For his third release on the Posi-Tone label, pianist Art Hirahara returns to the trio format he has previously explored, but this time tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin makes a guest appearance on several tracks. Joining Hirahara in the core trio are bassist Linda Oh, and drummer Rudy Royston.
The music seems to be a rather scattered mixture of ideas. The trio pieces are nice, and quite short for the most part with a fairly restrained dynamic level. The title track opens the record and is one of the better trio pieces with a catchy chordal vamp that keeps returning throughout the piece. "Sesnistive Animal" is another standout from the trio, starting out very quiet and spacious, but developing into a more energetic conclusion with some particularly nimble and reactive bass playing from Oh and some nice brushwork from Royston. Hirahara also includes several short solo piano pieces, which are quite good for the most part and draw more from his classical sensibilities. "Introspect" is particularly nice and Hirahara's delicate touch and harmonic shading brings to mind the work of impressionist composers.
Henry Hall
The tracks with McCaslin added are some of the longest tracks, and also some of the best, feeling more like complete, fully developed works. "Little Giant" finds the quartet in their most interactive mood, setting up the melody with a playful back-and-forth dialogue between McCaslin and Hirahara. "Entanglement" is also one of the standout tracks with a blistering solo from McCaslin that brings out the best in the rhythm section. Probably the most modern sounding composition is "Kinka Gold Coin" with a driving, straight-eighth rhythm and exciting solos that develop thematically as well as dynamically. McCaslin's is especially good once again, beginning acapella, with only occasional drum ticks helping mark the form, but then increasing in energy as the rhythm section comes back in.
Taken as a whole, this record feels a little bit unfocused. It seems like Hirahara took ideas for three separate albums- a solo album, a trio album, and a quartet album- and threw them all together. Musically, most of the selections are very strong but the variety of material keeps it from feeling very cohesive. In general, the quartet tracks felt the most complete and were very engaging, thanks in large part to McCaslin's fantastic playing. The album is a good sampling of Hirahara's abilities and interests but could have been better with a narrower focus.
Agree, disagree?
Hudson Johnson
The concert was one of the highlights of the festival for me. Along with Mette Rasmussen/Chris Corsano & Evan Parker/Joe Morris/Nate Wooley
Evan Torres
...
Kevin Nguyen
Looks like the old Windows desktop
Ethan Butler
...
Gavin Perry
anybody have a dl link fro this
Eli Gray
This album sucks dick. Craig Taborn is good but Mats Gustaffson plays like a rockist. Really annoying.
Landon Phillips
>plays like a rockist I don't think you know what that means
Zachary Kelly
you don't need to know what the buzzwords you use mean when all you're doing is casting low-tier b8
