Tony Malaby: tenor and soprano saxophones; Ben Monder: guitar; Eivind Opsvik: bass; Nasheet Waits: drums.
The intuitive American saxophonist Tony Malaby continues enriching his amazing discography with audacious projects and knotty jazz.
Seven years after Paloma Recio’s first appearance with their enigmatic self-titled album, Malaby reunites the super-quartet to release “Incantation Suite”, an equally intricate but far more powerful album.
“Glass” begins with a lyrical, velvety texture created by the combination of Monder’s fingerpicking and Opsvik’s bowed bass. Malaby’s soprano saxophone sounds lamenting and grave at first, but becomes fiercely unquiet by the end, while Nasheet's tom-tom drumming and cymbal blowouts are fundamental to give continuity to this less lyrical and more contorted section.
The following composition, entitled “Artifact”, is a mutable piece that gains a swinging balance with the unison entrance of Malaby and Monder.
The guitarist gives wings to his imagination, extemporizing a fantastic solo, followed by Malaby who, using both dark and harsh timbres, strenuously improvises over a thick layer of bass and drums. The tune acquires a darker temperament for its finale thanks to Monder’s spectral guitar sounds.
In “Hive”, Malaby’s solo introduction on soprano is capable of hypnotizing both serpents and human beings. This is a tune that generates a sense of danger mostly due to Opsvik’s scathing bowed bass. Patiently searching for something unknown, Malaby and Monder alternate between individual spontaneity and parallel melodic lines. The former’s language, summoning Coltrane and Lacy, intertwines with the whirlwinds of distortion of the latter.
The 17-minute “Procedure” opens with a bass intro, flowing energetically to exploratory places that hold astonishing guitar embellishments sank in vibrant effects and growled saxophone clamors well backed-up by the responsive drummer.
Cohesion, motivation, and an insuperable taste for experimentation are the secret potions for this hypnotic incantation.
Favorite Tracks:
01 – Glass ► 02 – Artifact ► 03 – Hive