Joe Fiedler - Dragon Suite (2025)

Trombonist Joe Fiedler is one of the more daring and experimental brass players in modern jazz, a sentiment he underscores with 2025's Dragon Suite. Primarily a jazz improviser, Fiedler regularly finds himself in an array of settings, whether it be in Michael Bublé's big band, Eddie Palmieri's salsa groups, or playing with one of pianist Satoko Fujii's broad-minded projects. His own albums have run the stylistic gamut as well, from hard-swinging bop to Muppet-inspired chamber jazz, and even multiphonic solo trombone improvisation, as he did on 2022's Howland Session, a tribute to his idol trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff. On Dragon Suite, Fiedler showcases his equally adventurous Trio 2.0, featuring guitarist Pete McCann and drummer Michael Sarin, musicians who also have a broad range of experience to draw from. A versatile player, McCann has worked with such far-afield artists as Anthony Branker and Leslie Odom, Jr. Similarly, Sarin has deep roots in the New York avant-garde, having played with artists like Dave Douglas, Marty Ehrlich, and Erik Friedlander. The trio has a diverse sound, primarily due to Fiedler's brass sonics. Blessed with a warm, fat tone, he can play anything -- and often does -- moving virtuosically between long bebop lines, muted avian chirps and caws, and guttural multiphonic tone clusters. It's a mutable vibe that's mirrored by McCann's guitar tone, which shifts from dry jazz lyricism one minute to fuzz-tone rock riffage the next. Throughout the album's many stylistic shifts, Sarin remains steady, anchoring his bandmates' flights of fancy with woody, organic grooves and shimmering brush and cymbal work that dazzle in their own understated way. Together, they all play with the live energy and open-ended stylistic influences of a jam band. This is especially true on the opening "Tone Grazing," where Fiedler bellows against an off-kilter funk groove. Other possible touchstones pop up throughout, as on "Pittsburghermeister," which feels impossibly like rock outfit Living Colour interpreting a classic bossa nova number. There's also the Ornette Coleman-inspired free jazz pyrotechnics of "What Herb Said" and the languid, Pat Metheny-esque balladry of "Song for Norm." At the core of Dragon Suite is the titular three-part movement that works as a microcosm of all the trio's stylistically adventurous, quiet-to-loud aesthetics. Given the lack of a bassist in the group, Joe Fiedler Trio 2.0's trombone, guitar, and drums interplay often has a skeletal quality, but a skeleton that dances to life with a wildly beating improvisational heart.~ Review by Matt Collar