Issue No. 17: Review of Joseph Herbst's This Is Our Environment
Composer/saxophonist Joseph Herbst (photo: Studio Misha Photography)
Composer/saxophonist Joseph Herbst’s work is characterized by interests in musical storytelling, collaboration, and community. It is also simultaneously witty and sincere, much like the man who produces it. After attending Michigan State University and studying under Joe Lulloff, Etienne Charles, and Diego Rivera, Herbst forwent graduate school in favor of advancing his skills where the rubber meets the road.
Over the past few years Herbst has busied himself with a variety of projects including his sextet’s debut album, This is Our Environment - a fourteen-track LP combining original compositions, spoken word, and an acute awareness of one’s social/global environment.
Such an endeavor (especially by a relatively young artist) could easily and ironically become an intolerable display of maudlin, self-righteous navel-gazing.
Thankfully, This is Our Environment is anything but. Herbst’s hour-long album is in turns joyful, fiery, heartfelt, pleading, fun, and - yes - deeply moral, but above all it is a celebration of creativity and of collaborative ecstasy.
About the album, Herbst writes:
What is the environment? Too often, this word is taken for granted, with little time spent thinking about what it means. To many, the environment refers to the separated natural world filled with wilderness. However, at the first National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, the environment also encompasses “all aspects of daily life-where we live, work, and play.”
The key word in the title of this project is “our.” One cannot draw a clear line between environment and people. Rather, everyday, people interact with and are affected by their environment in different ways. For some, the environment is an escape from society, while for others the environment serves as a stark reminder of the injustices that persist throughout society. Even though it may be taking for granted at times, the environment provides all of us with countless necessities, including breathable air, drinkable water, sustenance through food, protection from natural disasters, and climate mitigation. A threat to the environment, then, is in reality a threat to people.
Yet, the direct impacts are disproportionately felt by frontline communities, usually determined by other marginalizing factors in society, including racial, social, and economic factors.
“This is Our Environment” brings together original music, spoken word, and environmental justice in order to challenge our understanding of the environment to push us towards a more just and equitable society founded on a sense of community.
Herbst (soprano/alto saxophones) is joined by sextet members Evan Taylor (trumpet/flugelhorn), Liany Mateo (bass), Luther S. Allison (piano/keys), Peter Martin (guitar), and Zach McKinney (drums) with featured vocalist Aubrey Johnson. The sextet is also joined by spoken word artists Dasan Ahanu, Cynthia “THiA” Sharpe, Yexandra “Yex” Diaz, and RaShad Eas.
The opening track, “They Say There Are Beautiful Trees,” introduces the musical language that will pervade the album, a hybrid of contemporary jazz, indie/prog-pop, and glances at hip hop. Also present is a four-bar whole-note descending bass pattern evocative of the centuries-familiar lament bass tetrachord. This and further variants will saturate the harmonic underpinning of the album’s first half. “Momma Nature,” featuring poet Dasan Ahanu, is the first spoken-word interlude and sets a fine thesis statement for This is Our Environment.
During “Solastalgia,” one of the longest tracks heard on the album, Herbst commands attention both as composer and performer. The large-scale composition is notable for its gradual transformations of themes and ostinati as well as Herbst’s impassioned solo that communicates a convincing arc through its wailing.
“Mama E,” a showcase for Cynthia “THiA” Sharpe, is a lovely ode. On “Is This My Fault?” listeners get to enjoy the flawless intonation and tonal blend of singer Aubrey Johnson, who effortlessly blends her voice into the horn section in graceful unison melodic lines.
“Erring of the Revolution, Parts 1 and 2” are by far the most enjoyable, hard-hitting, and memorable spoken word passages on This is Our Environment. Yexandra “Yex” Diaz absolutely goes off: “Can’t you hear my change janglin? it sounds like/ White hands stranglin like/ Strange fruit danglin like/ Black bodies mangled and tangled…” The composition that separates the two parts of “Erring of the Revolution, “Make No Cents,” is the longest track on the album. Though sophisticated in compositional construct, “Make No Cents” falls a little flat in the execution on this LP. Perhaps it is an oversaturation by this point of the descending tetrachord bass ideas or that the incisiveness of Herbst’s musical ideas simply screams out for a fuller, more aggressive treatment than this sextet was willing to give for this recording. I would love to hear this recast as a big band chart with a drummer willing to smash murder on the set.
“Iron Eyes” is a perfectly timed breath of fresh air. Herbst pulls a fast one and writes a melody/progression that would be home in contemporary musical theatre. The design is simple yet effective. Significantly, “Iron Eyes” signals a hopeful shift in the narrative structure of the album, now with bass patterns that lift and rise. “Legacy” continues this under words by RaShad Eas.
“Estrange Us” is a breakout manic jam, free in form and harmonic content. The tune contains one of the catchiest 11/8 grooves I have heard since the days of Don Ellis!
“Communion,” the second of RaShad Eas, is maybe fine as a children’s song but is the least convincing excerpt on the album. The lyrical content and flow is a bit corny and Herbst does all he can to provide peaceful interludes between lines.
“Simple Life,” the penultimate track, is far better and a sophisticated plea for living a centered existence. For the finale, “Visions of Freedom,” Herbst gleefully cracks his knuckles and throws an array of musical tricks at the audience - much to our delight! The constant changing and asymmetrical meters sound perfectly logical and immediately groovy, a compositional feat that would make Neil Peart or Béla Bartók proud.
This is Our Environment is one hell of a debut album and one you simply must purchase and listen to multiple times. The composition/arranging craft is top notch and the performances are rock solid. I highly recommend this LP.
This is Our Environment was produced by Joseph Herbst and recorded by Eric Wojahn & Josh Wiechmann at Solid Sound Recording Co. in Ann Arbor, Michigan on June 24-25, 2019. The album was beautifully mixed and mastered by Jim Alfredson.
To purchase/stream This is Our Environment, go here.