Comprised of leader/composer/drummer Alan Hall and Paul Hanson/bsoon-ts, John Gove/tb, Dillon Vado/vib-perc, Greg Sankovich/p-key,and Jeff Denson/b, the team Ratatet creates pastoral and impressionistic chamber styled jazz with rich textures. Guests including Paul McCandless/eh-ob, Joseph Hebert/cel and a collection of percussionists mix pastels of sounds to intricate and sophisticated charts, still leaving space for an occasional solo splurge.
Pieces such as the graceful and moody “Grattitude” as well as the elliptical “A Short Poem for a Shattered Age” mix piano and vibes weaving through the woodwinds, while Hanson’s tenor sax weaves through the intricate “Democratic Shift” with subtoned double reeds teaming with bowed strings on ”Agnes Martin.” A bit of Caribbean percussion adds muscle to the exotic “Michael Shannon,” but for the most part you’re getting a collection of musical water lilies at Givenchy, which is not a bad thing at all.