How outside do you like your “Outside” jazz? Here are three beds to see if it’s too hard, soft or just right…
Ross Hammond brings his electric 6 and acoustic 12 stringed guitars to team up with Vinny Golia/ts-ss-fl, Steuart Liebig/b and Alex Cline/dr-perc for a collection of originals that mix electronic loops and effects with some raucous and rock-ish material. Songs like “Run, Run Ibex” and “Tricycle” could easily cross the line between fusion and heavy metal, with some hard hitting drums and Jimmy Page-like guitar riffs. Golia’s sax and flute create layers over the herky jerky “A Song For Wizards” and “Hopped Up” and everyone goes in twenty directions on free formers like “”Telescoping.” Hammond’s gentle duet with Cline on the closing “Goodnight Lola” is a nice respite from the heavy traffic of the rest of the release.
Alto saxist David Binney’s got a lovely tone on his horn, nice and warm. He uses it with Craig Taborn/p, Eivind Opsvik/b and Tyshawn Sorey/dr for a collection of songs that ranges from simple 2-3 minute vignettes like the melancholy “Red Cloud” to 18 minute opuses. Of the latter, “As Snow Before A Summer Sun” is an almost Renoirish Impressionistic painting, with the gentle hues from the instruments undulating like a shy ray of morning light. Lonely themes on “Lifted Land” and “Losing the Central Valley” have Binney brooding over the rhythm team, while sounding thoughtful and giving Opsvik plenty of room on the gentle “The Blue Whale.” Pretty quite stuff here, Sheriff.
Composer Dorothy Hindman brings together 6 originals here, most of them in essentially a solo format. You’ve got 14 minutes of an amplified cello solo, almost 15 of “unpitched percussion” and just 8 for “piano and digital media.” If you’re still awake, an alto sax quartet is like WSQ lite, and the 10 minute orchestral “Magic City” performed by the Kiev Philharmonic may actually deserve a second listen. But, was it worth the wait?
Prescott Recordings
Criss Cross Jazz
Innova Recordings