Sipiagin’s improvised solos have always displayed a captivating command of the instrument, in service to the development of his musical ideas. His modern vocabulary contains elements of all of the expected traditional trumpet masters: Woody Shaw, Kenny Dorham, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, all blended into a unique and almost instantly-recognizable voice. But while Sipiagin is among a small handful of top living post-bebop trumpeters, the instincts that set him apart, or at least give him another high quality musical world in which to exist, are found in his collaborations with symphony orchestras, string quartets, and freer structures. The multi-movement “Horizons” title piece is a good introduction to some of Sipiagin’s natural tendencies outside of strophic forms and chord changes.

Chris Potter is a non-stop musical motive generating and developing machine. He jumps in with short jabs and Escreet, Brewer and Harland immediately create the perfect environment and accompaniment for Potter to continue at a high intensity throughout the solo. Potter’s innate sense of balance, I believe, is key to his standing out even in a community of the most brilliant musicians. Within countless repetitions of musical ideas, he’s constantly embedding, within those ideas, a depth of variation that’s always at least beautifully satisfying and often shocking when he exceeds anything and everything  you might have expected. And he is, at minimum, among the greatest technicians on the saxophone without making you feel a hint of “mechanics over music.”

Throughout, the rhythm section of Escreet, Brewer, and Harland are perfect creators of musical environments. They seem to be the ideal musicians to bring to life Sipiagin’s musical language, or at least, recognizing that his performance career operates in a number of varied musical spaces, this particular “region” of it.  These environments, created and sustained by the simultaneous participation of the band members, on multiple projects, is the aspect of these performances most out of reach for lesser artists and, perhaps, the most fascinating.

The horn lines in “Jumping Ahead” are among the most interesting on the album. In a compressed time period they most-effectively play with tension, repeating important notes at the ends of phrases, suggesting a frustrating lack of progress in the melody, right before they snap that tension by unveiling the note you probably wanted to hear half a second ago. 

The multi-track title composition, “Horizons,” starts out with a freer conversation between Sipiagin and Potter with gradual entrances but Harland, Escreet , and Brewer. Harland has world-class instincts in this area and, with the arguably finite color palette that is the jazz drumset (Harland gets more out of four cymbals than others might with forty, and three drums sound like… you get the idea), is constantly creating different feels out of texture changes, rhythmic motives and a large dynamic range.

Incidentally, Sipiagin’s two recent albums on Blue Room Music (the other being NoFo Skies) present his projects with cover artwork worthy of the quality of the music and performances captured inside. Sipiagin also has entered into a somewhat recent relationship with Italian trumpet-maker Antonio Rapacciuolo of AR Resonance Trumpets which may be contributing to a maturation of his approach to his music that coincides with his move to Europe.

If past performance is any indication, we won't waiting long for another outstanding Alex Sipiagin recording project, but here's plenty to enjoy on "Horizons" in the interim. ​​​​​​​