Trumpeter, composer and educator Cyrus Nabipoor polished his jazz skills and musical creativity in New Orleans during and after his undergraduate years at Loyola University where he earned his Bachelor of Music degree. While he is now based in his native Portland Oregon, his debut recording as a leader was recorded in New Orleans. His band included close friends and musical mentors: tenor saxophonist Brad Walker, guitarist George Wilde, bassist James Singleton and drummer Brad Webb.
Nabipoor’s quintet recorded Live at the Marigny Opera House on May 23-24, 2019. Its seven originals and two beautiful covers of material rarely heard in a jazz context reveal much about a bandleader and composer/arranger for whom no style or emotion is off limits. At various times, the music is dark, edgy, frenetic, and even digs into some silliness as the talented young leader and his risk-taking sidemen turned his raw material into a swinging musical adventure.
The recording opens with the pensive rumble “What is This.” The three soloists—Walker on tenor, Nabipoor on trumpet and Wilde on guitar—explore its shades of darkness. The quintet’s take on The Smiths’ “There is a Light that Never Goes Out” is a gem that showcases the beauty of the leader’s trumpet mastery, underpinned by Wilde’s guitar. This melodic celebration contrasts with Morrissey’s bittersweet, coming-of-age lyrics on the English alt-rock band’s original. Nabipoor’s “Cellmates” features ensemble unison lines with a twist. Darting variations on the melody create an edgy, frenetic mood.
There’s a free-form feel to “Hipody.” A pulsing guitar segment sets the throbbing tone for an energetic call-and-response overlap of horns. “Specter” opens as a trumpet feature with a beautiful melody before shifting into intense solos by Nabipoor and Walker. “Huckleberry Madness” brightens things with a Petticoat Junction sort of silliness. Wilde’s dark and dissonant guitar solos provide contrasting interludes on this one, which sounds like a jazz version of the round song form.
“Lullaby Intro” is a teasing two-minute solo trumpet feature prequel to the session’s second cover. He contrasts different styles in each melodic line to set up the quintet’s mournful exploration of Javier Navarrete’s “Pan’s Labyrinth Lullaby” from the soundtrack to the 2006 Spanish-Mexican dark fantasy film Pan’s Labyrinth. Webb’s drumming and Singleton’s fine bass work provide an exotic underpinning that sets the mood. “NOK Blues” is an up-tempo blues—and then some. It builds in intensity as Nabipoor & Co. bring the evening to a rousing close in New Orleans shuffle-beat fashion.
