Label: Pi Recordings, 2019
Personnel - Miles Okazaki: guitars, electronics; Matt Mitchell: piano, Fender Rhodes, Prophet-6; Anthony Tidd: electric bass; Sean Rickman: drums.
The advanced musical skills by contemporary jazz guitarist Miles Okazaki continue to impress on his new quartet effort The Sky Below. His sixth album as a leader is a natural follow-up to Trickster, whose tracks were reduced to their basic components before being transformed into new material that sonically illustrates an oceanic odyssey. The results are superior to those presented on the aforementioned 2017 Pi Recordings release. In what concerns to the personnel, the novelty here is the inventive keyboardist Matt Mitchell, who, replacing Craig Taborn with more advantage than loss, denotes an incredible rapport with the bandleader. The collaborative venture in question is grounded on the attractive rhythmic decors of bassist Anthony Tidd and drummer Sean Rickman.
The lead-off track, “Rise and Shine”, is launched with a beautiful integration of guitar, piano, and bass, before Rickman contributes a superlatively spunky rhythm that is responsible for an anxious shift of mood. A polyrhythmic flux of energy invades the unorthodox danceable setting, and the piece ends with an urgent, effect-laden combination of guitar and keyboards.
A funk bass ostinato sets the groove of the trippy “Dog Star”, a M-base exaltation heightened by ideas that repeat and expand. There’s a bracing energy throughout and moments of tight synchronization. Okazaki and Mitchell share the joy of taking risks and a taste for highly intricate language as they solo with admirable concentration and sense of aesthetic. Their improvisational resources also come to the forefront on “The Lighthouse”, a sophisticated reading of a standard packed with gorgeous parallel lines and relentless vibrancies. It ends surprisingly bluesy.
Brimming with a melancholic groove and dazzling acoustic guitar strums, “The Castaway” is melodically challenge in its avant-pop overture. Yet, it sounds accessible when compared with the art-rock unconventionalities of “Seven Sisters”, whose peculiar dialogue of tone-shifting rhythmic figures shows a preference for convergence rather than disparity.
“Monstropolous” is a rip-roaring rollercoaster of curious expressions proper for a modern dance floor. Its fast pulsation differs from the strange and beautiful musings of “Anthemoessa”, which incorporates distortion as it grows more and more compact, and “To Dream Again”, expertly conceived with microtonal dissonance. Although brought to life with a searching quality, these simmering slow jams show some sadcore tendencies.
Definitely rewarding a deep dive from the listener, this masterwork uses ingenious rhythmic tapestries, mind-boggling grooves, harmonic erudition, and acrobatic stunts in the melody to tell a story with a lot to be absorbed, felt, and pictured. Avoiding comfort zones, Okazaki, who brings five different guitars and multiple effects to the setting, stretches his musical views as a composer and instrumentalist. The Sky Below is for unconditional exploration.
Grade A
Favorite Tracks:
02 - Dog Star ► 06 - The Castaway ► 07 - The Lighthouse