Chicago based alto saxist Caroline Davis has a deep and earthy sounding horn, not unlike Lee Konitz, and her improvisatory skills veer toward the same direction as well: free flowing and tangential. Here, she leads a light on the bottom sounding quartet with Mike Allemana/g, Matt Ferguson/b and Jeremy Cunningham/dr on a collection of semi-loose originals and elliptical takes of a couple jazz standards.
The band can definitely swing and bop, as they display on a clever take of Charlie Parker’s “Cheryl,” but most of the time here is devoted to clever and tricky time signatures and melodies, such as on “Kowtow” and “Dionysus which have tangential lines with moody shadows of harmony provided by Allemana’s dark guitar chords. A three song suite (“Old Rims” “Shiny Rims” “Real Rims”) takes you on a sonic journey with winding narrow musical roads leading you down uncertain streets, while the band’s take of Billy Strayhorn’s “Blood Count” is filled with sepia tones. Cerebral sounds.
Ears and Eyes Records