Russ Lossing King Vulture - Alternate Side Parking Music

August 15, 2023

Label: Aqua Piazza Records, 2023

Personnel - Russ Lossing: piano, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer; Adam Kolker: tenor and sopranino saxophones, bass clarinet; Matt Pavolka: bass; Dayeon Seok: drums.

American pianist and composer Russ Lossing had a great idea while going through the process of alternate side parking (ASP) in his Manhattan neighborhood. This exasperating operation consists of removing your parked car from one side of the street to the other to allow street cleaning, and then realigning to park again. For this 10-track album, composed while seated in his car, Lossing assembled a flexible quartet featuring longtime collaborator Adam Kolker on saxophone and clarinet, and the new powerful rhythm section of Matt Pavolka and Dayeon Seok on bass and drums, respectively.

As usually occurs whenever Lossing puts his artistry to work, the music sidesteps the obvious in a way that leaves the listener searching and wanting more. The appropriately titled “Honk”, the album’s opener, has that pleasurable effect of taking us beyond the familiar as the theme blooms into staccato riffing glory. The piece is what Rossing calls ‘transparent composition’, which gives players freedom to choose what they want to do. This strange, engaging dance carries satirical humor and passes the idea of wanting to rush while being stuck. “Parallel Park” comes with more fluidity in the process and achieves a fantastic sense of intuition in its labyrinthine treatment of tempo.

The pianist has the ability to generate awesome rhythms by working with complex tempos and forms. Like the playful “Meter Made”, which includes a lucid funky passage with a ’70s feel; and the closer, “Turn”, which expands two beat cycles at every turn. Another example is “Double Park”, spiked with a snare-driven rudiment that inflates over time, a tense bass groove, and captivating solos from bass clarinet and electric piano, sometimes conjuring up Eastern fusion.

Some tunes alternate between sections while others tend to move along in a more linear way. “Cloned” relies on a punching low-pitched figure that composes the keyboarded wah-wah groove on the bottom. This figure, a melodic clone of a Schoenberg piano piece, is mimicked by everyone, before everything gets funkified in a contemporary fashion.

“Next 3 Km” denotes a more atmospheric disposition at the outset with Kolker on the bass clarinet, but becomes vividly skittish at some point, before returning to the churning theme. Also with arching improvisatory gestures, “Move it Over” feels more spasmodic and harmonically exposed.

Lossing’s new quartet dazzles in its ability to navigate new musical developments; they can be tight and focused one minute, exploratory and unconventional the next. To be savored at home, away from the alternate side parking nuisance.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Honk ► 02 - Cloned ► 06 - Double Park

Russ Lossing - Folks

August 4, 2022

Label: Sunnyside Records, 2022

Personnel - Russ Lossing: piano; John Hébert: bass; Michael Sarin: drums.

Pianist Russ Lossing cloaks his music in a haze of folkloric refinement for this particular jazz trio album with bassist John Hébert, a faithful collaborator for more than 20 years, and drummer Michael Sarin, in his second appearance with the pianist.

The composed folk melodies set the tone for the group improvisations with the exception of the balmy opening track, “Heaven Above”, which, shrouded in lyrical tranquility, off and on brings Bill Evans and John Taylor to mind. Here, the time is kept for the improvisations and the melodic treatment given by Lossing feels stunning with an emotional range. Hébert’s notes are huge when comping while Sarin’s sensitive percussion adds the perfect touch.

On both “Village Folk” and “Mountain Folk”, the trio smears the musical canvases with soft hues for a bucolic portraiture. But it’s with “Country Folk”, another meditative, chant-like observation whose melody and harmony grab you strongly before lingering in the air, that the trio is at its best. Assuming a gorgeously asymmetric configuration, this particular number is enriched by lush piano notes that flow like a river, supportive yet never intrusive bass lines, and delicate brushwork. The ideas proliferate, expressed with different dynamics, just like on the Bartok-inspired “Grey”, which, revealing a more irreverent posture, leans on the avant-garde side despite the swinging post-bop thrust that runs at bottom.

Sophistication is in the call-and-response mechanisms proposed on “Call Now”, whose propensity to swing is complemented by an impeccably accented theme with concurrent playing by piano and bass, and also some Monk-meets-Motian spark. Hébert is particularly brilliant in the way he disguises and then disrupts during his bold statement.

Rather than embracing fragility through the simplicity of folk, the trio pursues a wild excitement on “Lightning Bug”, a rambunctious effort that shows their hard-to-predict frame of mind. Lossing’s work has ranged from solo discs to duo and trio projects, projecting an expressive, personal sound that employs technique and sensibility on the side of emotions. Folks confirms that his heart is in the right place.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Heaven Above ► 03 - Grey ► 04 - Country Folk

Russ Lossing - Metamorphism

January 5, 2021

Label: Sunnyside Records, 2021

Personnel - Russ Lossing: piano; Loren Stillman: alto and soprano saxophones; John Hébert: bass; Michael Sarin: drums.

