On As We Are Now, saxophonist Jimmy Greene and his ensemble deliver a jazz record that’s rip-roaringly complex yet instantly accessible. Seasoned professionals at the top of their game locking into grooves that are endlessly intricate with a throughline of faith, community and warmth that glows through every arrangement.

At times the band leans hard into gospel-inflected funk, other times quiet praise music, and the collective tone remains uplifting throughout. On Seventeen Days, the album’s sole vocal cut, Javier Colon delivers a vocal performance steeped in Stevie Wonder’s lineage that’s light, familiar, and inviting. His tone glows with effortlessness, matching the mood of the ensemble perfectly. There’s a patient generosity to the arrangements, knowing exactly when to leave space and when to swell. Every player is highly trained, but more importantly they’re deeply listening to one another.

A sense of spiritual and emotional ease runs through the entire album, but it’s particularly vivid on Unburdened, which radiates the feeling of shedding weight, like finally removing your heavy coat back home after a long journey. Greene’s saxophone leads with gentle assurance, with drums that flicker with colour but never overpower. In less skilled hands, the saxophone is an instrument that can veer into kitsch loungey sentiment, but Greene’s tone is warm without being syrupy, using subtle bends and soft vibrato to speak and pray with conversational phrasing rather than to show off. There are moments where he cries out, but more often he leans into restraint as space does the emotional heavy lifting.

The gratitude that courses through these songs is unmistakable, showing that the saxophone when played with humility and intention can carry thankfulness with weight. Flood Stage is where the group lets loose with a dazzling, hard-bop workout that showcases just how tight and telepathic these musicians are, with a swaggering, restless bassline that refuses to settle. Jimmy’s saxophone dances with an unpredictable solo while the rhythm section locks into a fiery groove. The album has moments for the jazz heads who live for compositional sleight of hand, but As We Are Now is never an indulgent exercise. Even at its most complex, the album is always inviting.

The balance between the head and the heart, between complexity and clarity, is what elevates the record, with every player being given space to shine as the drums slip into intricate polyrhythms and the bass bends the groove into unexpected pockets. Greene’s compositions are intelligent without being impenetrable, and emotionally resonant without being saccharine. There are fleeting moments of tension and anxiety, but the emotional palette never shuts you out, even when it’s at its most harmonically unorthodox.

Drawing from gospel, funk, soul, hard bop, and the deep musical empathy between the players themselves, As We Are Now is a reminder of what jazz can be when it’s played with conviction and connection. Joyful jazz with a rare combination of accessibility and artistic depth.