Label: Adhyâropa Records, 2024

Personnel - Dan Loomis: bass, words; Sebastian Noelle: guitar; Owen Broder: clarinet; Rodrigo Recabarren: drums; Ches Smith: tanbou (#1,3,5,7,9,11, 13,15,17,19) Jeff Miles: guitar (#1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17,19); Taïna Cerat Ligonde: spoken word.

New York-based bassist and composer Dan Loomis generates high expectations with his new conceptual album, Revolutions. This narrative suite is dedicated to the heroes and ideals of both the Haitian and South America revolutions. Loomis wrote the words that introduce the historic figures - tracks featuring percussionist Ches Smith, guitarist Jeff Miles, and Haitian spoken word artist Taïna Cerat Ligonde - and composed all the music on the album, except for the last track, “Hay Una Mujer”, a protest song by singer-songwriter and activist Holly Near. The core quartet playing the longer instrumental tracks include German guitarist Sebastian Noelle, American clarinetist Owen Broder, and Chilean drummer Rodrigo Recabarren.

Dedicated to Venezuelan politician and activist Franisco Miranda, “Skies” is also influenced by Ornette Coleman’s orchestral opus Skies of America (Columbia, 1972). It starts as a sheer reflection, touched by the woody tone of the bass with clarinet atop and a subtle cymbal pulse at the bottom. A few minutes later, Noelle’s guitar thickens the texture by following the melody with tidal chordal waves, and a clear bass dissertation precedes the reprise of the theme.

The leader of the Haitian Revolution, Toussaint Louverture, is homaged with two pieces: “Toussaint” begins in chamber classical quietude, with bowed bass providing emotional depth, then shifts to a vigorous backbeat and magnetic harmonic drive for the clarinet and guitar solos. In turn, “Trunk of Liberty” offers a free-flowing introductory section before transitioning to a smooth Latin breeze, with Noelle and Broden focused on fusion-like unisons atop Reabarren’s effervescent snare eruptions.

Highlights include “The Road”, written for the Venezuelan liberator of America Simon Bolivar, which marches at a slow 7/4 tempo, loosely based on the Argentine milonga style; and “Dessalines”, where Loomis breaks loose with an unreserved intro and Noelle delivers a well-calibrated solo with bold intervallic choices before texturizing the scene with a 12-beat cycle figure. In a different context, “Centaur of the Plains” traverses colorful Brazilian landscapes with vividness, paying homage to the first president of Venezuela, General José Antonio Páez.

By pairing down every element in Revolutions with assertive instinct, Loomis proves to be a no-nonsense storyteller, arranger, and conceptualist.