Alex Moxon’s overdue debut album worth the wait (CD review)

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Alex Moxon Quartet (self-released)
Alex Moxon 

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I remember talking with Ottawa guitarist Alex Moxon in the back half of 2018. He was preparing to record his debut album, hoping to get as much as possible done before his first child would be born near the end of that long-ago year. Moxon, one of the most steadily gigging musicians in town, said that after becoming a parent, he very understandably would take a musical hiatus.

Of course, the subsequent arrival in March 2020 of the novel coronavirus imposed a hiatus on everyone. Moxon’s parental leave from music came and went, and then he entered another stretch of giglessness due to COVID-19. He would have launched his album with a concert at the National Arts Centre’s Fourth Stage in late May of 2020, but we all know what happened to live musical performances during the first spring of the pandemic.

Fortunately, you can’t keep good music down. Moxon and his band — pianist Steve Boudreau, bassist John Geggie and drummer Michel Delage — will at last perform music from the guitarist’s eponymous album on Wednesday at a sold-out (and socially distanced) 1 p.m. concert at the Fourth Stage, presented by the Ottawa Jazz Festival.

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Despite its time on the shelf, the distinctive and well-executed music on Alex Moxon Quartet more than holds up. Seven of the guitarist’s originals are distinguished by their finely wrought melodies, harmonic novelties and bevy of embedded details. Two covers nod to influences, jazz or otherwise, that shaped Moxon’s well-developed musical voice.

Opening the album is Woody Shaw’s In A Capricornian Way. It’s a spirited, waltzing modal romp that makes clear Moxon’s steely sound and improvisational bona fides. (The tune is also dedicated to Moxon’s son Fraser, a December 2018 baby.) Moxon’s leadoff solo unfurls nicely, blending shards of the blues, modal motifs and flashes of guitar wizardry. Boudreau, Geggie and Delage, who play and record together as a trio under Boudreau’s leadership, display their well-seasoned simpatico, providing Moxon’s music with the crispness, splashiness and narrative flow that it needs.

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Shaw, the late revolutionary trumpeter, also gets a shoutout on Moxon’s tune Wood Chop, a modal melody that launches some freebopping collective improvisation with a musical conversation between Moxon and Boudreau at its core.

Overall, Moxon’s compositions — full disclaosure: I played a few of them on casual pre-pandemic gigs with the guitarist — have at times a fusioneer’s love of complexity to them. But each deals with a different set of musical materials and has its own vibe.

Kaleidoscope toggles between a contemporary groove and a slow, soulful stretch during which Boudreau shines. Piety in Crescent Park is a sophisticated rock ballad with anthemic overtones. Melodramatic Minors plumbs arcane harmony, but with no loss of momentum or drama. Scientology is a blazing fast swing tune that Moxon makes quick work of. Romantique concludes the album with a sweet burst of lyricism  — in 5/4 time, no less.

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Two long solo guitar pieces break the album into its three acts. Mining For Gold, a Moxon original, is a baroque fantasia while Black Hole Sun is a patient cover of the Soundgarden grunge hit. Here’s an abbreviated command performance of the former tune.

After his overdue album launch concert, Moxon will be in four more free concerts presented by the Ottawa Jazz Festival as a late summer gift to music lovers.

On Thursday at noon, he plays at the Shed on Sparks Street with tuba player Keith Walton’s Lyric Trio, which also includes Boudreau. Later that day, at 5 p.m., he’ll be a key player in drummer Mike Essoudry’s Plasma Quartet show in Confederation Park. On Friday at 1 p.m., Moxon is back at Confederation Park with the quintet Sweet Revival, co-led by veteran local jazzmen Peter Beaudoin and Mark Ferguson. On Sunday at 5 p.m., Moxon will shred with video-game-music cover band F8 Bit in Confederation Park, sharing the stage once again with Boudreau and Delage, plus bassist Jake Von Wurden.

These concerts will no doubt be fine showcases for Moxon’s ample talents. But the most meaningful demonstration of Moxon’s musicality will no doubt be the show under his own name, even if it features music from a distant past before lockdowns, masks and jabs.