PJCE Records, Portland’s most active jazz record label, has announced the upcoming release of March of the Gene Keys, a contemplative guitar trio album with delicate beauty by Mike Murray. The album marks the end of an extensive search by Murray to find musicians that fully embrace his vision, a vision that brings a wide range of influences and approaches to improvised music that result in a collection of works that are dynamic, playful and evocative. Shawn Wang (bass) and PJCE Records stablemate Chris Lee (drums) certainly share Murray’s vision and provide the constant interplay and sensitivity that his music demands.
From the shifting meters of “The Sacred Now” and “Cluster Cuss” to the harmonic density of “Fuss with Russ” (dedicated to mentor George Russell), to the noise-influenced opening of the title track, to the Arnold Schoenberg meets Charles Mingus feel of “HUS Blues” or the lyricism of “Here and There,” this music covers a lot of territory. Four tracks feature the acoustic guitar (both nylon and steel string), giving the music a wide color palette for this format. The record is largely inspired by the book, The Gene Keys, by Richard Rudd, which takes a deep dive into the journey of self discovery.
Elements of jazz, rock, microtonal and various world traditions have all made their way into the music of Mike Murray. Whether involved in original composition, free improvisation, the great American songbook or somewhere in between, he is always pushing to explore new territory.
The album is currently available for pre-order (digital and CD versions) at pjce.bandcamp.com/album/march-of-the-gene-keys, releasing April 23. Pre-orders include one track (streaming) at the time of order and the complete digital album the moment it’s released.