Simon Moullier - Isla (2023)

French vibraphonist Simon Moullier plunges into the sea of his colorfully melodic sound with 2023's Isla. A stylish and textural production, it showcases his quartet with pianist Lex Korten, bassist Alexander Claffy, and drummer Jongkuk Kim. Blessed with a rhythmically compelling style full of sparkling, woody harmonics, Moullier's music straddles the line between challengingly adventurous post-bop and absolutely relaxing contemporary jazz. His style is fluid, evoking the 1970s work of players like Wolfgang Lackerschmid and Gary Burton. There's a singing, vocal-like quality to his playing. Literally, you can often hear him singing along note for note with his vibraphone lines. It's a charmingly organic aspect of his style and speaks to how intrinsically, bodily connected he is to his music. The opening "Empress of the Sea" is a buoyant 3/4 number with a spiraling melody that evokes the Dave Brubeck Quartet. Equally exuberant is "Phoenix Eye," a swinging hard bop number featuring bold, swaggering solos by Moullier and Korten. More diffuse moments follow, as on "Enchantment" where Moullier lays down refracted, motivic phrases against a slow-burn, almost deconstructed funk groove. There's also the dreamy noir atmosphere of "Moon Mist" with its bluesy asides and the languid album closer, "Heart." That final track, as with all of Isla, shimmers like a wave hitting the beach at sunset.~Isla Review by Matt Collar