Album review: Artemis.

Renee Rosnes (piano); Ingrid Jensen (trumpet); Melissa Aldana (tenor sax); Anat Cohen (clarinet); Norika Ueda (bass); Allison Miller (drums); Cecilé McLorin Salvant (voice).

Artemis graced the cover of this month's DownBeat and only the very best achieve that accolade. The article/interview whetted my appetite. I had to hear this band and, not long after, a CD dropped through the letterbox. I forgot about the microwave and my Chicken à la King, Le Tour on the telly - I even, almost, forgot to feed the cat! Almost - cats don't allow such distractions! However, once the Sheba Perfect Portions had been dished out, the player was cranked up and the music flowed.

To describe it as sublime is merely the starting point. The solos, the arrangements are evenly distributed. There's no individual stands out - they all do, each one bringing their own flavours to the dish and for dessert there is Cecilé McLorin Salvant for a couple of numbers. Stevie Wonder's  If It's Magic contrasts with an old Maxine Sullivan  number, Cry, Buttercup, Cry, dating back to Maxine's days with the John Kirby Sextet, once described as The Biggest Little Band in the Land. Substitute Artemis for the John Kirby Sextet and the title stands.

To put it another way, this is the best band I've heard this year and, come to think of it, just about any other year. 

They take on Lee Morgan's The Sidewinder and don't lose, annihilate The Beatles with The Fool on the Hill and have score draws with each other on the originals. 

It's available from Blue Note, a label that has been home to some of the greatest bands in the history of modern jazz. Artemis can stand proudly alongside any of them - Wow! This is an album!

Lance

Goddess of the Hunt (Miller); Frida (Aldana); The Fool on the Hill (arr. Jensen); Big Top (Rosnes); If It's Magic (vocal Salvant); Nocturne (Cohen); Step Forward (Ueda); Cry, Buttercup, Cry (vocal Salvant); The Sidewinder.