Casting for Gravity Donny McCaslin's Adventurous Journey into the Unknown

"Casting for Gravity" GRE=1028

The saxophonist Donny McCaslin has been steadily adding to a body of work that is firmly establishing him as a powerful voice in modern creative music. As a in-demand sideman on such interesting recent efforts like Ryan Truesdale’s Gil Evans Project Centennial , a valued member of trumpeter Dave Douglas’s Quintet and Maria Schneider’s Orchestra, or on his own recent impressive efforts as a leader on albums like Recommended Tools, Declaration and PerpetualMotion,  watching McCaslin mature is  like watching a seedling develop into a mighty oak.  As with any artist who is pushing his boundaries there are moments of brilliance and moments of disappointment, but for the most part McCaslin has consistently moved the bar higher and higher.

If music as art has the higher purpose to move its audience, than certainly McCaslin is a successful artist, as he seems to do so with a force of nature approach to his instrument. His latest offering Castingfor Gravity is a case in point. After dipping his toe in the waters of electro/acoustic music in his last album Perpetual Motion, McCaslin has decided to explore what full integration into electronica can bring to his musical palette. He wants to make music that can utilize, as he says, “…more sonic layers” which he hopes will challenge him into deeper exploratory terrain. It may also be a way for him to expand his following by tapping into more modern musical influences and fusing them with his own brand of artistry. Lord knows jazz needs to expand its musical audience.

He is joined here by the keyboardist Jason Lindner, the electric bassist Tim LeFebvre and the cyclonic drummer Mark Guiliana.  The visionary alto saxophonist and producer David Binney adds a composition, vocals and synthesizers to the mix. These musicians bring their own kind of ionically charged energy to this album.

McCaslin claims influence for some of this album came from Britiish electronica musician Richard D. James, who performs under the pseudonym of Aphex Twin and from the Scottish duo Boards of Canada whose song “Alpha and Omega” he uses as the jumping off point for his own jet fueled excursion.

I am particularly taken by McCaslin and Guiliana together in such pieces like the ever ascending “Stadium Jazz” and the staccato “Tension”. It is as if these two atomic reactors combine in harmonic resonance creating a fusion like implosion of energy.. Lindner’s driving piano and synthesizer and Lefebvre pulsing bass work in lock step to produce the firm rhythmic background that allows these two seemingly unstoppable forces to probe forward into the abyss.

“Losing Track of Daylight” is perhaps the most groove-based of the compositions, with LeFebvre’s pliant bass lines leading the way behind Guiliana’s in-the-pocket playing. Lindner’s expansive keyboard creates an airy, floating sound that dances over cloud like layers of shimmering cymbals and snapping snares. McCaslin honks his way in a playful but penetrating display of horn dynamics.

The multilayered “Alpha and Omega” is a demonstration of “the layered sound” that McCaslin is trying to create. With its repeating saxophone and synthesizer motif setting the landscape for Guiliana’s explosive drum outbursts the mood created is eerily hypnotic.

On Binney’s crescendo building “Praia Grande” the group dynamic is at its most unified and McCaslin’s tenor soars with unrestrained energy and unbridled passion.

The title track “Casting for Gravity” has LeFebvre playing the opening line on his electric bass in a guitar-like riff with Guiliana’s cadenced drum work reminiscent of the early electronica group Portishead.  McCaslin slowly enters with a repeating serpentine saxophone call that pre-dominates the rest of the tune to its coda.

“Henry” is a softer more introspective piece named after McCaslin’s infant son. Sensitively played by Lindner on a electric piano with a distinctively dreamy sound. The group seem to find an inner gentleness on this one that is quite compelling. McCaslin’s warm, probing sound is fluid and emotive; a father’s tender call out to his son. As the group warms up to the increased tempo, the intensity follows but never upstages the underlying love that seems to pour from McCaslin’s horn.

In many ways McCaslin’s journey into electronica is like a journey into the unknown. He is Casting for Gravity when he goes into this realm and it will not be for everyone, but it courageous and a powerful musical statement that has moments of brilliance and maybe prove to be an important  portal for expanding the shrinking jazz audience

Musicians: Donny McCaslin, Tenor Saxophone; Jason Lindner, Electric and Acoustic Pianos, Synthesizers; Tim Lefebvre, Electric Bass; Mark Guiliana Drums, David Binney, vocals and additional sythesizers.

Review of Dafnis Prieto’s “Absolute Quintet”

Cuban born drummer Dafnis Prieto has established himself as an artist who commands an amazing array of poly tonal techniques. He plays all across his drum kit in a whirlwind of cyclonic energy. He is a vortex of percussive ideas from which the rest of this beguiling music magically emerges.

