Eric Revis Trio, Crowded Solitudes

New albums by bassist Eric Revis have become something of an occasion to me. The latest gives us a fabulous trio effort of Eric with pianist Kris Davis and drummer Gerald Cleaver. Crowded Solitudes (Clean Feed 363) is a smartly burning set that brings out the best in Eric with plenty of full blown expressive thrust, some whip-crackingly precise yet vastly expressive, soulfully out Kris Davis, and a roll-and-tumble propulsion and dynamic energy from Gerald Cleaver.

A young Rio Sebastian Revis gives us a very musical speech statement which sounds almost Chinese and serves as the compositional impetus for the fascinating "Bontain." We get some collectively devised pieces, a few by Revis alone, one by Paul Motian (RIP) you may well recognize and yet another by Greg Osby.

The threesome are on a roll throughout, everybody pulling much weight and punching out with a determined brilliance--to mix metaphors. Davis reminds us how central she is now, but so do Eric and Gerald.

This is determined collective-self-music of a beautiful edginess. A fantastic set.

Hear it. Get it. And you will no doubt get it and get with it. I am not kidding!

Alex Goodman, Border Crossing

What does one say after one has said everything? I don't know, since I have NOT said everything and no doubt never quite will. On the other hand one (or me anyway) has the challenge to remain fresh, to cover music 15 times a week and say something worthwhile about it all. When the music is good, as generally it is or I would not cover it on these pages, it suggests words to you as you hear it. That is so with the album of Canadian guitar jazz by Alex Goodman, Border Crossing (OA2 Records 22131).

This is some very accomplished and beautifully serene music that owes something to Brazilian saudade classics, yet clearly is in the contemporary northern jazz camp. Alex shines forth on electric and acoustic guitar in a program of originals plus an adaptation of something by Mozart and a standard by Bricusse and Newman  ("Pure Imagination").

Key to all this are the nicely expressive vocals of Felicity Williams, who gives us wordless ensemble vocals and well wrought phrasings of the song fare here. Key also is the vibraphone work of Michael Davidson, whose sound and approach permeates the ensemble sound and gives it distinction. Andrew Downing adds color and bottom on cello and bass; Rogerio Boccato plays some appropriate percussion and drummer Fabio Ragnelli brings his drumming prowess into three of the seven numbers.

Throughout Alex plays interesting guitar that shows facility and an original sense of taste, laid back but substantial.

In many ways Felicity steals the show with a clear and pure-toned post-Gilberto clarion tenderness that sets the mood and makes Alex's guitar entrances all the more dramatic.

It is one of those albums that is filled with musical content for the sharp ears out there, yet will please lots of folks who are less exacting.

Nice!

Michael Bisio & Kirk Knuffke, Row for William O.

Some albums jump right out at you from the very first notes and keep it up without the least bit of lag. That is certainly the case with Michael Bisio & Kirk Knuffke's Row for William O. (Relative Pitch RPR 1043). It is Kirk on cornet and Michael on bass with some beautiful synergies between composed and improvised lines, just the two in exceptional form, sounding free and modern as hell and as accomplished as anything you'd expect from them, maybe even more so!

The album is dedicated to the seminal clarinetist-educator William O. (Bill) Smith, with whom Michael was closely associated in the Seattle days. Now I read recently on social media (and I am writing from memory so I hope I get it right) that the title refers to a 12-tone row Smith once suggested based on the melody of "I Got Rhythm"! The idea was that (12-tone) modernism could be warm and familiar, that it need not sound like it came out of a laboratory. So this music has something to do with all that and we can hear it with Smith's "Drago," which opens the album, and in Michael's title work, but also throughout! The music soars and it is not necessary (though interesting) to absorb the full implications of William's thought, though the fact that you don't is exactly what he had in mind!. Anyway, from there follows three more Bisio compositions and a joint Bisio-Knuffke number.

There is an advanced melodic quality in both the compositions and the improvisations. Everything has both freedom and structure, so much so that the seamlessness of the inspired improvisations sound as compositional as the compositions.

Michael gets plenty of space for some very brilliant bass improvisations, some of his most advanced, which is saying a great deal. He gives you lots of hands-down reasons why he is at the top of the bass improv world here and it is breathtaking.

But then Kirk sounds fabulous as well, with beautifully expressive tone and some ear-grabbing phrases that go marvelously well with what Michael is unravelling throughout.

I am hard pressed to think of a more successful piece of artistry for trumpet-bass duet. It is that good. These two are striking musical gold, no matter where you find yourself in the set. It clicks...like mad!

Can I suggest to you that you must not miss this one? It is the art of ultra-modern jazz at a peak. William O. Smith has been feted here with an ideal homage. Damn!

Vibrating Universe, Birth of Truth

I take today's post to expound on the virtues of a local New Jersey group, Vibrating Universe. They were kind enough to send me their new double-CD Birth of Truth (self released). It is wall-of-sound post-prog rock with very nice guitar work by Derrick Klybish (who plays bass as well), concept and lyrics by David Pardine and all vocals divided between him and brother Brian, with Brian on keys. Both are also jointly responsible for the music writing. Derek Schildkraut holds up the rhythmic end nicely as the drummer.