The authoritative lyricism of pianist/composer Russ Lossing is recognizable on this new quartet effort in which he pairs down with bassist John Hébert and drummer Michael Sarin to form a highly sensitive rhythm section. The underrated saxophonist Loren Stillman completes the group, offering his idiosyncratic melodicism, resignation and full allegiance to Lossing’s compositional intentions and immersive moods.

The complex attributes of the opener, “Three Treasures”, allow us to find hidden emotional depth amid the dancing Eastern-tinged melody and sultry harmonic sequences. The four musicians promptly show to be in full control of their instruments, managing to excavate groove from the off-kilter ambiance. Sarin’s rhythmic drive and Hebert’s droning tenacity are notably effective in the back, while, for the most part, Lossing becomes the melodic force at the fore. The latter’s comping also reveals responsive interaction when Stillman steps forward.

“Sojourn” is an old sleek piece whose polyrhythmic motif and odd tempo make it soar as if it had no ground. The group rides it with grace, especially Stillman, who infuses his playing with a Konitz-type of vibe.

Lossing dedicates two pieces on the album to a pair of mentors and influences. If the achingly beautiful title track, “Metamorphism”, was written for drummer Paul Motian, seeking deep emotions and emanating tranquility while evoking the latter’s atmospheric jazz, “Blind Horizon” is an evocative portraiture of the genius pianist Andrew Hill delivered with incantatory melancholy. The harmonic colors pulled out by the solo piano intro are exquisite, and the tune unfolds gracefully and gradually with a circling piano figure, sizzling brushwork, agreeing bass lines and heart-rending soprano articulations. It then segues into a piano improvisation that cleverly integrates a mix of explicitness and haziness.

Developed from an improvised idea originally recorded with a MIDI keyboard, “June Jig” completely transfigures this atmosphere by imposing a more expansive, funky procedure promoted by Hébert and Sarin. The bandleader only comes in at a later time, interacting with Stillman over a swinging rhythm section.

Relying on the tenderness and charm with which is performed, “Mai” features a bass discourse sandwiched between saxophone and piano statements, while “Pileatus”, agreeing on a fleet, playful and iterative idea, directs the spotlight to the drummer.

Lossing continues to compose with as much astuteness as intricacy, and these eight tunes keep reflecting his singular voice.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Three Treasures ► 03 - Metamorphism ► 04 - Mai

Russ Lossing - Motian Music

February 21, 2019

Label: Sunnyside, 2019

Personnel – Russ Lossing: piano; Masa Kamaguchi: bass; Billy Mintz: drums.

Pianist Russ Lossing dabbles in the fascinating musical universe of Paul Motian, an artist he knew very well. For 12 years, they were friends and collaborators, and Lossing decided this was the time to honor the late genius whose tunes fall somewhere between the lyrical and the abstract. Paraphrasing the pianist: “this music plays itself.”

On Motian Music, his debut on Sunnyside, he teams up with longtime associates bassist Masa Kamaguchi and drummer Billy Mintz, a pair of creative minds with an elevated rhythmic sensibility.

The first couple of pieces, “Asia” and “Abacus”, date from the late ’70s, but their shapes are unlike. The former, carrying some folk connotations and emotional grandeur, mirrors the splendor of this piano trio; in turn, the latter comes enveloped by a magnetic abstraction and instigates free exploration. During the first minutes, Mintz offers us tonality, having the round, somewhat pinched bass notes from Kamaguchi dancing at his side as well as Lossing’s resolute, if perplexing, melodic lines.

Both drummer and bassist do a great job throughout, but they are particularly in evidence on pieces like “Dance”, a permanent push-pull activity with Lossing’s fluid ideas floating atop, and “Mumbo Jumbo”, a three-way conversation characterized by a strong rhythmic temperament and some motivic impetuosity that never reaches a factual state of anxiety.

Originally included on Motian's album It Should Have Happened a Long Time Ago (ECM, 1984), “Fiasco” and “Introduction” are tackled with tempo exemption, allowing lots of liberties in the harmonic and melodic demarcations. In the case of the first composition, things are stirred up with a swinging feel at once familiar and eccentric. Conversely, “Introduction” adopts a reserved posture and is extended to six minutes against the three of the original recording. Bright flashes of piano convey a weirdly dreamlike aura gently underpinned by airier inflections of bass and brushed drums.

The recording couldn’t have ended in a better way, with the seraphic “Psalm” expressing a levitating simplicity that touches the sublime. Without subverting the art of Motian, Lossing puts a personal touch in this startlingly intimate album. The results are more than satisfactory and fans of the drummer will instantly relate to the music.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Asia ► 08 - Mumbo Jumbo ► 10 - Psalm