Big Lift

A famously tough town, Chicago can also offer a warm embrace to those who arrive with something to offer. Over the past five years, Darren Johnston has encountered a scene full of kindred spirits, and his new album documents the San Francisco trumpeter's rapidly evolving creative relationships with some of Chicago's leading improvisational lights. Joining forces with trombonist Jeb Bishop, vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, bassist Nate McBride and free jazz drummer Frank Rosaly, Johnston delivers a program of rough-and-tumble tunes marked by bristling group improvisation, quicksilver dynamic shifts, and invitingly spacious melodies. On the two jazz standards, the quintet finds glorious release in Ornette Coleman's Love Call and reveals the sweat, toil and unsentimental lyricism of Ellington's Black and Tan Fantasy. Certain to be selected as one of the best albums of the year, Gone to Chicago will undoubtedly open many other doors for Johnston.