...a great rapport these artists have developed over the years...their lines merge and unwind with endless invention.
The Wellstone Conspiracy is a collective venture for four of the more prolific jazz musicians residing in the Northwest region of the United States. The group consists of Idaho-based saxophonist Brent Jensen and from Seattle, pianist Bill Anschell, bassist Jeff Johnson and drummer John Bishop. They recorded One More Mile under Jensen's name. For their second album, Motives, however, they retitled themselves the Wellstone Conspiracy as they delved deeper into a melodic music that is steeped in the modern harmonic concepts of Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. The band is highly interlocked and organic with each member adding important components, and Jensen's aching soprano the hub around which the spokes emanate. There's a careful interplay between the classic sorts of sounds encapsulating the urban nightclub aesthetic and more open, smooth, and exploratory elements. It's a fine line to walk between free jazz and urban cool, but these musicians have been at the core of the Northwest sound for some time, and it comes out in their compositions, as well as their playing styles. It makes for excellent listening -- at the same time ambient and melodic, experimental and traditional, and constantly enjoyable.
RadioAction
The Acoustic Jazz Quartet
New Stories
Deardorf / Peterson Group
Flatland
Upper Left Trio
Lower Monumental
Collier & Dean
Big Neighborhood
BOX
Sonando
Trio East
Scenes
Deep Blue Organ Trio
Bridge Quartet
Roy Assaf & Eddy Khaimovich Quartet
Diverse
Bug
EEA
speak
Ziggurat Quartet
Linda Tsatsanis & John Lenti
Seattle Trumpet Consort
Bad Luck
Q.E.D.
R|E|D|S
Storms/Nocturnes
AsGuests
twopool
Human Spirit
Hood Smoke
Free Range Saxophone Quartet
Douglas Detrick\'s AnyWhen Ensemble
WDCB
The Spin Quartet
Mamutrio
Triocity
2x2: Galvao/Santiago/Landais/Enouf
New York Voices
Peterson-Kohler Collective
Purna Loka Ensemble
Trio Linguae
Meridian Odyssey
Alon Farber Hagiga
Ben Thomas Tango Project
Metropolitan Jazz Octet
arx duo
Manzanita Quintet
Affinity Trio
Last Word Quintet
ReSurgence
Western Jazz Collective