Sam Gendel: Cookup

Sam Gendel’s ascension to beloved ambient-jazz savant has been fueled, partially, by the inexhaustibility of his output. His prolific catalog foams with free-improv periods, bed room recordings, a three-and-a-half-hour archive dump, and a bevy of collaborative initiatives showcasing his stuttering guitar enjoying and wistful, narcotic strategy to the saxophone. A limber, unselfconscious sense of instinct runs by means of his many detours and discursions, and his work persistently blurs the road between conception and completion. In Gendel’s world, which means emerges amid limitless swells of sound. “Putting out a ‘normal’ album just doesn’t work for me,” he mentioned not too long ago. “I’m more interested in throwing ideas out and seeing where the ceiling is.” 

Gendel’s latest launch is a covers album wherein he reimagines R&B hits from the ’90s and early ’00s, a framework that gives him and collaborators Phil Melanson and Gabe Noel a exceptional quantity of freedom inside seemingly mounted buildings. Together with his woozy, wandering saxophone anchoring the file’s soothing soundscapes, Gendel interprets songs by Aaliyah, Erykah Badu, Boyz II Males, and others with a lucid and improvisational contact, bending them into nearly unrecognizable shapes. It’s an attractive albeit low-stakes effort from an artist unafraid to splatter recent paint throughout a well-recognized canvas.

Gendel’s no stranger to placing his personal spin on traditional songs. In 2020 he launched Satin Doll, an album the place he repurposed jazz requirements in his personal upside-down style. He treats the tracks on Cookup in an analogous means, sustaining the melodic integrity of his supply materials whereas additionally revealing overseas tones and textures. On “Differences,” his insouciant horn takes liberties refashioning Ginuwine’s vocal runs as Noel’s bass undergirds the rhythm and Melanson’s digital percussion squeezes into tight pockets. One other spotlight is his impressionistic tackle Mario’s “Let Me Love You,” the place Gendel’s dazzling sax work stretches the monitor’s melodic core to its furthest limits.

The album is much less persuasive when songs adhere too intently to their authentic kinds. There’s a rush of gratification when “Crazy in Love” and “Didn’t Cha Know” seem, however the cleanness of the renditions makes them really feel like your common, succesful cowl track, ones you may hear whereas strolling previous a road efficiency or scrolling by means of TikTok. Gendel’s virtuosity declares itself extra forcefully when he veers into weirdness, like on a deranged, sputtering take of Soul for Actual’s “Candy Rain,” or when eerie forest sounds encompass his celestial enjoying on “In Those Jeans.” This messy fingerpainting fits Gendel’s unfastened and instinctual fashion higher than mimesis. Cookup soars when the gamers’ interpretations converge into new creations, and the supply materials turns into a portal to a brand new dimension. The vestiges of outdated melody might stay, however Gendel’s finest reimaginings illuminate delicate resonances and hidden pleasures.