Label: Panoramic Recordings, 2019

Personnel - Anna Webber: tenor saxophone, flutes; Yuma Uesaka: tenor saxophone, clarinets; Edward Gavitt: electric and acoustic guitars; Shawn Lovato: bass; Colin Hinton: drums, percussion, glockenspiel, gongs.

Brooklyn-based drummer and composer Colin Hinton blossoms as a serious modernist and avant-gardist with this sophomore full length album as a leader, Simulacra, a collection of six unpredictable cuts composed with specific musicians in mind. Although inspired by the talents of Anthony Braxton, Muhal Richard Abrams, Messiaen, and Scriabin, and with the compositional influence of former mentors (Ingrid Laubrock, Tyshawn Sorey, Eric Wubbels) pulsating through the record, Hinton reveals a distinctive, forward-thinking sound of his own, delivering pieces that burst with invention. That could be done thanks to the great quintet he put together: woodwind players Anna Webber and Yuma Uesaka share duties in the frontline, Edward Gavitt brings solid textural development and harmonic spice to the setting, and bassist Shawn Lovato joins the drummer, composing a rhythm section made of both malleable and sturdy properties.

Both “What Was” and the opening track, “Obversify”, clock in at around 18 minutes, providing intricate, never gratuitous sonic voyages that deftly combine written composition and free improvisation. In the case of the latter, a vague atmosphere is launched through sometimes durable, sometimes ephemeral cymbal splashes, sudden tom reverberation, a dancing flute over glockenspiel radiance, guitar fingerpicking and harmonics, and both pizzicato and arco bass paradoxes. A clarinet on the loose hangs around guitar chords that keep shifting at regular intervals. Short time later, it’s the tenor sax that infuses tension, pointing out to more obscure landscapes. After the engrossing clashes between tenors, Gavitt strikes with distorted phrases and noise rock blows, working on top of the fractal mechanics of a prog-rock-like groove. In turn, “What Was” kicks off with a lively pulsation and bold contrasting sounds. Beautifully synchronized movements morph into odd-metered cadences, exposing instrumental aggregations and diffusions, unisons and counterpoint, all within attractive atmospheres that toggle between refined and acerbic. For the ending, a sort of mechanical march is set up with multiple ostinatos in the vicinity.

Influenced by Scriabin’s 20th century classical discoveries and introduced by bass flute and contralto clarinet, “Synesthopy” pushes Gavitt to the foreground. He is a true catalyst for Hinton’s project (also produced the album), contributing exquisite clusters for the moody jazz variances. Following Webber’s swift flute rides and a middle collective passage, he uncorks a solo replete with rhythmic ideas and chromatic virtue.

If the restive Feldman-esque “Breath” feels quite mysterious throughout, opening with a strange panorama of guitar intervals and quirky chords delivered with quarter tone tuning, “Slab Warmth” concludes the record with an active head oozing pointed avant-garde accents. Lovato engages on Hinton’s chattering rhythms, waiting to be joined by Webber’s roughed-toned tenor and Gavitt’s fast-moving chords. Uesaka also participates with measured, deliberate placement of fierce exclamations on tenor, and the two saxophones end up crossing paths, exchanging growls and clamors that feel as sharp as razor blades.

Hinton reaches higher levels with this work, positioning himself as an able and assured composer within the left side of the contemporary jazz scene.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Obversify ► 04 - What Was ► 06 - Slab Warmth

Label: Self produced, 2018

Personnel – Peyton Pleninger: tenor saxophone; Edward Gavitt: guitar; Nick Dunston: electric bass; Colin Hinton: drums.

The blazing chops of Texas-born, Brooklyn-based drummer Colin Hinton are marked by raw intensity and spot-on fidelity. For his debut album, Glassbath, and despite the proficiency in a wide range of styles, his energy was canalized into a particular stratum where the avant-jazz cohabits with a panoply of alternative rock subgenres. The tunes were written under two weeks for quartet and the album recorded in a one-day studio session.

The inaugural track, “Welcome” drives us to a realm of tautness populated by saxophone grunts and interjections, noise guitar, unruly bass roams, and rambunctious drumming. The versatility of the quartet is on full display throughout the recording and the differences are noticeable when one compares the experimentalism of the opening tune to the restrained variation of the same song, entitled “Goodbye (Welcome Reprise)”, that closes the album. Just focus on the bandleader and you will find him concentrated on flavorful brushwork and spicy tom-tom inflections on the latter piece.

The sluggish rhythm of “Rontgen Smile”, exposing accents on the second and fourth beats, is reinforced by sparse bass tonics and fingerpicked guitar. The melody factor is upgraded, but the pacification ceases when the band flips out into a cacophonous turmoil that primarily passes by a forceful ska before reaching a freakish indie rock style whose sonorities resemble bands like Pavement and Half Japanese. Taking into account the refreshingly unpredictable transitions, Hinton’s fractured songwriting largely benefits his hyperactive routines. And yet, after the storm, everything returns to the initial rock-based melancholy.

Interspersed with the longer tunes, we have shorter interlude-like pieces penned by the band, such as “Wasteland”, an atmospheric toned-down orchestration with multiple gongs, chimes and metal clangs, “Cobalt-60”, a gloomier version of the previous, and the cathartic “We Are Already Dead”, where the guitarist, Edward Gavitt, stays plugged in and cranking up.

You can dance to the sound of “Felines”, assembled with prickly guitar riffs and chords burning in distortion, plus a melodic, often-groovy improvisation by Peyton Pleninger on tenor. It’s like if electrifying groups such as Sonic Youth and Wire were having a conversation with jazz explorers like David Murray and Fred Anderson. The same idea is transported to “Last Refuge”, a song with a vigorous rock pulse, while “The Great Heathen Army”, half-dark, half-heroic, presents refractory rhythms and guitar-sax interactions turned into unisons in its final section.

Oscillating between an undemanding pop ballad and a post-rock adventure, both “Partial Eclipse” and the closing tune, “Redemption Through Recovery”, show an unflappable energy, even staying among the record’s slower tunes.

. As of now, the bar is raised high for the work that will follow, which is, naturally, a very good sign.

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Rontgen Smiles ► 04 - Felines ► 08 - Partial Eclipse