Mayan Space Station

Over his prolific, five-plus-decade career, bassist and composer 's inexhaustible willingness to collaborate and experiment has led him to work with hundreds of instrumentalists, singers, poets, dancers, and painters, but rarely guitarists. is his first time leading a guitar-based power trio with drummer and Brooklyn-based electric guitarist (a member of ). The six selections here were all composed by the bassist for this group. It's one of two -led outings issued simultaneously on ; the other is , with saxophonist and drummer , an overdue sequel of sorts to from 2000. "Tabasco" commences with and in a hard- grooving circular vamp. weaves a knotty head through their dancing rhythms. Her solo enfolds their vamps then spirals as she weaves a knotty lead through their dancing rhythms then spirals off into edgy fills, feedback, and spiky post-rock riffs while the rhythm section swings behind her. Her playing, while highly original, offers trace echoes of 's arpeggiated technique during the 1970s and 's late union of force, noise, and transcendent melody. "Rocas Rojas'' commences with delivering a bouncy, syncopated Latin groove. starts shading in the blues, then lifts off with skeins of distorted notes, reaching for outside. She bounces off her bandmates before leading them onto and over the improv ledge. "Domingo"'s unorthodox walking bass vamp is engaged immediately by 's modal shards as weds Afro-Latin sources to post-bop and spidery funk. plucks, pushes, and drives the expanding groove as a gateway for 's blues-drenched psychedelic solo, then bridges the trio's incendiary dialogue. On the title track, the drummer criss-crosses carnival rhythms from Brazil, Mexico, the Caribbean, and New Orleans. slaps at his walking bass in a four-note vamp. enters with spiky notes, signaling the trio's entry into abstraction. Using digital delay as a rhythmic device, she expands the pulse, then evades the frame entirely. She adds sharp, -esque single lines and angular chords as the trio ascends in a glorious, explosive free-for-all fall. "Canyons of Light" is easily the most open piece here. plays arco throughout, creating textures and pulses as dances around his cymbals and hi-hat. uses her sustain pedal on juicy, fragmented chords before the bassist takes a long, frenetic, bowed solo, creating a sonic backdrop for his bandmates to play off in ferocious call-and-response free interplay. Closer "The Wall Falls Down" is "Canyons" mirror image, a kinetic exercise in hard-swinging, fingerpopping post-bop. 's rockist solo channels the ' version of "Baby Please Don't Go" before flying off into flamenco asides while referencing , , and as the rhythm section pushes her on. is a deeply focused, inspired set that uses familiar sounds, styles, and sources in building an engine for wide-ranging exploration resulting from uncommonly intimate musical communication. ~ Thom Jurek