Label: Trouble in the East Records, 2020

Personnel - Federico Pierantoni: trombone; Leonardo Rizzi: Fender Rhodes; Andrea Cali: piano; Andrea Grillini: drums.

The Bologna-based members of the bass-less quartet Bad Uok - drummer/composer/leader Andrea Grillini, guitarist turned keyboardist Leonardo Rizzi, trombonist Federico Pierantoni and pianist Andrea Cali - celebrate a decade-long collaboration with a new album, Lateless, which brings in as much of aesthetically composure as experimentation.

The album kicks off with “105 Pt.3”, which makes a bridge between the first recording, Enter (2013), and this one. A repetitive piano note and minimal percussion provide a light path for the trombone explorations, but it’s only after the picture becomes tinged with Rhodes shadings that an entrancing rhythm gains shape, making us move our feet. The group skirts around that battering pulsation for another relaxed trombone dissertation, after which an accessible avant-jazz interlaces with elements that are reminiscent of danceable electronic music. The piece ends with chiming organ sounds and brisk drum work.

Particularly cinematic, “Nails” allowed that a few famous chase scenes popped up in my mind. Sly shifts in the rhythm framework demonstrate imagination, and when Cali ceases from adding chromatic poise and angularity through improvisation, the group finishes off by interpolating an exciting funk fragmentation in the proceedings.

The pianist makes the beauty and the mystery coexist on the title cut as he delivers colorful chords clinically explored with the adequate extensions for the effect. Working on the lower end of the keyboard, Rizzi creates a droning profundity that brings up chamber music, while Pierantoni, grooving with a carefree posture, shows off an ecstatic jazzy language on top of the contradictory lyrical restraint of the piano. The tune is wrapped up in darker tones as the cymbals and tom-toms of Grilling became more noticeable.

Whereas “Adrenocromo” offers squelchy bass lines on the Rhodes, a nicely brushed rhythm, a garnishing trombone that metamorphoses when soloing, and a breezy piano statement, “Fangst” squeezes a huge slice of funk and crumbles of R&B into a jazz frame that swings and rocks at the same time. On the latter, you can hear unison melodies, timed silences and propelling rhythms that apply to the grooviness of the atmosphere.

Bad Uok keeps the thrill factor throughout as they invest everything in rhythm and mood. Moving seamlessly between genres with a non-rigid posture, the group deserves international credibility.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - 105 Pt.3 ► 02 - Nails ► 07 - Fangst