Some people can go “out there” musically and make it work, others just go out there, and you may just not want them to come back.
Drummer Barry Romberg leads a team of musicians that includes Ben Monder/g, Rich Brown/b and Kelly Jefferson/sax, although a rotating team jumps on and off the Merry Go Round seemingly at will. The music has overlong drum solos, whiney and mandering sax solos, jarring guitar picking and herky jerky rhythms throughout. A few songs like “End of an Era” have some actual compositional qualities that will make you pay attention, and Kirk MacDonald’s tenor has some intriguing moments. I’m not sure what message Romberg was trying to deliver on this two cd set, but the moral of the story is that “Less is More.”
Henry Threadgill’s band of Liberty Ellman/g, Jose Davila/tb-tuba, Christopher Hoffman/cello, Stomu Takeishi/b and Elliot Humberto Kavee/dr takes the same genre of semi-free, semi avant, and gives a much better go of it. “A Day Off” has Threadgill’s alto swooping over the foamy waves of the lighter than air rhythm section. The string rich band has a celestial quality on material like “So Pl eased, No Clue” and “Ambient Pressure Thereby” and Threadgill’s flutes are like the swallows returning to Capistrano, cooing and fluttering ever so lovingly. Mixtures of calm rest and tongue in cheek knowingness make for an enjoyable and listenable outing.
Romhog Records
Pi Recordings