Tyner and Kenny Kirkland.

McCullough and Spasovski have composed most of the music, with Kiril Tufekcievski composing “For Leni” as a tribute to his young daughter. Another favorite song is “Real & Unreal” that pulled at my heartstrings with its quiet beauty.  I love the photography of Vase Amanito displayed on the album cover. The photos, like the music, draw me in and invite me to travel along and explore.

This is a cultural exchange that captures the essence of Macedonian music and American jazz in a package of wonderful creativity. Here is a testament to the power of musical friendship and how music can transcend borders, languages, cultures, and unify us in provocative and exploratory ways.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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