With his “Absolute Quintet” he assembles a unique grouping of musical voices with which to paint his sonic landscape. The instrumentation is unusual and features two string players, Christian Howes on violins and Dana Leong on cello, the piano and Hammond B-3 magic of Jason Lindner and the multiple saxophone voices of Yosavany Terry, with a guest appearance by Henry Threadgill on alto. Clearly the music is not melody driven, but neither is it devoid of melody, it just approaches it from another direction and therein lays Prieto’s gift. With his “Absolute Quintet” he has found like-minded musicians that not only share his rhythmic approach but revel in it.

Prieto’s diversity of sounds is apparent from the start on “The Coolest” he and keyboard artist Lindner do their best imitation of east Indian inspired Kokayi singing somehow weaving it in the clave driven beat.

On “Sensaciones” it is the sound of Howes violin and Leong’s cello mixed with the electric keyboard of Linder that creates this airy piece. Terry’s soprano saxophone takes flight nicely as Prieto fills in with his orchestral sound.

 “The Stutterer”, with its purposefully repeating rhythmic pattern, is started out with the percussive piano chording of Lindner, a strong kick beat from Prieto and some edgy alto by Terry. The strings are played  staccato as Terry builds his searing alto solo over a cacophony of rhythmic jags, making for an intensely frenetic musical journey.

On the most romantic melody of the album “Afrotango”, Henry Threadgill’s  probing alto is featured as the lead instrument, backed by some pizzicato string playing by Howes and Leong and some deft Hammond B3 playing by Lindner. The tune has the romantic undertones of the Tango, but Prieto’s penchant for multiple time changes and Lindner’s organ bring it somewhere into the realm of tango fusion. 

The album takes a distinctively chamber music like turn with Prieto’s “One Day Suite”. It is a three part orchestrated movement representational of the three parts of a day, Morning, Afternoon and Night.

The ten-minute "Morning" movement is the most ambitious, with the unique instrumentation of organ, violins and cellos working nicely to create the serene musical mood. Despite the lack of a bass, there is a clearly defined bottom maintained by Prieto, Lindner and Leong. Howes Indian inspired plucking, alternating with his muted bowing gives the music an definitive east meets west feel. Awakening is represented beautifully by the rising soprano of Terry, which leads into a masterful display of poly tonal creativity by Prieto.

On “Afternoon” Lindner’s acoustic piano, Howes bass violin and Leong’s Cello blend beautifully in this semi-chamber music piece that has no pretense of rhythm. This yields to the changing rhythmic environment that Prieto inevitably brings to bear in “Night” .  The ostinato plucking of Howes violin carries this rhythm for the most part. Lindner’s piano musings delicately hammer their way into foreground only to fade away again to Howe’s plucking violin and Prieto’s drum kit.  

  

“New Elephant” starts out with a drone from Linder’s keyboards, setting the bottom as Prieto’s creates a series of rhythmic patterns that never seem to repeat. Howes and Leong play long drawn out lines on their strings, which combined with Terry’s alto simulate the loping gait of the large mammal. Lindner plays a repeated key on the piano in the background as Terry and Prieto play in a bizarre unison that ends abruptly.

“Renew the Elephant” features some wonderful solo drum work by Prieto at the intro, which leads into mix of sounds that give the tune a clave crossed with fusion feel. Lindner ends the tune with a keyboard riff that comes straight from the soundtrack of a  TV detective show.

The “Innocent Bird” is the most confusing piece on the album. It starts out as a flight of fancy for Howes as he bows his way over the repeated rhythmic lines of Prieto and Lindner, until they break into this fairytale like melody that seems strangely out of place.  When Linder enters on the B3, the tune takes on a distinctively rock-blues sound that seems to come out of nowhere. 


This album has been around since 2006, but after recently getting a chance to really listen to it , I found the music for the most part is fresh, vibrant and compellingly original.

ZOHO – ZM200606

Recorded October 2005  Systems Two, Brooklyn , NY

Musicians: Dafnis Prieto (drums,, vocals on track 1, bells on track 5);

Jason Linder( Hammond Organ and keyboards, vocals on tarck 1); Yosvany Terry (alto on tracks 1,3, & 8, soprano on tracks 2,5,6 & 10. chekere on track 5); Christian Howes ( violin on all tracks, bass violin on tracks 5,6 & 7); Dana Leong (cello); Henry Treadgill (alto on track 4).