Over twenty years separate the reissue of the eclectic sax quartet Prisms Real Standard Time with their recent release Animal Vegetable Mineral, with changes in sound and personnel. Both have their rich rewards.
The original team of Tim Ries/ss, Michael Whitcombe/as, Matt Levy/ts and Talmur Sullivan/bs mix rich reed tones and textures with some clever guest appearances on their delightful debut. Rich palpable sounds and Ries’ rich soprano on “Your Gentle Heart” while the team mixes classical modes and funk on their three part title piece. Drummer John Riley adds a lithe pulse to the peppy “Three” and kinetic “Irregular Regularity augmented by Ben Monder’s guitar. This album holds up amazingly well and still resonates.
The latest edition has Timothy McAllister and Zachary Shemon replacing Ries and Whitcomb respectively, as the horns get dreamy on the Britten-themed “Red Pine” and forming delicate ambient moods that are held for long tones on “Vamp”. The reeds puff through the journey of “Cha” and some high pitches are reached on “Bagpipe”. The gents sway to a herky jerky rhythm on “Jackass” and mix dots and dashes on the thick and foreboding “Machine”. Still after a score of years a nice walk in deep reeds.