Chris Speed Trio - Despite Obstacles

June 15, 2023

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

Chris Speed Trio - Respect For Your Toughness

December 19, 2019

Label: Intakt Records, 2019

Personnel - Chris Speed: tenor sax; Chris Tordini: bass; Dave King: drums.

Respect For Your Toughness, the third outing for the trio of saxophonist Chris Speed, possesses a distinctive blend of energy and perspicuity, being a winning collection of nine well-written and deftly played originals (all by Speed) plus a low-key rendition of Kay Swift’s standard “Can This Be Love?”. It’s precisely this latter piece, delicately shrouded in Speed’s relaxed tone, that opens up the album. A sense of flimsiness is brought by sequences of notes peacefully aligned with enough air circulating between them to let us have a virtual perception of space. Also sharing this frame of mind, “Faint Tune” languishes in a graceful fragility with the coruscant brushwork of The Bad Plus’ drummer Dave King keeping the torch permanently lit.

The drummer is meticulously creative on “Attention Flaws”, reinventing himself with a magnetic rhythm that goes well with the percussive, stout bass attacks of Chris Tordini. Limned with a soulful touch, the melody of this specific tune is such a beauty to hear.

Instigated by the priceless legacy of Coltrane and Ornette, “Helicopter Lineman” swings as much as it rocks, while “Casa Adela” pivots on folksy melodies and animated rim activity, devising an Afro-Caribbean rhythm that enhances our mental capacity to picture warm landscapes. Here, Tordini delivers a concise bass solo that is veiled by its own robustness.

Garnished with brave, risky grooves and a strong command of dynamics, we have the prayerful title track and the staggering “Strobe Dots”. The former, played at 5/4 tempo, has both the groove and the saxophone invocations casting a hypnotic spell; while the latter is assembled with meter-shifting passages, deliberately rocking in a way that you can dance to it. Even when side slipping, Speed is never aggressive; just quite enough astringent to make his silvery arcs sound gorgeously abstract.

Speed, Tordini and King are formidable together. Their excellent, disciplined teamwork spawned another record with consistent high quality.

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Attention Flaws ► 05 - Respect For Your Toughness ► 07 - Strobe Dots

Chris Speed Trio - Platinum On Tap

September 26, 2017

Label/Year: Intakt Records, 2017

Lineup - Chris Speed: tenor saxophone; Chris Tordini: bass; Dave King: drums.

As a result of the sparkling combination of emotional playing and brilliant technique, the saxophonist/composer Chris Speed has been widely solicited by multiple renowned artists who have no doubts when it comes to incorporate his talents in their personal works.

Speed has built his reputation not only with exciting projects from others - John Hollenbeck’s Claudia Quintet, Jim Black’s Alas No Axis, Tim Berne’s Bloodcount, Dave Douglas group, but also with the robust bands he co-leads, Endangered Blood and Human Feel. Recently, his prominent voice also served to boost Michael Formanek Ensemble Kolossus, Craig Taborn Quartet, and Dave King’s Trucking Co.

On his newest release, Platinum on Tap, the charming, wispy tone of his saxophone spearheads an enthusiastic trio that includes bassist Chris Tordini, and drummer Dave King. Offering up eight originals and two covers, this impressive work clearly surpasses the trio’s previous release, Really OK (Skirl Records, 2014).

“Red Hook Nights” revolves around a catchy melody that rubs over a soft surface created by relaxed bass plucks and rhythmic brushing suppleness. The mixture ensues a melodious universe where both jazz standards and Americana are well accepted.

A symbol of superior triangular articulation is certainly “Arrival High”, a tune where Tordini’s bass groove is impeccably in tune with King’s intricate Afro churn filled with talkative and tremendously coordinated agglomerations of snare, tom-tom, and cymbal diffusions. Initially operating undercurrent, Speed changes posture after bringing the theme’s melody to surface. While improvising, he dispatches vehement, hasty phrases but maintains lucid and coherent chains of thought.

The saxophonist’s timbral explorations are patented on “Buffalo 15”, a light-hearted marriage between folk melody and rock pulse, “Crossface Cradle”, a highly motivic, blues-based post-bop tune that takes us to Coltrane ground and throws a few hooks à-la Sonny Rollins, and “Torking”, whose inquisitive melodic statement is turned into long multiphonic blows during the improvisation. Also, the frenzied “Crooked Teeth”, extremely playful in its carefree posture, encompasses high-pitched intonations and flutter-tonguing technique as part of its rebellious manners. This deflection into avant-garde territory finds a sequence with the closing tune, “Spirits”, a strenuous classic authored by the iconic saxophonist Albert Ayler.

A much more affectionate conduct is adopted in order to handle Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust”, as well as the title track, a relentlessly static dance that ruled by an odd meter and obeying to a formal AABA structure.

Three different individualities united by a strong chemistry find a magnetic way to communicate, creating dynamics that sound as natural as their own existences. Containing exceedingly well-crafted compositions connected to the jazz tradition but shaped with a unique modern touch, Platinum on Tap brings an irrefutable breath of fresh air to the chord-less trio formats.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Red Hook Nights ► 02 - Arrival High ► 06 - Crooked Teeth