Day

Drummer and bandleader Rudy Royston brings a rootsy warmth to his fifth Greenleaf album, 2023s Day. Joining him is his earthy chamber ensemble Flatbed Buggy, featuring clarinetist and saxophonist John Ellis, accordionist Gary Versace, cellist Hank Roberts, and bassist Joe Martin. This is the same group who debuted on his eponymous 2018 album. With Flatbed Buggy, Royston explores his wide-ranging musical influences, weaving harmonically nuanced jazz, gospel, folk, and country sounds into a distinctive and encompassing patchwork. As the title implies, Day is loosely conceptualized around a working day; especially that of a farmer, laborer, or perhaps a delivery person. Each song further illuminates this idea, evoking the hourly rituals, movement, and emotional space a working person experiences throughout a given day. Although not a classical album, the combination of cello and reeds, along with Roystons use of mallets and inventive-sounding percussion instruments, lend the production a symphonic quality. The opening "Morning," with its twangy cello refrain, recalls the iconic Americana of Aaron Copland, while the languid "Look to the Hills," with its long, drawn-out phrases and accordion accents, sounds like an Eastern European folk ballad. Other ear-popping stylistic combinations pop up elsewhere, as on "Thank You for This Day," where Martin seemingly draws upon Chinese traditional music with his unaccompanied bass intro before Royston and the group jump in with a buzzy, bluegrass raga. Similarly, we get the abstract country-funky of "Five - Thirty Strut," where Versaces soloing sounds like a French street performer playing Miles Davis "Freedom Jazz Dance." Throughout Day, Royston deftly pushes Flatbed Buggy forward with textural, organic grooves that stand out but never distract from the communal group vibe. ~ Matt Collar