Stirrup, Cut, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Nick Macri, Charles Rumback

Not everything is expected, and sometimes it is a great thing, too. Stirrup is a trio of Fred Lonberg-Holm on electric cello and guitar, Nick Macri on acoustic bass and Charles Rumback on drums. Their album Cut gives us some ten avant jazz-rock jams, ten slabs of open groove and hard-nosed electricity.

It hits me listening how much this sort of thing owes to early Hendrix, his experimental jams, "Third Stone from the Sun" being the landmark beginning. This trio plays out grooves beholden to that in many ways, but as game avant jazzers can do it.

Fred Lonberg-Holm makes his cello into a psychedelic force, an expressive marvel of distortion and space. He plays guitar like that too. Nick Macri lays down deep groove lines. Charles Rumback gives us loose but together groove drums that put the whole thing together.

It's music that fascinates and smartly explores a genre with insight and creativity. This is what ugly-beauty is about and I think Monk if he were here today would agree!

Highly recommended.