No Codes: Usual Suspects

SUNSET HILL MUSIC 142401. (RELEASED AUGUST 2024)

The Montreal jazz collective No Codes continues to mine the territory they explored in their 2018 debut release — challenging the expected norms and conventions in jazz. Driven by the dynamic drumming of Louis-Vincent Hamel and the powerful bass lines of Sebastien Pellerin, alto saxophonist Benjamin Deschamps and tenor player Frank Lozano intertwine, interchange and interact as they investigate the sonic possibilities of the ten tunes on their new release Usual Suspects. Although tunes vary from the explosive sounds of “Usual Suspects” and “Emit Time” to the more meditative moods of “Sokushinbutsu” and “Contemplation,” No Codes approaches each in a similar fashion. Deschamps and Lozano are equal partners, stating the melodies in unison as solos effortlessly shift from one voice to the other. Rather than competing with one another, Deschamps and Lozano prefer to be complementary, providing well-crafted counterpoints to each other’s solos as well as delicate comping behind Pellerin’s impressive solos. They also know each other so well that they complete each other’s musical statements on tunes such as “Dog Days” and “Hyperstitions,” making it difficult to tell when one stops and the other starts. It’s not until the final track, the boppish “Comuna 13,” that the saxophonists take the spotlight with longer individual solos. Throughout it all, Hamel and Pellerin provide the foundation that allows Deschamps and Lozano to go with the flow. Fifty years ago a chordless quartet released the adventuresome Conference of the Birds. No Codes does an excellent job of advancing that jazz adventure in 2024 with music that blurs the lines between bop, avant-garde and even punk!

BOTTOM LINE: If you are looking for the best definition of synergy, listen to Usual Suspects, the newest recording from the Montreal-based jazz collective No Codes. The four musicians in the group create something greater than they could alone. And what they create is inspired jazz that gracefully shifts from meditative to explosive and often in the same tune!