(Self-released, CD, digital, vinyl)
Despite jazz trumpet’s evolving innovations within the gleeful, flurry-fingered mathematics of Dixieland, bebop and fusion, many of its practitioners possess a tenderness that occasionally surfaces and, in mellow fashion, proves just as virtuosic.
Think Miles Davis and Kind of Blue and Sketches of Spain. Chet Baker, of course. Wynton Marsalis’ Soul Gestures in Southern Blue trilogy and fellow New Orleanian Terence Blanchard’s A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina) — with the Crescent City works edging into territory that might be thought of as conceptual.
On the recently released Wellspring, Vermont trumpeter Tom Gershwin embodies those qualities with a flowing melodicism, along with an exhilaration and tone associated with Pat Metheny’s guitar-as-trumpet synth exercises on early works such as Travels and Offramp.
Gershwin’s inspiration for his new album is literally a wellspring not far from his home in the woods of the Northeast Kingdom — an area he frequently hikes and relies on for its restorative properties. It’s the sort of environment that lends itself to compositions that explore evocative possibilities in a fashion as timeless and eternal as the swirling waters of the wellspring therein.
Gershwin, whose previous releases include Our Season, Live at Mighty Fine and Sweet Pastimes, wrote the songs for Wellspring with the participation of his core band in mind. That includes longtime collaborators/friends Perry Smith (guitar), Mike Bjella (saxophone) and drummer Colin Stranahan. New bassist David Ambrosio joined for the recording sessions, which took place at the Clubhouse in Rhinebeck, N.Y. Gershwin coproduced with Stowe engineer George Walker Petit, and the album captures an in-the-moment atmosphere with warm but crisp polish and fine ensemble performances.
To hear Wellspring for the first time in early autumn is almost an ideal listening and imprinting experience. “Let Be” kicks off the set; it’s a lovely tone poem that at once introduces the aura of the journey.
On the title cut, the trumpeter’s long, ascending solo, with its trills and extended runs, suggests a literal jog through his woods, climbing hills and barreling down trails amid falling leaves until — behold! — there’s the wellspring! With supportive flourishes from the band, the piece exults in the nourishing beauty of the natural world.
The centerpiece of Wellspring is the lengthy “Passages,” which starts with Gershwin’s beautifully mournful meditations accented by Bjella’s pastoral and eerie harmony lines and splashes of woody percussion. The song then subtly shifts gears. There’s a playful call-and-answer segment between Gershwin and Perry, followed by a masterful guitar solo of single-note runs and chordal chops before the piece flows into a wistful coda.
A trio of shorter, lovely, meditative pieces follows. “Belong Here,” “Embers” and “& You” seem to capture the main essence of Gershwin’s vision for the record. Only the penultimate track, “Counter Earth’s Tone,” with its fractal freneticism, is out of place. Perhaps Gershwin is reminding us that nature’s never completely calm and can’t be taken for granted.
In any case, Wellspring concludes with the hymnlike feel of “Still,” a fine farewell after a mesmeric and gorgeous effort in musical spell casting.
Wellspring is available on CD and vinyl at tomgershwin.com and is streaming on major services.
This article appears in Oct 1-7 2025.
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