The Portland, OR-based “indie jazz” outfit Blue Cranes has been active since 2004. Their latest is My Only Secret, available August 11 on purple vinyl, compact disc, and digital through the teamwork of hometown labels Jealous Butcher Records and Beacon Sound. Featuring eight tracks, the contents are melodic, intense, and unpredictable on first listen. Additional spins reveal compositional depth and interactive spark that strengthens the whole.
Blue Cranes are Reed Wallsmith on alto saxophone, keyboards and percussion, Joe Cunningham on tenor saxophone, keyboards and percussion, Rebecca Sanborn on keyboards, Jon Shaw on bass, and Ji Tanzer on drums. My Only Secret is their sixth full-length (there’s also an EP and a remix album) and the follow-up to the only release in their discography to feature vocals (courtesy of numerous Portland cohorts including Laura Gibson and Laura Veirs), 2021’s Voices.
Voices took a long time to record (March 2015–September 2018) and was issued on CD in 2021. Like most of their catalog, it was self-released. The exceptions are Swim, which came out on LP and CD (both formats still available) in 2013 through Cuneiform Records, and My Only Secret, which was recorded in 2021-’22 under pandemic restrictions.
Voices establishes that Blue Cranes are meticulous in the pursuit of artistic growth, and My Only Secret underscores the band as adaptable to change, even when those circumstances made recording difficult. Unwilling to simply wait things out, their latest record is defined by a sense of necessity that’s often emphatic.
Understandably, My Only Secret relies on multitracking and the mixing expertise of Todd Sickafoose. As Blue Cranes are compositionally based rather than a high-flying improv unit, the layering strategy wasn’t an obstacle. Opener “Sloan” finds the saxophonists engaging in melodious interplay as the piano, bass and drums cohere into a solid yet expressively propulsive foundation.
As should be clear by the use of a collective moniker, there are no support roles here. And if there is an emphasis on melody, the playing is never genteel. “Semicircle” drives home that My Only Secret is a heavy listen; Shaw’s bass alone in the track is huge, and his solo flight makes clear that spontaneity is part of the album’s equation.
“Forward” ushers in some guests, namely James Powers on trombone, John Savage on flute, and Nicole McCabe on clarinet. The sax repetitions at the start suggest ’70s Minimalism as the trombone brings some hefty foghorn growl. A multifaceted piece, “Forward” shifts into a zone that sounds a bit like a few late ’70s NYC loft cats working up a tune with ’60s Blue Note as a template, but then later in the cut the tide turns wickedly thorny as the ‘bone, flute, and clarinet get into a glorious tangle and Tanzer gives his kit a good battering.
It wraps with a horn line that’d bring a smile to the face of David Shire. Powers and Savage stick around for “Gaviota,” where the horn lines sway atop thick bottom end before an extended beauty move wraps it up. The amount of stylistic territory covered in “Rhododendron” is impressive, beginning with an achy collective horn statement that could’ve been swiped from a 1930s vintage shellac 78.
Much of what follows in “Rhododendron” is more indebted to post-bop at its most compositionally advanced, but hybridized with post-rock execution. There’s also a spot where the piano goes wonderfully ass-over-tea kettle, though it’s also Sanborn who simmers matters down at the end. Timothy Young’s guitar is a welcome addition to the scheme.
If undeniably jazzy, Blue Cranes roam consistently outside of genre boundary lines. Tanzer’s drumming in “Sandbox,” for instance, sounds like it could’ve been taken from a ’90s progressive electronica record, while “A Night in Montavilla” combines a decidedly indie pop-rock structure to some of the jazziest blowing on the record.
“Lonely Coyote” is a rich blanket of aural textures that’s intensity gradually rises until it hits the precipice of the ecstatic, then drops down to the tranquil for the album’s close. My Only Secret is as lean as it is inventive, with Blue Cranes displaying consummate discipline in decision making in its creation.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
