Unexpectedly, the pause in their plans to record Sanctuary was beneficial, as violinist Jason Anick and pianist Jason Yeager later realized. The hard stop that the COVID pandemic imposed upon the world allowed the two musicians to rethink the project and to observe the catastrophic ways that the first-in-a-century epidemic affected everyone.
The rapidity of momentous events since 2020 has amplified the importance of their recording’s theme: sanctuary. In fact, the daily impacts of sometimes unanticipated life-altering events—the pandemic being the most extreme example so far—have created a need for at least a modicum of peace of mind.
Sanctuary, while not providing physical sanctuary from the stressors, does provide some peace of mind, as well as calling attention to topics that lead to the need for sanctuary.
Sanctuary also offers affecting insights on the issues by virtuoso musicians deserving of broader national attention.
Reprising their excellent 2017 album, United, Anick and Yeager have worked together to share compositions describing the myriad aspects of sanctuary, which attain deeply personal and varying meanings for the individuals who seek it.
The most urgent musical appeals for sanctuary receive passionate expression on “Persecution” and “Farewell,” which feature Palestinian cellist Naseem Alatrash, whom Anick and Yeager met at Berklee College of Music where both are professors. (In fact, Berklee, where the album was produced, provided the Faculty Recording Grant that made possible the recording.)
“Persecution” and “Farewell” provide a platform for portraying Alatrash’s compassion for the extreme conditions that can require the vital need for sanctuary. One description of the tragedies being insufficient for the broad range of emotions, Anick and Yeager contrast the chaotic, unrelenting, Carl Stalling-like vigor of “Persecution,” which ends with a blasting sustained free-improv crash, with the poignant heartbreak of “Farewell.” Alatrash’s influence is apparent throughout both works, not only through his improvisations, but also through the merging of his Arabic modes with jazz harmonies.
But Alatrash isn’t the only guest musician appearing on Sanctuary.
Trumpet player Jason Palmer’s creative style reinforces the album’s theme on the title track, which closes the album. “Sanctuary’s” slow, descending minor-key eighth-note pattern, solemn and pensive, establishes the platform for Palmer’s and Anick’s emotionally charged solos. Tenor saxophonist Edmar Colón—who met Anick and Yeager while studying at Berklee—joins them on the appropriately entitled, lightly swaying “Lost” by Wayne Shorter (for whom Colón worked as a copyist when Shorter was writing his opera, Iphigenia…not to mention providing arrangements for Shorter’s Kennedy Center Honors ceremony).
Sanctuary’s opening track, “Futures Past,” with its unconventional meter and plunging accents, reinforces the impression that McCoy Tyner may have been a strong influence on Yeager’s style. After Anick eloquently introduces the melody, Yeager builds a vibrant solo that culminates in powerful tremolos and forceful bass-clef accents in fifths, authoritatively supporting the theme of the irreversible impact that life-changing moments can cause.
Several other compelling perspectives of the theme of sanctuary emerge on other tracks.
A departure from some of the album’s Middle Eastern harmonies, Chopin’s “Raindrop Prelude” contrasts minor-key darkness, suggesting tension, with the same beginning and ending theme’s glowing serenity, connected by a repeated sonically precipitating A-flat.
The volume of “Colorado,” which features a willowy duet in three, expressively rises and falls spontaneously as Anick and Yeager consider the complexity of nature’s ability to refresh the spirit. Yeager fittingly plays the synthesizer solely on “AI Apocalypse,” which, through an insistent vamp, addresses concerns about technology’s accelerating control of daily life. Anick and flugelhorn player Billy Buss musically share the intensity of their alarm through free improvisation.
Anick and Yeager’s multi-layered perspectives cover the complexity of the subject, from the numerous unsettling causes of the search for refuge to the quest for peace. Virtuoso musicians, they maintain either an undercurrent of catastrophic urgency or, without reservation, provide support for those striving to recover from momentous loss.
Yeager and Anick will perform at the Stern Auditorium of Carnegie Hall on April 23, 2025.
Artists’ Web Sites: jasonanick.com, jasonyeager.com
Label’s Web Site: sunnysiderecords.com
