Label: Red Piano Records, 2019
Personnel - Tony Malaby: tenor saxophone; Ethan Helm: alto saxophone; Hery Paz: bass clarinet; Andrew Schiller: bass; Matt Honor: drums.
After landing in Brooklyn, bassist Andrew Schiller, a native of Phoenix, has been displaying a level of maturity not frequently seen in musicians of his age. Asserting his extraordinary talents as a composer, player, and bandleader, Schiller redefines his quintet for the second album, Sonoran, a nine-part suite inspired by the Sonoran Desert landscape, a visual perception from his childhood.
If his 2017 debut record, Tied Together, Not to the Ground, had featured a double-horn section supported by piano, bass, and drums, then, for this new project, he goes piano-less and expands the frontline with an extra reed. Saxophonists Tony Malaby and Ethan Helm, on tenor and alto saxophone, respectively, join him for the first time, as well as drummer Matt Honor. Cuban-born reedist Hery Paz remained in the group, but switched from tenor saxophone to bass clarinet in order to provide further timbral stimuli.
The title track is an enthralling contrapuntal dance that unfolds with a multi-ostinato texture at the base and unisons from alto sax and bowed bass. A persistent bass pedal is later transformed into a thrusting groove, inviting the horn players to blow simultaneous free extemporizations.
Pace and timbre are remarkably controlled in this group, and the vivacious “Gambelii” demonstrates this quality while effortlessly mixing classical, Latin, and post-bop idioms. The free bopish attitude is aggrandized through polyrhythmic nuances in the foundation, and the soloists, Helm and Malaby in the case, may go different ways, but bring sparkle to the music. The tenor man initiates his improvisation in a disarmingly melodic way after Helm’s vertiginous explorations.
“Thorny Flora” nods to Charles Mingus, marching methodically with swagger and swinging with some reedy melodic strains atop. The tune, another showcase for Malaby's inventiveness, also features Paz, who totally grabs the spotlight on “Wet Hair, Dry Hair”, an even-tempered effort crafted under a 5/4 meter signature. Here, he delivers a mesmeric, meaty solo sustained by discernible bass alignments and restless drumming, later enjoying the company of the saxophonists, whose parallel lines provide atmosphere.
An earnest avant-garde vibration shakes the very first minutes of “Shade For Shelter”. However, the piece veers into a rock-infused elation that emphasizes contrapuntal melodic associations (the two saxophones against the pair double bass/bass clarinet). The bandleader shows off tight improvisational skills, after he had explored more spacious environments on the romantically classical “Western Theme #1”, the first of three cinematic chamber vignettes.
As a multi-colorist, Schiller expands his sonic canvas with the current instrumentation, comfortably straddling multiple disciplines and providing you with deeply absorbing sounds to be discovered.
Grade B+
Favorite Tracks:
01 - Sonoran ► 05 - Wet Hair, Dry Hair ► 09 - Thorny Flora