REVIEW: Markus Joachim Rutz, Many Moons. Third Coast Sounds, 2025.

Markus Joachim Rutz, Many Moons. Third Coast Sounds, 2025.

By Jeff Cebulski ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Markus Rutz, trumpet Adrian Rutz, piano

Matt Gold, guitar

Gregory Artry, drums/percussion

Brice Winston, tenor saxophone

(1,6,8,9,11)

Sharel Cassity, alto saxophone (2,3,4,5)

Christian Dillingham, bass (2,3,4,5,7)

Samuel Peters, bass (1,6,8,9,11)

Chicago trumpeter Markus Rutz, having been enlightened by the great Blue Note 50’s and 60’s album artists, has crafted a consistently favorable post bop oeuvre over the past two decades. His latest album, Many Moons, is both an expansion and a reflection of his career, but with a significant difference: this is the first one where he left the recording booth to someone else and was just a musician among others. The pleasurable results are not much different in terms of quality, but perhaps in terms with expression.

Produced by Chicago music veteran Greg Ward, Rutz plays on 11 songs (including four covers) that evoke memory and comment on time, with a core unit of Adrian Ruiz on piano, Matt Gold on guitar, and Greg Artry on drums and percussion, and mixes in three noted saxophonists—Brice Winston on tenor, Sharel Cassity on alto, and Ward on alto for one piece—and two bassists, Christian Dillingham and Samuel Peters. Rutz has recorded with all of these people, and the music reflects the comfortability of a jam among friends.

Gold and Adrian Rutz play the lead-in to “Penumbra,” a bright two-horn melody that quickly commences into swinging bop led by Peters’ insistent beat, featuring a strong statement by Winston. The next four tunes feature the band with Cassity and Dillingham. ”By and By” is built on a give-and-take of the horns with Gold before the altoist proceeds with her typically lyrical hard bop expression. Rutz follows, and his playing sounds as Art Farmer as ever. Next is Van Morrison’s “Moondance,” here played slightly more upbeat than the original. “Before We Met” is a breezy recollection that would pull couples out onto the dance floor for close-body swaying. Gold’s contribution is notable for its restraint and Montgomery-like melodic integrity. Rutz has always been good with balladic tropes, and once again he provides a savory solo. The last of the sequence is one of Joe Sample’s soulful songs, “Asso-Kam,” where Artry and Dillingham deftly establish the soul rhythm atop which Rutz, Gold, and Cassity dance along.

Winston rejoins the action on the first of two “moon” selections. The Rutz original “Many Moons” starts with an almost dirge-like pronouncement before Adrian Rutz enters to change the mood into something more swinging. Markus emerges with a lovely solo onto which Winston connects with a deep-keyed solo of his own over Peters’ walking bass that turns into a call-and-respond section with Artry. Richard Rodgers’ “Blue Moon” gives the trumpeter a chance to shine on his own, with Artry’s punctuated support that extends into “Denouement,” a Latin-tinged tune.

“On the Bostrand” is evocative of the classic albums Rutz was raised on, with a Clifford Brown-Harold Land style and softly Latin touch. Winston’s solo here is one of his best. Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies” is another Rutz solo excursion, a break before Winston’s expansive “Time to Spare,” where the producer Ward joins in.

In these days of turmoil, listening to a harmonious group of colleagues performing music is a form of salve. On Many Moons, Markus Rutz and friends provide all that and more.

For more info and purchase, go to rutzmusicworks.com.

About Jeff Cebulski

Jeff Cebulski, who lives in Chicago, is a retired English educator (both secondary and collegiate) and longtime jazz aficionado. His career in jazz includes radio programs at two stations in southeast Wisconsin, an online show on Kennesaw State’s (GA) Owl Radio from 2007 until 2015, and review/feature writing for Chicago Jazz Magazine since 2016, including his column "Jazz With Mr. C". He has interviewed many jazz artists, including Joshua Redman, Charles Lloyd, Dave Holland, John Beasley, and Chris Brubeck, as well as several Chicago-based players. Jeff is a member of the Jazz Journalists Association. Contact Jeff at jeff@chicagojazz.com