Album cover for Heirloom’s debut album “Familar Beginnings.” Courtesy Shifting Paradigm Records

With a jazz band’s name so lyrically titled, Milwaukee’s Heirloom shouldn’t have surprised us that their first recorded artifact is a musical objet de art. Of course, many musicians strive for art, but Familar Beginnings is the real thing. Chops-laden bandleader-guitarist Ben Dameron’s classical training helps underscore that a potent  lyricism deeply informs his calling.

The lyrical bent blooms in titles like “Eucalyptus Breeze” and the rustic “Indigo Tears,” a deep-dish slice of Bill Frisell-ish Americana. If the latter title also suggests a famous Ellington “mood,” it’s no coincidence as Heirloom digs elsewhere into the Strayhorn bounty chest with “Isfahan.” This interpretation gives a jaunty boost to saxophonist Johnny Hodges’ languid classic. Dameron’s melodic sense is fully woven into his structural form.

Heirloom (l-r: Ben Dameron, Tim Ipsen, Sam Taylor, Hannah Johnson) performs at an album release event recently at the Jazz Estate. Photo by Kevin Lynch

As for form, “Message from the Deep” appears almost “through composed” but probes depths that bring light to one’s fire. So, don’t worry about the album’s backbone. The penultimate tune drives the band around the final curve with full-throttle swinging. The piece, “Fake Block”” cagily suggests football, to me. Here drummer Hannah Johnson absolutely crackles spitfire, astride her apparent quest to become one of the upper Midwest’s best jazz drummers. Hardly undone, tenor saxophonist Sam Taylor doesn’t spare the horses he reins masterfully elsewhere.

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This review was orignally published in The Shepherd Express: https://shepherdexpress.com/music/album-reviews/familiar-beginnings-by-heirloom/