Earlier in the year the band Ahmed, who are largely the same people as the piano trio ism, released a storming version of double bassist Ahmed Abdul-Malik's 'Nights on Saturn' parenthesized 'Communication'. Pianist Pat Thomas known for his work with Black Top, bassist Joel Grip, drummer Antonin Gerbal from that release (which also featured alto saxophonist Seymour Wright not on this new one) are on Japanese Flower released on Grip's diacritic rather than dire critic-loving Umlaut Records at the end of June. If you know and appreciate the earlier Metaphor (2019) then you need this as it too was recorded at the same studio session in Tokyo. If not you will be looking for that release too as a priority. How to describe what's here? Well it's free, collective, improvisation. Sometimes it swings conventionally (ie there is a triplet feel to the accented notes and the drummer keeps darting 4/4 time) often it doesn't. When it doesn't it still grooves, the Gerbal grooves, especially, in its own lop-sided free spirited manner and dickies with the pulse. The trio don't play tunes but there is a fractured sense of melody usually run with rather than loaded too much with dense chords or portentous silences. Thomas is quite Bud Powell-like on 'Dahlia' so you can pick out the bebop building blocks of some of the ideas. You can also easily hear how Thomas has influenced Alexander Hawkins and frees your mind.