The buzz began well over a month ago, maybe ever since James Francies’ 2018 Blue Note debut, Flight. As bright as that one was, Purest Form is more expansive, melding his classical upbringing, electronic sound palettes, spoken word, riveting jazz and more. Francies set a goal, vowed to take his time and deliver a most comprehensive work that encapsulates his many broad influences for this explorative, highly developed musician who still has a few years to go before reaching the age of 30. Francies is yet another of the young vanguard of remarkable musicians on the Blue Note label. In fact, he enlists two of them, two of his close friends, alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins and vibraphonist Joel Ross on some selections across these wide-ranging 14 tracks. He also provides spoken word spots for his wife, his mother (since passed), and his father.
When we allude to Francies’ broad influences, consider that at age 26, he has already worked with Pat Metheny, The Roots, Mark Ronson, Chris Potter (see a recent review of Sunrise Reprise on these pages), Common, Eric Harland, Marcus Miller, and Ms. Lauryn Hill, to name a few. So, he moves seamlessly between genres and styles. His fascination with melody, textures, and layers may owe in part to his having sound-to-color synesthesia – meaning he literally sees color in music. As creative as he is, he has a humble maturity too, knowing that he has hold up the reputation of the label that boasts talent like Wilkins, Ross, and Derrick Hodge, not to mention its iconic history of pianists such as Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, and Andrew Hill, to name a few. Francies also hails from Houston and attended the Kinder High School for Performing and Visual Arts, the same school that produced Robert Glasper and Jason Moran. So, he feels accountable to that legacy as well.
As such, Francies deliberated during the pandemic meticulously curating each sound with mixing engineer Jason Rostkowski and co-recording engineer Josh Guinta in GSI Studios in Chelsea. Francies, with a similar setup at home, traded ideas and mixes with these two for months, intent on getting everything just the way he wanted it. We move through several configurations, first with Francies on piano and keyboards blurring sounds over his wife Brenda’s spoken words in “Adoration.” “Levitate” gives us the first true view of his dazzling, explosive, colorful and unpredictable piano and keyboard style, a tune he renders with his core trio, Burniss Travis III on bass and Jeremy Dutton on drums. The three of them hail from Houston and have been playing together for more than a decade. “Transfiguration” introduces Wilkins, a longtime collaborator, who inventively follows Francies’ piano solo with his own in tune that has plenty of atmospheric backdrop from Francies keyboards as well as a final set of spoken words from his now late mother, Shawana Francis.
Francies also has an orchestral bent and an affinity for vocalists. Peyton, a former high school classmate, is the first featured in a contemporary R&B mode on “Blown Away,” which she wrote with the leader. Fellow Texan Elliott Skinner sings in keening falsetto on his co-write “Rose Water, backed by just Francies and Travis III. Later the Grammy-winning Bilal and Francies collaborate on the rocking “Eyes Wide Shut,” a tune they wrote seven years ago, that also features fellow Houstonite guitarist Mike Moreno, a tone master heard on several recordings, including Kendrick Scott’s Oracle A Wall Becomes a Bridge (covered on these pages)
Familiar fare appears in an imaginative wild arrangement, apparently done when Francies was only 15 years old, of “My Favorite Things,” which those of us ingrained in the iconic Coltrane version, may find even more adventurous as it features solos from all trio members plus guests Wilkins, Ross, and Moreno. One of two brief string quartet interludes follows before we hear the lively jazz/R&B mashup single, “713,” named for Houston’s area code, rendered by the trio and marked by Francies’ playing which ranges from liquid to dizzying explosiveness. In keeping with surprising turns, we then hear the mood bending electronica excursion “Melting” with Francies on vocals and DJ Dahl on drum programming. “Where We Stand” brings back Wilkins and Ross, with the latter shattering most norms you associate with the vibraphone in his incendiary turn.
As impressive as many of these tracks are, Francies provides perhaps the most riveting moments in “Freedmen’s Town” as his father, James Francies Sr. reads excerpts from his own memoir, growing up in Houston’s 4th Ward, originally called Freedmen’s Town, detailing his generation loss due to corporate greed and systemic racism. Another reflective moment appears in the other string quartet interlude, “Still Here,” with his mother’s spoken words, deeply meaningful considering that she passed a day after he finalized the recording. From dad to mom to son, Francies fittingly concludes alone with his piano, keys, and vocals on the ethereal, otherworldly “Oasis.”
Grab your headphones, turn off the lights, and be fully transported to several different realms. For its ambitious and inclusive scope, Purest Form proves that music can be essentially limitless in the hands of a creative master.
