Holy Abyss in Bloomington, MN

Holy Abyss
is an international collaborative effort between American guitarist
Joel Harrison
, Italian bassist
Lorenzo Feliciati
, Vietnamese-American trumpeter
Cuong Vu
, Great Britain's
Roy Powell
on piano and B-3, and American drummer-percussionist
Dan Weiss
. Though this quintet comes together for the first time here,
Harrison
has long worked with
Weiss
, and
Feliciati
with
Powell
and
Vu
. Of the eight compositions ,
each contribute three and
, two.
has a definite feel reminiscent of
ECM
recordings at the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the '80s, when interplay and collaboration between electric and acoustic instruments began in earnest. The first impression of
is of its pristine sound. Each instrument sounds warm and fluid yet holds a separate space in the mix. Two of
's tunes open the set: "Requiem for an Unknown Soldier" and "Saturday Night in Pendleton." They offer definite melodic frames but are both ushered in gently before things begin to get abstract.
' skeletal yet dancing drum work in the opener reveals just how much freedom is allowed here. The inherent lyricism between guitar and trumpet is haunting, shimmering, and emotionally powerful. The latter tune swings in a more conventional way, but it is so nocturnal and eerie, one can hear it as an exercise in syncopation and harmonic inquiry -- before a forceful dynamic change takes it to the margins of rock.
's "Small Table Rules" opens with some jumping, bluesy, post-bop vamping by
followed by the rhythm section. When the trumpet and guitar enter, things get edgier, more intricate and fragmentary, though
keep the groove circular, even when
get skronky. The guitarist's "North Wind (Mistral)" begins as a free floating, midtempo ballad before it transforms itself into a creative, swinging, tour de force where both
shine.
's "Old and New" sounds like its title. While the trumpeter plays a post-bop melody that threatens to break into song at any moment, the rest of the band stretches his harmonies' time to where it slips, yet continues to swing.
's "That Evening," with quiet bass and trumpet intertwining in the intro, is mesmerizing. When
enter, they do so haltingly at first, but still allow
to play scattered and blurred notes before deconstructing the song's ballad-like structure into a whisper as it fades.
is a collaborative union that communicates at the highest levels of disciplined and intuitive musicianship; the complexities in these tunes are easy to underestimate by a casual listener, because these players make it all sound as if they were joining together for an informal jam session, rather than exploring the wildly sophisticated, expansive musical terrain they actually do. ~ Thom Jurek.