Drew Gress
The Sky Inside
Pirouet ****
It’s a brooding, even noir-ish opening to the long and most substantial piece, ‘No Saint’, the first track here of the Gress quintet’s new album. Evoking a sound curiously cut off from a particular era but not so much place, as the album distinctly evokes American jazz. Maybe it’s just the sounds of the cities the players see and hear; or maybe it’s just in the cut and thrust of the beautifully abrasive atonal-hinting alto saxophone of Tim Berne, or the way his alto and Ralph Alessi’s trumpet half-clash at times. Their harmonies feel as if they’ve split the chords open, as they rip away at the familiar and complacent, and in their testing timbres embark on some sort of quest with drummer Tom Rainey impatient and inspirational along for the ride. Craig Taborn’s deft pianism lies at the heart of the action, and Gress is supremely in control throughout visible only at necessary points within the scaffolding of the tunes at just the right places, such as the beginning of the tender ‘Dreampop’. This formidable long-running band has found new life on The Sky Inside.
Released on 22 July
Photo of Drew Gress, above: Pirouet records