"The Wicked Crew" from Perceptions Trio Shows Promise

Perceptions Trio: The Wicked Crew

Making modern improvised music is a constantly evolving work process. Experimenting, adding and rejecting concepts, honing creative skills in ways that add to, or at times, cull and refine the possibilities. Current trends often involve the creative use of electronics and effects to expand the palette of possible colorations available to the musician in the process of creating new music. When you start off with this concept and you intend to enhance the music for the listener's pleasure, you had better come through when they invest their time with you. 

Along comes a  group, Perceptions Trio,  that was formed in Basel, Switzerland in 2019 and released their debut album The Wicked Crew on February 14, 2025. The trio is made up of French saxophonist Charley Rose, the Swiss guitarist Silvan Joray and the Brazilian drummer Paulo Almeida. The trio is a bass-less, piano-less group that adds electronic synths and effects to expand the sound possibilities that the saxophone of Rose and the guitar of Joray can employ, as lead instruments, to make the sound fuller, tonally diverse, and more textured. Drummer Almeida is intuitive and adds his own percussive colors deftly to the mix with sensitivity and a solid sense of rhythm. These guys seem to be promising, with some very interesting ideas being presented on this album, but in some of their offerings they seem to be still in the gestation period of their development.

Silvan Jory, Charlie Rose and Paulo Almeida (photo credit unknown)

Saxophonist Rose hails from outside of Paris . He has played with pianist Benoît Delbecq's Multiplexers since 2018 and is also a leader of his own trio since 2016. Rose has admitted to being inspired by boundary crossing composers like Stravinsky and Prokofiev. He has roots in rock as well as traditional and free jazz.

Guitarist Joray is from Switzerland, but now resides in Brooklyn, NY. where he has added an American flavor to his inventive European style of electric guitar. He has played in festivals and concerts across Europe, Scandinavia and Africa. Joray has studied with guitar master Wolfgang Muthspiel, who has expanded the guitarist's sonic concepts and encouraged him to compose of his own music.

Drummer Almeida has brought his own sense of Afro-Brazilian-inflected rhythms to the group's music. He has played with diverse modern artists like progressive oud playing vocalist Dhafer Youseff, percussionist and vibes player Jorge Rossy, and Brazilian multi-instrumentalist Hermeto Pascoal, as well his work with guitarist Muthspiel. He is also an educator at Jazzcampus University in Basel.

The Wicked Crew  includes ten compositions three written by Rose, three written by Joray and two written by Almeida along with two improvised compositions by the trio. The opening number, Rose's "Radio Goose Bumps," has elements of fusion in the synth and pedal effects the wired guitar and sax that these players use to create an otherworldly scene. The music is tight, rhythmically and melodically interesting and there is certainly enough proficiency on display.

Joray's "Ubarto," one of my personal favorites, takes a softer approach, with an  ballad-like feel and some nuanced colorations from Joray's sensitive guitar work complimented by Rose's fluttering, electronically modulated, voice-like saxophone and Almeida's muted drum and cymbal work. This one is atmospheric, at times eerie, and it touches the listener viscerally.

"Perceptions" is another thoughtful, almost spiritual-like Joray offering worth checking out. The guitar leads with a gentle strumming, metronomic-like  musical armature upon which Rose's mournfully sounding saxophone adds an emotional, wandering-like melody,  accented by a skillful use of drum and cymbal accents by Almeida. These guys are at their best conjuring up a sonically rich meditative hymn that swells with hope and promise.

The group  includes two improvisational pieces, "Andromeda" and "Nebulosa," that both seem to be in-the-moment, unstructured, atmospheric, free-association type vamps. Interesting, but not particularly my cup of tea.

The cover composition "The Wicked Crew" is a nothing special, synth and drum  driven vamp that  frankly looses me in its electronica splendor. As a feature for Almeida's drum work, his rhythmic prowess shines through.

Almeida's "Lit Candles" is another aural landscape that features a variety of percussive colors, as Jory and Rose play opposite each other in counterpoint.

"Sombra" is another composition by the drummer Almeida. Shifting rhythmically, after some initial wandering, Almeida is given a brief drum feature before Joray on guitar and Rose on sax offer brief comments.

Rose's "Flashlights and Sewer Explorations" is perhaps the group's inside joke. The music is somewhat directionless. Rose plays sensitively before Joray's guitar takes on prog rock inspired sound and Almeida's drum work becomes appropriately explosive, but to what purpose. Ascending and descending and bringing the listener to a dead end. This music feels somewhat self-serving, and after taking a ride with them that leads nowhere, you hear the group laugh at the end as if to say "How cool was that?"

"Peaceful Departure" is the final of Joray's compositions on this album. He is clearly the most promising composer of the three. The music effortlessly captures the listener's attention because the music has a sonic story to tell. The three seem to be well suited to play this calming, melodically rich music. Rose's ability to find his most emotionally connecting saxophone work is on display, and Jorya's guitar skills prove deft. Almeida's drum work is beautifully understated and complimentary. Another song that demonstrates what Perception Trio is capable of and shows these guys should be kept