Label: Out of Your Head Records, 2023
Personnel - Taylor Ho Bynum: trumpet, cornet; Mary Halvorson: guitar; Benoit Delbecq: piano; Tomas Fujiwara: drums.
The bass-less quartet Illegal Crowns, a spectacular avant-jazz outfit composed of leaders and improvisers, releases its third album after a five-city tour. On this set, they continue twisting sonic screws at different spots, sometimes reaching pleasantly warped thresholds within the hive of quirky sounds and textures produced. There are nine tonally elusive cuts on the album composed by guitarist Mary Halvorson, pianist Benoit Delbecq and drummer Tomas Fujiwara - each contributes three pieces. Rounding out the group is trumpeter/cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum, who shines throughout.
Fujiwara’s “Crooked Frame” opens the proceedings with odd meter, uncorking unison lines delineated by cornet and piano. They are later joined by detailed contrapuntal guitar. A shift in texture welcomes Halvorson for a vertiginous solo, whose otherworldly aura seems extracted from a sci-fi episode. The following statements from trumpet and piano are equally enthralling.
Halvorson’s “Unclosing” has a slow awakening with prepared piano, arpeggiated guitar, and tinkling percussion. This smooth surface is meditatively intriguing, opening up harmonically without losing composure. Another Halvorson tune that catches the ear is “Osmosis Crown”, processed with piano-guitar polyphony, a relentlessly throttling rhythm, and staggering chords that shift and resolve conveniently. Here, the guitarist comes up with a pressurized solo immersed in aqueous effects.
A sense of individual voice and collective strength appears throughout the band, and Delbecq’s tunes reflect exactly that. “Triple Fever” is highly responsive and motivic, featuring the pianist and Fujiwara in intense activity; “Freud and Jung Go Cycling” has a humorous cool side beyond its title, displaying a gong-evocative piano rhythm, apt percussion, and intercalated improvisations that oppose Halvorson’s brisk phrasing to Ho Bynum’s long distinct whines. There’s also “Les Mots Et Les Choses”, filled with spectacular cornet playing, a guitar flight with two-pitches in tandem, and punctilious three-way parallel lines.
I couldn’t finish this review without mentioning the noteworthy “G Ocean”, which came out of the pen of Fujiwara. Comfortably behind the kit and working under a slow triple tempo, he patterns it with conspicuous fills and methodical marching snare. At the top, Halvorson and Delbecq superimpose different tempos.
These four passionate improvisers form a rich sonic identity. Don’t let the numerous delicacies fool you into thinking that this is something you’ve heard before.
Favorite Tracks:
01 - Crooked Frame ► 03 - Triple Fever ► 07 - G Ocean