James McGowan Ensemble - Reaching Out (Self-Released)

Ottawa’s James McGowan Ensemble are back with their newest release Reaching Out, an impressively ambitious seventeen track album that includes everything from spoken word poetry to saxophone solos, and even a tribute to Chick Corea. A thirteen piece group consisting of three separate quartets, this massive ensemble combines elements of classical and jazz in a bold and exciting manner. The album is a follow up to 2023’s Reaching In, and continues James McGowan’s personal story. Here, as the title implies, the focus is on the way that a sense of community has allowed the artist to overcome grief, providing a sense of closure from the previous album.

The overture “Personal Credo” sets up the more optimistic nature of the record, although it is undoubtedly tempered by the events before it. Yet even the more melancholy “Elegy” has a feeling of moving forward and the closing of one door, rather than being mired in gloom. The album closes with the nearly eleven minute epic “Reflection” that perfectly sums up this journey of healing. By no means is the artist denying the past or acting as though everything is now fine, but the song builds to a crescendo that seems to say it’s fine to once again live life.

Reaching Out is a beautifully moving and fitting companion to the album before it and even manages to surpass it in terms of execution and the profound emotions expressed with deft nuance.