Jeremy Udden's Plainville, 'If the Past Seems So Bright'

Saxophonist Jeremy Udden says he started his band as a meditation on growing up in Plainville, and that the quintet’s second album, “If the Past Seems So Bright,’’ is about the idea of returning home. But the music is so much more than that. Udden is carving out new territory with this project, which folds folk, country, and rock into the jazz tradition. Udden, who plays alto and soprano sax as well as clarinet, feels less like a soloist than a singer whose voice happens to be a reed instrument. His tone is soft and restrained, even when those around him rock the backbeat, as they do on “Leland’’ and “Stone Free.’’ The folklike “New Dress,’’ with Brandon Seabrook opening on unaccompanied banjo, evokes rural America via an optimistic chord progression and moody playing. “Sad Eyes,’’ the 11-minute ballad that opens the album, shocks with its simplicity. Together the tune’s components — R.J. Miller’s slow, unchanging rock beat using only bass drum and snare; Eivind Opsvik’s upright bass; Pete Rende’s plaintive electric piano; Seabrook’s stretching-out guitar solo; Udden’s ruminative alto — are nothing less than hypnotic. (Out next week)