the epicenter of your dreams - Fully Altered Media

JOHN ESCREET

On John Escreet’s 2022 album Seismic Shift, his first-ever release in the trio format, the pianist and composer introduced a group of the rarest strength and intelligence. Joining the U.K.-born musician were two extraordinary improvisers he’d reconnected with in Los Angeles, where he’d moved from Brooklyn just prior to the pandemic in 2020: bassist Eric Revis, a veteran of the furiously swinging Branford Marsalis Quartet who also excels in avant-garde settings; and the drummer Damion Reid, whose unparalleled ability to chop up a rhythm with finesse has made him a go-to collaborator for Robert Glasper, Steve Lehman and many others.

Unsurprisingly, their dynamic music — which ranged from the tightly composed to the freely improvised, the elegant to the fierce, hitting all emotional points in between — astonished critics and audiences alike. In his review, DownBeat editor Frank Alkyer highlighted the “agility and interplay between the three,” which “makes the entirety of Seismic Shift a joyful, ‘hell, yeah’ listen. The album’s intensity pulls you in even when Escreet turns the burner down a notch.”

Such praise might lead some artists to get complacent, to hit Repeat. But Escreet has continually broadened his ideas and sonic palette throughout his career — from his many leader recordings, featuring New York jazz’s cutting-edge, to his vital role in Antonio Sanchez’s culture-melding Migration, to performing at a sold-out Hollywood Bowl with the electronic luminary Floating Points.

For Seismic Shift’s follow-up, the epicenter of your dreams, out June 7 from Blue Room Music, Escreet has expanded his very special group to include Mark Turner, among the most important and influential tenor saxophonists in jazz history. Save for Escreet, the quartet comprises Los Angeles natives who raised their profiles in New York and then returned to L.A., where a vibrant progressive jazz scene has flourished in recent years. the epicenter of your dreams stands as a document of this fertile musical environment, which Escreet calls “really broad and diverse. And not only the New York cats that have moved here, but there’s a very healthy young, local scene as well. It’s all exciting.”