Noah Preminger • Ballads

Chill Tone Records CT0003LP
180-gram LP
2025

Music
Sound

by Guy Lemcoe | July 15, 2025

lose to ten years ago, I reviewed a Noah Preminger album from the small independent label Newvelle Records. That album, Some Other Time, set new personal standards for contemporary instrumental jazz in both musical and sonic terms. Now, a dozen albums later, Boston-based tenor saxophonist Noah Preminger hits it out of the park again on Ballads, his latest effort from Chill Tone Records, a small independent label with 14 releases in its catalogue.

The album’s opener, Al Cohen’s composition “Stan’s Mood,” sets the intimate climate of the proceedings and introduces us to the fine tone and adventurous ideas of Preminger’s playing. A lazy, four-to-the-bar tempo allows him to stretch out on his sax here, with sensitive backing from pianist Julian Shore, bassist Kim Cass and drummer Allan Mednard. Closing my eyes, I could conjure up a vision of a young Stan Getz as he first performed this composition with his octet for the Savoy label in 1949. The huge soundstage, wide and deep, along with excellent timbre, texture and placement of the individual players contribute to the enjoyment of this music. The next cut, Sun Kil Moon's “Carry Me Ohio,” moves the tempo forward a bit, to a slow, insistent gallop. Preminger explores the range of his tenor saxophone as he testifies repeatedly over Mark Kozelek’s haunting melody. Next, Preminger’s own “Unfair World” unfolds molasses-like via Shore’s piano introduction. The sax soon enters with a somber voice, telling a bleak story with its foreboding air. A mood of tranquil resignation in a chaotic world is established before Shore takes the number out with a beautiful, heartfelt solo, his fingers falling on the keys like snowflakes. Closing side one is another Preminger original, “In Our 20s.” It’s as up tempo as it gets on this album of introspective ruminations. Here Preminger seems to be searching for the perfect sequence of notes to convey his message. Did he find them? You must listen for yourself to answer that question. For me, he left behind some unresolved ideas and speculation, perhaps on musical purpose.

“Democracy,” side two’s opener and yet another Preminger original, is the most conventional-sounding tune on the album. With its heritage deep in Ellingtonia, it features a beautiful but brief solo from Shore before Preminger shows his most “Dexter-ish” side, massaging the elegant theme with a throaty voice that would make the legendary jazz icon proud. The ominous opening to “Pneu” lends a sense of mystery to the tune, permeating it as it evolves into a dialogue between bassist Cass and drummer Mednard. That foreboding tone continues as Preminger runs the changes and ends the tune. In the company of the adventurous numbers preceding it, George Gershwin’s evergreen “Someone To Watch Over Me” may seem out of place. It’s fitting, though, and serves as the perfect end to an album of the dreamy, often intangible musical musings of a singular talent. At a tempo just short of a dead stop, the quartet sticks close to the original tune, with Shore soloing beautifully again before Preminger indulges in some noodling before returning to the melody and taking the song out.

Perhaps a bit abstract and free-reining for many listeners, Ballads is an important release in the oeuvre of Noah Preminger. Captured in truthful sound and pressed, unaccredited, on flat, silent white vinyl, the rhapsodic playing of this young, adventurous musician deserves to be heard.