Music in three…
Piano vet John Escreet has been a sideman for the likes of David Binney, Antonio Sanchez and Alex Sipiagin, always reliable in the left of center post bop world. Here, in a trio setting, he and his team of bassist Eric Revis and drummer Damion Reid go into explorative mode, focusing on intuition and expression. There are a number of quirky tunes such as “Study No. 1”, and the team scrambles around on the spontaneous feeling of the darker “RD” rustling title tune, kinetic “Digital Tulips” and the angular “Outward and Upward”. Revis is reflective on “Equipose” and the team veers around the traffic jam of “The Water Is Tasting Worse”. Spontaneous combustions.
Guitarist Gene Ess teams up with drummer Clarence Penn and bassist Scott Colley for modern guitar musings of original compositions. At times, Ess is reminiscent of Larry Coryell, with a nimble post bop electricity to the title track, the drum patterned “Dark Blues” and the bass guiding “ Trance”. He also can plug in and get quite metallic as on the acidic “Array”, propelled by Penn’s hard hitting sticks, as well as floating softly on the spacious “ Yuk”. Acoustic strings are ambient on the solo “Crossing” and his impressionistic for “Ending Credits”. Rich cross pollinations.