It is a sort of cosmic-themed progressivity. Sometimes the melody lines are direct and essentialist, almost chant-like in their single-minded thrust. At other times they are filled with multiple parts and/or harmonic richness. There is something distinctive going on in any case. And the lyrics are searching and space-directed in ways that complement the musical spaciousness that is a hallmark of this group on this their extended sojourn. The vocals are generally very full--with multiple voices hitting the senses strongly, contrasting and layering nicely with the full-bore instrumental density.

I will not say that this sounds like a present-day equivalent of classic Moody Blues sides because the sound is not the same, but the intent to send the listener into an experiential orbit is nonetheless there like the Moodys at their peak.

But no, it does not sound retro or dated so much as it partakes in an outward-bound thrust in common with early classic prog, only it does so on its own terms. I understand from the band that they took no little effort and time to get the sound just right, and it most certainly shows.

There are no dead spots or fillers in this involved two-CD presentation. Far from it. All lays out very well and originally, lyrically, cosmically.

I do recommend this for those who seek spacy-lyrical song fare of a decidedly original sort. Bravo!

Harvey Valdes Trio, PointCounterPoint

Guitarist Harvey Valdes brings to us a vibrantly iconoclastic trio outing on PointCounterPoint (self-released). The unusual and well articulated instrumentation is Harvey on electric guitar, Sana Nagana on violin and Joe Hertenstein on drums. Each contributes much to the totality, which is a sort of avant jazz rock with pronounced rhythmic presence and odd or shifting meters that are foregrounded by Joe's definitive drumming. The melodic interplay between Harvey and Sana is most unusual, modern in its chromatic expansiveness, ever-shifting and evolving with the two melodic lines intertwining and allowing space for soloistic improv flourishes.

It follows very original post-fusion advanced form with remarkable consistency and some highly unusual ways that unwind with excellence and give Harvey the chance to show a special solo weight both unusual and with an undeniable logic and brilliance. But then Sana is in there too with counterlines of real worth.

It is the kind of music that states its own case, not bending to an assimilation of the typical, but holding its own in exciting ways.

It is of considerable interest from a compositional standpoint but also gives us some wonderful guitar, violin and drum work in the process.

It is something you must check out if you want something new and very out-of-the-ordinary. Oh, no, I do not exaggerate. This is beautifully new!! Highly recommended.

Charlie Ballantine, Providence

Some albums just lay out naturally and speak to us without holding back but also with a kind of natural directness. That is so of electric guitarist Charlie Ballantine's album Providence (self-released). It's a set of (mostly?) originals that set Charlie's bluesy-folksy electric guitar against a nicely put-together group with Amanda Gardner on alto, Josh Espinosa on organ, Conner Green on bass and Josh Roberts on drums.

There is a sort of country-pie rural flavor to the music that might remind you a little of early Pat Metheny but not exactly. Charlie solos nicely in a very laid-back way that is not out to wow you with chops though there is evidence of all that. No, he wants to build moody, bluesy edifices of sound, to capture a shifting dynamic that puts forward its particular, relaxed, local kind of significant approach.

It's a sort of music that decidedly is more rock-jazzish than smooth, that floats into your listening mind without a lot of sweat and struggle, and so should appeal to a broad swath of audiences without sacrificing artistic merit.

I like it. It just hangs there for you like a good painting. It does not go out of its way to call attention to itself, yet it is there to examine in some detail should you be so inclined. It's mood music for mood music more than some stated activity. And it pleases without pandering.

Shoot it on and you'll find yourself drifting in a very nice way.

The Electric Suite

When in the course of the many submissions I receive as part of my blog writing I get something in the realm of the totally unknown it is not in itself unusual. But when the artists "prefer to remain anonymous," as the guy in that very old show "The Millionaire" did (showing my age again?), it is pretty unusual. Who would not want their names emblazoned on their CD? Well, no matter. Today we have "a post-rock duo playing a rough, loud, tense and minimal sound. A Bass and a singer performing electric tracks colored with a subtle and sophisticated darkness," to quote the front cover. Well, yes, that's so and in the end the music communicates fully even if we only know this outfit by the title of the EP CD, The Electric Suite (self-released).

Put expectations aside and open your ears as I did. In the end we get six songs, hard-hitting mostly, with the electric bass played with zeal and a guitar-like fullness, quite nicely really. The singer counterpart is a woman who sounds like herself, poetic, declamatory, dedicated to a certain intensity that matches the bass playing.

After you listen a couple of times it makes very much sense as a unique and creative duo effort with the intensity of avant rock but yes, post-rock, in that it does not follow any formulas that a typical rock outing might.

We get some pretty intense bass plying and a sung poetry that places it all in the contemporary underground, and all the better for us, as it does so in ways that will reward those who open up to it.

And in the end this is music that is the opposite of anonymous, in that it is very personal and original. It is, after all, the music of "The Electric Suite." And they are definitely onto something.

PS: After I posted this I received some additional info on the group from a most reliable source:
The Electric Suite, according to the vocalist on the CD, Carla Diratz, was recorded in November of 2010, after she and bassist Corentin Coupe got together in Montpellier, France. They created some 20 tracks or so in a matter of 3 months and played a few gigs ... and then for various reasons, they were unable to tour and play gigs that were offered. So the duo separated. One and a half years later they decided to get together again and added guitar and drums to play the music they'd recorded, and voila, her new group No White Of Moon was born.