The intersection of rock and jazz has been with us ever since Larry Coryell plugged in with the Gary Burton group back in the mid-‘60s. Since then there have been successes and failures, the latter usually a product of pressures to appeal to the lowest common denominator, but also because of creative misfires or chemistry problems among the musicians involved.
Happily, today’s CD has none of those difficulties. Drummer David Winogrond’s In the Ether (Wondercap) comes at it from the rock end. Essentially these are rockers who have embraced the jazz spectrum. David has influences from both camps—Elvin Jones and Gene Krupa but also Keith Moon and Mitch Mitchell. He finds his own path through the dense underbrush of what has gone before and emerges as a distinctive self. He is joined by reedist Jack Chandler, who ably asserts his musical vision, and guitarist Michael Campagna, who nicely shreds and psychedelisizes himself throughout much of the disk. When these three go at it, the results remind one slightly of the music Ginger Baker, Sonny Sharrock and Peter Brotzmann made a number of years ago. And yet that is only in terms of the basic stance. Winogrond, Chandler and Campagna go their own way here. There are cameo appearances by other fellow travelers as well. All make fitting contributions to the musical whole.
In the Ether shows a flair for combining freedom and electricity. In the search for viable home-grown energy sources, Winogrond and company can supply a good chunk of it right now! A tip of our cap to Wondercap Records for coming out with good sounds when we most need it.
Originally posted on March 10, 2009 at www.gapplegate.com.
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