''Chasing Echos'' by Jon Gold
- GRAHAM
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
There’s something quietly defiant about Jon Gold. A pianist and composer who never clings to one tradition, Gold has built a career weaving influences from across continents, cultures, and decades. His latest release, Chasing Echos, is a panoramic conversation between genres, lives lived, and stories half-told. Released April 28th on Entropic Records, this project pulses with a sense of wonder and depth, a kind of sonic passport stamped by a lifetime of musical curiosity and human connection.
Gold, a longtime explorer of Brazilian music, spent years living and working in Brazil—an experience that didn’t just shape his sound but helped carve out his voice. His compositions often lean into that heritage, but never predictably. Instead, he stitches together textures from jazz, classical, and Latin traditions with a patience and elegance that speaks volumes. With Chasing Echos, Gold expands that voice even further, drawing in orchestral elements, improvisational fire, and aching lyricism. The result is a record that both invites and challenges.
The opener, 'Breaking the Ice', is a gentle handshake—unassuming, but full of quiet energy. Marina Marchi’s vocals float above Rodrigo Ursaia’s sax work like steam rising from a warm cup. There’s an intimacy here that feels less like a studio cut and more like eavesdropping on something private. But by the time we reach 'For Sergio Mendes', Gold is in full celebration mode. The rhythm section (anchored by drummer Mauricio Zottarelli) grooves with a wink, and Jorge Continentino’s flute flits around the melody with almost impish delight. It’s clear Gold is paying homage and expanding the vocabulary.
'Fantasie' and 'Pegasus' follow, each revealing a different facet of Gold’s compositional mind. The former is quietly cinematic, as if composed in the brief stillness before a storm, while Pegasus, with its soaring guitar lines and sweeping strings, feels like a bird taking flight. Juan Lucangioli’s vocals add a layer of tension and yearning that lingers even after the track ends. And then comes 'Nine for MZ', a tribute to Zottarelli, written in 9/4. It’s technically brilliant, yes—but also deeply personal. There’s history between these two musicians, and it hums through every phrase.
The title track, 'Chasing Echos', sits at the album’s emotional centre. It isn’t flashy and is not trying to be. But something about the way the harmonies unfold—quiet, aching, unresolved—pulls you in. Mark Egan’s fretless bass adds an almost ghostly dimension, echoing the album’s themes of time, memory, and distance. This is Gold at his most vulnerable: subtle, thoughtful, and deeply present.
From there, the album gently shifts. 'Tone Poem for the Americas' leans orchestral, its mood wide-eyed and expansive, while 'Blues Pé de Serra' brings the listener back to earth with its rooted, earthy groove. Toninho Ferragutti’s accordion breathes an old-world charm into the piece, tying it back to Brazil’s northeast with grace. These contrasts don’t clash, but converse. And Gold manages to keep the conversation rich and flowing throughout.
The final three tracks—'Athena’s Web', 'Friends United', and the closing 'Tone Poem' reprise—are the album’s most collaborative. Voices blend, horns swell, strings tug, and yet nothing feels overdone. Gold knows how to leave space, how to let each player speak, and how to guide a song without controlling it. The appearance of the Ukrainian string players—recorded under the strain of conflict—adds a quiet, powerful weight to the arrangements. Their performances are resilient, raw, and human. It's a reminder of what music can carry.
'Chasing Echos' is not background music. It’s not here to hustle for attention. It asks you to sit with it, to listen deeply, to trace the lines between tradition and invention. In a world obsessed with immediacy, Jon Gold has made something timeless—an album that lives in the in-between, in the echo after the sound, in the silence that follows a meaningful phrase. And that, in itself, is a rare and beautiful thing.
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