Soundtrack

Jeremy Pelt is not only one of the most fiery and lyrical trumpeters on the jazz scene but also one of its most engaging bandleaders. He has documented several strong units over the years, not least of all the one heard on Soundtrack, his third outing with vibraphonist Chien Chien Lu, pianist Victor Gould, bassist Vicente Archer, and drummer Allan Mednard. Flautist Anne Drummond adds sublime textural and improvisational layers to Pelt’s minisuite “The Lighter Side” and “The Darker Side,” and Brittany Anjou plays outside-the-box keyboards (Mellotron, Moog Sub 37) on “The Darker Side” and “I’m Still Standing” (not the Elton John hit). Pelt has a soaring harmonic imagination and moves seamlessly between acoustic and electric palettes, even fading them in and out within the same piece, as occurs on the opening “Picking Up the Pieces” and again on the two-part suite. It’s a deft and genuinely surprising compositional device rather than a glib stylistic posture, enabled by the masterful doubling of Gould on Rhodes and Archer on electric bass.