Label: Intakt Records, 2023
Personnel - Chris Speed: tenor saxophone, clarinet; Chris Tordini: acoustic bass; Dave King: drums.
Saxophonist and clarinetist Chris Speed, a native of Seattle, has been a mainstay of the New York improvising scene for several years. Besides recording in his own name and co-leading several projects - Endangered Blood, Broken Shadows, and Pachora - he heavily contributed to the success of groups such as John Hollenbeck’s The Claudia Quintet and Jim Black’s AlasNoAxis. He joined the prestigious The Bad Plus in 2022, a modern trio turned quartet whose drummer is Dave King, a member of his sympathetic trio since 2017. Rounding out the group is the sturdy, sought-after bassist Chris Tordini.
Despite Obstacles is Speed’s third trio outing, following Platinum on Tap (2017) and Respect For Your Toughness (2019), and comprises eight original compositions where creative juices are in full swing. There’s brawn and brain in Speed’s music and the opener, “Advil”, is a great example of that. The first-class melody strolls over a temperate indie rock texture, finding the right balance between power and finesse. Whether fragmented, motivic or fluid, Speed’s sharp-edged phrases are intriguingly captivating, as well as his veiled tone on tenor.
Flowing in five, “Wrangled” is even more enigmatic as it hinges on an inventive beat with opportune displacements and resolution delays to continuously catch our attention. Also in five, “Lone Satellite” feels very improvisatory; I love those clouded low-pitched notes that Speed extracts from his horn.
A poised approach to rhythm and harmony is put on display on “Uncomfortable Truths”, a dance with something folk in it, something pop too. Analogously dancing, the title cut has Speed probing inside/outside kinetics while the rhythm section enforces meter and rhythm variations. And then, we have two trad-jazz-inflected beauties in “Sunset Park in July”, a luminous brushed ballad that I imagined sung by Billie Holiday, and the sweet-natured “Amos”, which, swinging at its own discretion, features Speed on clarinet and Tordini in a thrusting solo.
Speed’s wish to make the music feel good is accomplished, and he keeps his trio fresh and vibrant.
Favorite Tracks:
01 - Advil ► 02 - Wrangled ► 07 - Lone Satellite