Matt Wilson's GOOD TROUBLE to Release 'Love Is the Whole Thing'
The album follows the band's 2024 debut inspired by Civil Rights icon John Lewis.
Drummer and composer Matt Wilson's Good Trouble returns on September 18, with Love Is the Whole Thing, We Are Only Pieces (Palmetto Records).
Following the band's 2024 debut inspired by Civil Rights icon John Lewis, this new project draws from 13th-century Sufi poet Rumi to offer gentle protest through jubilant, moving new music. The release also marks a major milestone: 30 years since Wilson's 1996 debut on Palmetto Records. They celebrate at Birdland in NYC from September 25–27, 2026.
Good Trouble features a stellar lineup: alto saxophonist Tia Fuller, pianist/vocalist Dawn Clement, tenor saxophonist/clarinetist Jeff Lederer, bassist Ben Allison, and new addition altoist Anisha Rush. The distinctive cover showcases a custom quilt created by Wilson's wife, Kim Taylor Wilson.
'Love is the whole thing. We are only pieces.' The great Sufi poet Rumi wrote those words more than 750 years ago, but they continue to resonate today. For the last three decades, drummer and composer Matt Wilson has delighted in putting together disparate pieces from his extended (and ever-growing) musical family and transmitting the emotional embrace that results.
The self-titled 2024 debut of Wilson's latest ensemble, Good Trouble, drew inspiration from the late Civil Rights icon John Lewis to craft an album that responded to tumultuous times by encouraging positivity as a remedy for divisiveness. On the band's heartfelt follow-up, Love Is the Whole Thing, We Are Only Pieces, Wilson and Good Trouble take Rumi's words as the leaping-off point for a jubilant and moving new set of music that offers gentle protest in the form of deep communion.
'I wanted to make a love record,' Wilson says. 'I'm blessed to have this community. I'm blessed to have the career that I've had. I'm blessed to have a beautiful family. So I want to use the music to help celebrate what's possible, especially in the world we're in right now. It's nice to know that we can take people away from their troubles for a little bit, sonically and spiritually.'
Out September 18, 2026 via Palmetto Records, Love Is the Whole Thing, We Are Only Pieces reconvenes the members of Good Trouble - alto saxophonist Tia Fuller, pianist and vocalist Dawn Clement, tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Jeff Lederer and bassist Ben Allison - with the addition of altoist Anisha Rush, who has been joining the band for live dates for the past couple of years.
The familial spirit of the band members, many of whom share long and fruitful histories with the bandleader, encompass many of the album's credits. The gorgeous cover art is a quilt created by Wilson's wife, Kim Taylor Wilson, author of the quilt-illustrated children's book A Flag for Juneteenth. The album's release marks 30 years since Wilson's 1996 Palmetto debut, As Wave Follows Wave, a remarkable shared history for the artist, the label, and producer/engineer Matt Balitsaris.
'We've all very quickly developed a real band vibe,' Wilson says. 'This album just takes it to another level of trust, welcoming and spirit. I always have a vision for the music, but their instincts really bring everything to life.'
The album begins at nearly a whisper on Wilson's 'Wind Spirit' (previously recorded by his Leap Day Trio), with Clement sweetly singing the Biblical verse John 3:8 - 'The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear the sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.' Wilson adds hushed cymbals and one by one the band joins together as if wafted in on the breeze.
Bobby Watson's vigorous 'Fuller Love (aka In Case You Missed It)' - a tune that Lederer calls 'the best vamp in jazz' - was written as a tribute to the legendary trombonist Curtis Fuller, but serves double duty here as a nod to and showcase for Tia Fuller (no relation). It's followed by the album's most unexpected piece, Tom Petty's 'I Won't Back Down.' The classic rocker is rendered as an invocation of quiet struggle, a mantra of peaceful resistance, its spirit concisely conveyed by Lederer's indelible 8-bar solo.
'I like that song as an anthem for me,' Wilson explains. 'I'm not going to back down. I'm just going to keep trying this stuff and keep forging ahead. Besides, it's kind of cool to have Andrew Hill and Tom Petty on the same record.' The Andrew Hill composition in question is 'Black Fire,' on which Fuller and Lederer take blistering solos over the sly, coiled tension of the rhythm section.
'Joonam,' the title of a meditative Wilson original built on the foundation of his oratorical drumming, is named for a Farsi term of endearment between family members. The tune and its title were written and recorded well before America's current entanglement in Iran, making the piece both timely and timeless. 'Anyone Who Had a Heart' is a Burt Bacharach/Hal David favorite originally recorded by Dionne Warwick in 1963, which the band gives a soulful and wistful read.
Wilson's 'Welcome Table' epitomizes the composer's egalitarian spirit, an open-hearted celebration of togetherness with a bracing hint of Ornette/Ayler skronky angularity. Its title concept is borrowed from James Baldwin. 'You welcome people to the table in order to share ideas and share views,' Wilson describes. 'For me, that's one of the joys of being in the music community, especially on the road. You share conversations and laughter and pranks and serious discussions and music discussions, and all of it strengthens your relationships, your musicianship and your artistry.'
Allison contributes 'Green Al,' which he's recorded on a few of his own albums, with the addition of Clement's dreamlike lyric. The bassist switches over to his Hofner electric for the piece, giving it a hazy, ethereal funk feel. Wilson wanted to include Jack DeJohnette's upbeat 'Festival,' from 1984's Album Album, to honor the late drum master, who passed away a few months before the recording. 'Jack was a big influence on me, not only as a player but as a bandleader and a composer. He always put together very interesting combinations of spirits, and I love that. Most of my heroes are real universalists.'
Universalism, not just in musical collaborators but in sheer humanity, is at the core of Love Is the Whole Thing, We Are Only Pieces. The title track sends the listener away with Rumi's immortal sentiment chanted by a chorus of friends and family, echoing as a hope and encouragement for a better future.
Matt Wilson
Few musicians embody the spontaneous energy of jazz like Matt Wilson. The New York-based drummer combines buoyant zeal, idiosyncratic style, infectious humor, joyous swing and an indomitable spirit of surprise. Together, with his universally recognized personal warmth, these qualities have made Wilson one of the most in-demand players and educators on the modern jazz scene, both beloved and respected by his peers, elders and students. Not bad for a mischievous Midwestern boy from Knoxville, Illinois. Whether anchoring an all-star group at the White House, juggling tricky rhythmic swerves with his own quartets, celebrating the holidays with his Christmas Tree-O, exploring the poetry of Carl Sandburg, sensitively supporting vocalists such as Dena DeRose, presenting concerts at a neighborhood church or donning a superhero cape to inspire young musicians to embrace their individuality, Wilson approaches music as a man on a mission: fostering lively and passionate connections through music. In addition to more than a dozen releases as a leader, Wilson has co-led numerous albums including duo outings with Lee Konitz and Steve Beresford, Sifter with Mary Halvorson and Kirk Knuffke, MOB Trio and Trio M with his alliterative partners Myra Melford and Mark Dresser. His discography extends to over 400 albums, including releases by Dewey Redman, Paul Bley, Charlie Haden, Cecil McBee, Ron Miles, Marty Ehrlich and Jane Ira Bloom, among others.
Matt Wilson's Good Trouble – Love Is the Whole Thing, We Are Only Pieces
Palmetto Records – PM22013 – Recorded January 3-4 and May 2, 2026
Photo Credit: John Abbott
Photo Credit: John Abbott
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