Customer Reviews

Out Trios, Vol. 3: Ash And Tabula

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

. . . but those who do are in for a special treat.

Nels Cline is slowly but surely establishing himself as one of the truly important figures in avant garde jazz and new music. Here the Left Coast guitar maestro finds himself in an entirely congenial setting with Downtown NY bandmates Andrea Parkins (accordion, piano, keyboards, and laptop samples) and Tom Rainey (drums). There's plenty of noise/grunge to satisfy the hardest core out-jazz freak; but there's also a lot of unexpected sheer beauty, with industrial white noise morphing into delicate and unexpected melody ("Alleys of North America").

This strikes me as the finest and most profound music the prolific Nels Cline has put to disc, containing a gravitas and sonic profundity sledom encountered in music of any stripe.

Greatly rewards close listening, although certainly not aural wallpaper or background music (despite apparent ventures into same).

Three of the most innovative and far reaching musicians working today, work very well together on this recording. It runs the gamut of styles, restlessly so, imaginatively so. Nels is in fine form and this is one of the best of his latest batch of recordings. Rainey is a great drummer (see his work with Tim Berne, epecially the Big Satan record), and Parkins who has played with everyone from Bjork to Zorn, is magical, adding in so many subtle layers of sound. You'll like this record--you may even love it if you listen to it long enough.

This was one I waited on, and then by the time it came out I was somewhere else mood-wise and I just never got around to getting it. Then came Nels, Andrea and Tom's newer album, Downpour, which I picked up right around its release. That album is great and any fan of either of these 3 should own it. For a few weeks I was of the mindset that this album probably pales in comparison to Downpour but the more I listened to it, the more I knew I had to give this one a shot also.

Good thinking! Made up of more, and more compact performances, this live album is quite different in tone and attack than Downpour, though when it's really happening it's equally compelling. Though they all shine, I'm particularly fond of Andrea here. She seems to be in a more dominant role here than on Downpour, so it makes for a much different listen.

There are basically 3.5 tracks here that I love. I don't want to distract you from your own experiences with this music, so I'll not name them, but that's how I hear it. 3 great (and in some ways better than Downpour) improvisations, followed by 1 where I don't enjoy the first half of it (that half is my least favorite section of the cd) but somehow it morphs into freaked out beauty.

This is certainly one of Nels' more "noise" types of albums so don't expect the songs/compositions of Draw Breath or Destroy All Nels Cline. This one is about beautiful chaos, and I have to put it way ahead of Live At Luxx both in performance and sonic quality.

An essential document of where Nels' art was at... at least on the night this was recorded. =)