Continuous Beat by the Rez Abbasi Trio is a breath of fresh air but may take some people by surprise. You can’t really call it jazz-rock (fusion, even) although the sound of the trio led by 47-year-old guitarist Abbasi, who was born in Pakistan and raised in Los Angeles, with double bassist John Hébert and drummer Satoshi Takeishi, comes close to the general soundscape. The amplification on Abbasi’s guitar is a clue (it’s not as loud as a lot of fusion records, and there’s solo acoustic guitar at the end), and the drums aren’t as frenetic. Recorded last May in Brooklyn most of the songs are Abbasi’s, but Jarrett fans (you may dear reader even be one) will head to the trio’s version of ‘The Cure’ where the opening does sound like Indo-fusion (and Tirtha’s Prasanna even slightly) and there’s some great build from Hébert decanting the melody at just the right point. The Gary Peacock tune ‘Major Major’ is tackled differently: opening with drums, it feels very loose and that’s a word I’d use admiringly of this trio. Unlike the strictures of the prevailing maths jazz trend Continuous Beat (Enja, ***1/2) is always hurdling barlines and time signatures or hinting at their imminent dismantling. Continuous Beat is worth seeking out, and while Abbasi deserves to be better known, albums such as this add to the process and positive word-of-mouth he’s picked up in recent years.
Stephen Graham

The Rez Abbasi Trio above. Available in the UK as an import