The boldly colored cover of Fantastic Thoughts features a sinewy band of horses heroically galloping out of the clouds above and into the foreground. Believe it or not, even that image might still be a little understated for the mood of the music.
Multi-instrumentalist Nate Mercereau is a prolific MVP of the L.A. post-jazz scene, frequently found in the company of similarly ubiquitous, outside-the-box musical thinkers like Carlos Niño and Josh Johnson on projects including 2025’s transcendent Openness Trio album and Andre 3000’s head-turning ambient-jazz solo debut. But while Mercereau’s solo sojourn shares a sense of spiritual uplift with those projects, it couldn’t be further from their quietly contemplative tone.
You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please Log In.
Guitarist Nate Mercereau, saxophonist Josh Johnson, and percussionist Carlos Niño have joined up as The Openness Trio for their Blue Note debut. All are producers and skilled in effects and electronics. Both Mercereau and Niño have toured with Andre 3000. Johnson is known for his work with Jeff Parker and as a producer for Meshell Ndegeocello. Those brief capsules should give you an insight into the dreamy, hazy, electronically fused ambient jazz they create together on this album of five tracks, recorded in 2021, both indoors and outdoors in the Los Angeles and Ventura County areas. Head-spinning in a relaxed, soothing, but oft-disorienting way is a description, although that doesn’t quite do it justice. It sounds fully improvised through focused…