Label: ears&eyes Records, 2021
Personnel - Ernesto Jodos: piano; Mark Helias: bass; Barry Altschul: drums.
This gracefully compatible trio led by Argentinian pianist Ernesto Jodos and featuring a pair of creative veterans of the rhythm - bassist Mark Helias and drummer Barry Altschul - is marked by lengthy musical bonds. Jodos and Altschul celebrate here their 15-year-old musical relationship, but curiously, it's the 40-year connection between Helias and Altschul that clearly wins (they first recorded together in 1979).
Their fine-tuned rapport materializes in great musical moments, and the leadoff track, Helias’ “Waltz For Thursday Face”, is a beauty of a tone poem we want to revisit more than once. We can feel the breeze in their musicality, and the following piece, Jodos’ “LL #4”, also brings that aspect to the surface. It’s a rhythmically loose narrative, rich in ideas and confidently expressed with collective flow, but also surprising rippling countermoves from Jodos whose demeanor shows the influence of Lennie Tristano.
Teaming up with the foundation builders, the pianist is perfectly attuned to the three-dimensional concept he envisions for “Diorama”, which is upgraded with a quasi-ambient drum solo.
Altschul revives two of his old tunes here, “You Can’t Name Your Own Tune”, a swinging catharsis first recorded in 1977, and “Be Out s’Cool”, which he recorded with Helias and trombonist Ray Anderson in 1980 for the album Brahma. Elegant swinging tapestries, rhythmic figures, and well-measured cadences with metric modulation and an unceasing sense of freedom continue to be part of the trio's game.
Helias’ brings more intriguing tones to the table with his other three compositions - if the episodic “24 Module” probes distinct atmospheres over three sections, “On the QT” denotes perfectly synchronized moves and a discernible melodic line that inspires a folk-inflected solo from Jodos. In turn, the concluding “Come Alive” goes from brooding (with sparse piano drips, solemnly bowed bass and restrained drumming) to lushly harmonized to statically grooving. The trio’s sense of adventure is alive.
Grade B
Favorite Tracks:
01 - Waltz For Thursday Face ► 02 - LL #4 ► 06 - Be Out S’cool