Synchronicity is the third album of Korean, Brooklyn-based double bass player-composer Jeong Lim Yang (who is also a singer-songwriter who works with the moniker Miss Ambivalent), leading a quartet with innovative and experienced improvisers – violist Mat Maneri, pianist Jacob Sacks, and drummer Randy Peterson. Yang thanks Carl Jung for «the lifetime of inspiration». Jung defined synchronicity as «the coming together of inner and outer events in a way that cannot be explained by cause and effect and that is meaningful to the observer». She says that this concept reflects her feelings about this band. The album was recorded at Brooklyn Bridge Studio in January 2023.
Yang composed six pieces (and another one was composed by Sacks) that reflect her ambitious, unorthodox, and unpredictable vision that owes much to the seminal aesthetics of Paul Motian, enjoying the deep synchronicity and immediate rapport of the quartet, with enough freedom for individual interpretations and minimal directions for the musicians. The opening, title piece faithfully captures this spirit with its minimalist structure that encourages all to use their imagination and meet each other at a point like synchronism. Maneri evokes elusive country-folk veins into this intense improvisation and contrasts Sacks’ atonal clusters. The following «Ordinary Waltz» continues this folky vein but emphasizes breath and pulse rather than the traditional 3/4 time signature. The moody ballad «Morning Glory» was inspired by Rodgers and Hammerstein’s show tune «Edelweiss» from The Sound of Music, now turned into an open improvisation.
Sacks’ «Salad For Lunch» is a whimsical post-bop piece and sounds just like its title suggests. The mysterious and haunting «Weeping Dream» was inspired by a sweet dream Yang had during the stressful days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and offers a Chopin-like, slow, and meditative chamber jazz atmosphere. «Stimmung», titled after a German word that straddles the definitions of tone, mood, and atmosphere, features three distinct melodies, that spiral beautifully in this freest piece yet playful in its own mysterious way. This impressive, thoughtful album ends with the beautiful, touching ballad «Body Nor Soul», loosely based on Yang and Maneri’s favorite standard, Johnny Green’s «Body and Soul».
Eyal Hareuveni
Mat Maneri (viola), Jacob Sacks (piano), Jeong Lim Yang (double bass), Randy Peterson (drums)
