Devin Brahja Waldman lives in New York and does what one does in New York: he is a saxophonist, producer and multi-instrumentalist who has established himself as one of the more inventive voices in contemporary alternative jazz. Alternative here meaning that he folds soul, funk, krautrock and hip-hop into the fabric of the music. That approach shapes the four tracks on Infinity Zero, recorded under the moniker Brahja with a rotating cast of musicians.
»Do You Want Your Soul« works with dissonant tones, Janice Lowe’s vocal searching almost desperately for a point of contact, while saxophone and clarinet circle restlessly around the sound. It forms an antithesis to the opener and title track, which draws on similar means yet settles into a groove. Infinity Zero is not concerned with equilibrium or neat resolutions. Instead, it opens up new spaces and ideas, allowing itself to be carried by its own current.
This is urban jazz in the fullest sense – outward-looking, porous, alert. Waldman demonstrates how much autonomy and imaginative scope the form still holds, how readily its boundaries can be stretched. It may sound like jazz from New York – but Infinity Zero reaches well beyond the city. Intellectually, the album is grounded in its genres; emotionally, it refuses to stay put. Jazz is different, they say. This strain of it even more so.
Infinity Zero
