Legendary composer Jule Styne penned “I Fall in Love Too Easily” with lyricist Sammy Cahn one evening in Palm Springs. By 1945, it became a vessel for Frank Sinatra’s heartbreaking croon in the film “Anchors Aweigh,” and 80 years later, the standard has been covered by everyone from Miles Davis and Chet Baker to mxmtoon and Andrew Bird.
Add Jacobo Vega-Albela’s name to that list.
The Rochester-based drummer and composer takes on the tune with splashes of invention in the middle of “Un-Belonging,” his debut album released earlier this year on Brooklyn’s 577 Records. With pianist Leon Hsu and bassist Zach Walgren, Vega-Albela preserves the sweetness at its heart while traveling in slightly avant-garde directions.
It’s a good test case for the rest of “Un-Belonging,” a collection otherwise populated by his own compositions. The first one, “Moonbeams,” begins with a brief, atmospheric drum solo that doubles as scene setting. Later, on “390s,” the trio treads more experimental and slightly darker terrain.
“Un-Belonging” was recorded in 2024 at GCR Audio in Buffalo and mastered in New York City. Yet Vega-Albela has roots in the Southwest; he left New Mexico for New York State in 2018. This translates to the open-sky approach of the players, also including Adam Aronesty on tenor sax and Jordan Lerner on tenor and alto sax.
The magic of the cohort comes to the fore on “High Priest,” a cool and mysterious adventure given rich texture by the interplay between the two saxophones. It fits neatly into the contemporary jazz landscape while maintaining an exploratory edge.
This is where “Un-Belonging” (and its titular evocation of placelessness) shines. Technical but not academic and improvisational but still playful, these eight tunes serve up an aesthetic as rich as the colorful brush strokes on the album cover.
