Sick of the airy Nordic approach when there is about as much atmosphere as a game of snooker on the moon? Fear not. There is nothing wishy washy about the title track - jousting saxes, ''stuff your minimal no chord change pastoralism'' it is as if to say.
When double bassist Michael Feinberg by contrast on 'Saqqara' opens up more airy space there is a sense of drama conveyed via the introduction of flute in the mix and then cross rhythms from Nasheet Waits percolating and simmering. It's quite the intervention. 'High or Booze' has a handsome initial line that is the most convincing lead line of the whole album. The Rhodes electric piano touches from Leo Genovese when they come add new welcome colour.
Blues Variant covers Herbie Hancock's 'Eye of the Hurricane' which is a good choice given that there are few covers around these days. Oh, a cover of the 1965 released Maiden Voyage classic hasn't registered with us much since Boris Kozlov's 2016 version on his swinging guitar flavoured Conversations at the Well. The Feinberg band's treatment is in terms of gutsiness and mobility far preferable to a night on the tundra. And yet it's not at all heritage ''night-in-Tunisia'' terrain either that the band land on while retaining a bebop flavour as roux. Saxist Noah Preminger and the great Dave Liebman bounce off each other enjoyably in the band sound, think the flicker of an animated movie as timbral layers and the tartness and savouriness of sharps and flats make the ensemble lines characterful at pace.
Feinberg draws to mind the example of Michael Janisch who has done so much on the London scene to raise the standards of the often neglected advanced hard and post-bop community to stop that scene becoming its own worst enemy or too disillusioned and worse cut off from a 21st century reality believing its own press in its own muso bubble.
If you are a bass player listen to Feinberg on what is a veritable étude 'Improvisation (for Leslie)' at the end that isn't as indulgent as it could have been and above all shows Feinberg's incredible tonal command and melodic grasp.
Out today
MORE READING AND LISTENING:
Nasheet Waits with Jeff Parker and Eric Revis on Eastside Romp (2022)
Leo Genovese on Wayne Shorter's Live at the Detroit Jazz Festival (2022)
Noah Preminger's After Life (2019)
Michael Feinberg photo: publicity shot plays the Vortex with Preminger included in the band, later in the year this spring on 26 May
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