This quartet date by guitarist
Christy Doran
, bassist
Mark Helias
, drummer
Bobby Previte
, and saxophonist
Gary Thomas
may have been recorded in Europe by
Stefan Winter
, but its feel is utterly New York.
Doran
's playing is far more on the
jazz-rock
than
avant
tip here, giving the entire proceeding a feeling of that beautiful, edgy walk between composition and
improvisation
.
Thomas
-- normally an outside player -- reins himself in as a soloist in order to focus on the sometimes wondrous ensemble playing at the heart of the disc. Each member of the band writes on this set and it's obvious that the groove comes from within. It's knotty, sometimes intense, and often complex, such as on the opener
"Blood Sugar,"
and on
's
"Heitere Gelassenheit,"
where staggered arpeggios intersect with scalar riffs to form a kind of contrapuntal melody line. But there are wonderfully elegiac and gently swinging tunes as well, such as the flute-driven swing in
'
"Chiaroscuro"
or the languid tempos of
Helias
"21"
and
"Bass Minotaur."
also offers a
jazz-funk
workout with
"Skin,"
with furious basslines driving riffed-up guitars and a bleating saxophone that stays in the pocket. The album closes with
Previte
's beautiful nocturne
"Theme for W.,"
where
weave around one another slowly and purposefully to erect a floating melody that seems to float and hover while actually moving toward a complex harmonic architecture with a controlled dynamic. ~ Thom Jurek