Groundtruther
is not a band, actually, but a project created by guitarist/composer
Charlie Hunter
and drummer, composer, and electronics maestro
Bobby Previte
. There will be three albums in the
catalog when it's all done, of which
Latitude
is the first --
Longitude
and
Altitude
are the other titles in the series. In addition to the duo, each album will play host to a different guest instrumentalist, making each album a trio offering. On
, it is saxophonist
Greg Osby
. Illustrating the conceptual nature of the outing are the track titles,
"North Pole,"
"Arctic Circle,"
"40th Parallel,"
all the way to
"Tropic of Calms,"
"South Pole"
on the other end with many stops between. This is a freewheeling recording,
improvisation
based on rhythm and riff are the framework for each selection while
Osby
is the bridge not only between musicians, but the interpolator whatever language is being spoken. Strange sonics and beats come popping out of
Previte
's ether as
Hunter
struts and snakes around them with this jazz-o'-time-and-space warp style of bending not only individual notes but entire chords and riff figures into something exotic and new. Where he appears,
in his wonderfully articulated
blues
-meets-
free jazz
manner of soloing, offers historical weight to these proceedings, but also a melodic construction that roots them to
jazz
's heritage in the moment. Whether it's the freely improvised
the shifty futuristic bluesy
funk
of
"Horse Latitudes North,"
the steamy, slim-line
"Equator,"
or the shimmering, futuristic ambience in
"Antarctic Circle,"
he brings the focus to the tradition itself, allowing his bandmates to extrapolate and bead it on geographical meditation.
is absent on
"Tropic of Cancer,"
and the result is an excursion into fragmented, angular
junglism
, and
's breaks and
's guitar spar and turn on a dime in some sort of humid futurist twilight zone.
is an engaging if sometimes confounding listen and offers plenty of interest as to what the next two volumes will hold. ~ Thom Jurek