Anthony Caceres, Let’s Take a Trip Review

by Icrom Bigrad

Anthony Caceres has something uncommon to offer contemporary vocal jazz, and it is not simply that he sings while playing upright bass. The more revealing distinction is that he sings like a bassist. Throughout Let’s Take a Trip, melody is inseparable from pulse. His phrasing, breath, and rhythmic placement all grow from the same internal quarter-note feel that drives a walking bass line, giving the music a sense of forward motion that is a reflection of how he hears time.

That rhythmic conception shapes the entire quartet. Pianist and co-producer Tamir Hendelman, guitarist Jostein Gulbrandsen, and drummer Joe Farnsworth never settle into the role of accompanists supporting a featured vocalist. They move with him, responding to accents, shaping phrases, and reinforcing the same internal pulse. Caceres’ dual role as vocalist and bassist is therefore more than an interesting résumé line. It becomes the musical language through which the entire ensemble communicates.

The title track makes that language audible. Farnsworth establishes an easy medium-tempo swing before the rest of the quartet slips naturally into the groove. Caceres enters with a warm, centered tone, singing a melody rooted largely in major pentatonic shapes. What catches the ear is how each phrase seems to lean into the next quarter note. While his bass continues walking beneath the harmony, his breathing carries the same quiet push, giving the vocal line the weight and momentum of the bass itself. Hendelman’s comping continually reacts to both the vocal phrasing and Farnsworth’s snare commentary, while Gulbrandsen colors the harmony without ever pulling attention away from the shared swing. Everything is layering on top of the groove; as the melody grows out of it.

That approach unifies the album’s varied repertoire. Originals inspired by marriage, fatherhood, friendship, and memory sit comfortably beside standards and contemporary songs because they are all interpreted through the same rhythmic perspective. Rather than changing musical identities from one selection to the next, Caceres allows the pulse to become the common thread. Swing is less a stylistic decision than a way of organizing every phrase.

Oliver Nelson’s “Stolen Moments,” set with Caceres’ own lyrics, reveals another example of this thinking. His melodic phrasing carries the unmistakable contour of bebop, opening with lines that recall Charlie Parker’s rhythmic imagination through chromatic approaches and flowing resolutions. During the melody’s movement between the minor third and the root, the sustained legato phrases continue to breathe in quarter notes. Even when the line stretches across the bar, that pulse can still be heard in the shape of the breath and in the placement of each accent. That quiet rhythmic certainty allows the performance to swing naturally alongside Hendelman’s harmonic responses, Farnsworth’s relaxed ride cymbal, and the constant grounding of the walking bass.

The scat chorus extends the same idea. Caceres opens with upper-structure language that briefly colors the harmony before resolving with classic post-bop logic, but the technical vocabulary never becomes the point. What stands out is the rhythmic confidence. Every phrase lands with a clear grounding to the quarter note. This causes the improvisation to feel conversational and inviting. The quartet responds immediately, each player adjusting dynamics and phrasing as though continuing the same sentence rather than accompanying a soloist.

That shared sense of time becomes the album’s core sound. The autobiographical themes give Let’s Take a Trip warmth and sincerity, but they are carried by something deeper than the lyrics alone. Years of walking bass have shaped the mechanics of Caceres’ singing itself. His breath, articulation, melodic design, and bass lines all originate from the same internal rhythmic center, making voice and instrument feel like two expressions of a single musical thought.

Many singers swing convincingly, and many bassists possess exceptional time. Anthony Caceres demonstrates what happens when those disciplines become inseparable. Let’s Take a Trip reveals a musician whose entire expressive language grows from an internalized quarter-note pulse. In the end, the album’s strongest story is heard in the way four musicians continually return to the same shared heartbeat, allowing every performance to breathe, swing, and speak with one collective voice.