Here is the background courtesy of the press release: saxophonist, flautist, and Canadian composer Anna Webber—a meticulous conceptualist in improvised music—draws from the depths of polyrhythmic inspiration for her latest album, “Simpletrio2000”. Over the past decade, Webber has earned well-deserved acclaim for her rhythmic inventiveness and distinct stylistic twists across several albums. This new release marks ten years since the debut of her long-running band Simple Trio, featuring pianist Matt Mitchell and drummer John Hollenbeck.”
The album gets off to a great start with ‘Slingshot’ which opens with a few saxophone parps, explorative piano runs, the sax repeating the motif, a serpentine- like sax solo underpinned by solid rock drumming. ‘Idiom VII’ is more of an innovatory piece, similarly introduced in a kind of rhythmic study not so easy on the ear but incontrovertibly fascinating. ‘Fixed Do’ is a solo piece for sax. Sax is exchanged for flute on ‘Foray’, over eight minutes long, an ominous mood created by Mitchell’s minor piano chords, notes and tinkles, with Hollenbeck largely confined to tom-toms, bass drum and cymbals; Anna Weber’s dexterity on the woodwind is breathtaking, playing with a Roland Kirk intensity, a stop-start sequence leading to a complex, twisting and turning denouement inducing a feeling of film noir; definitely a stand-out for me. Back on sax for ‘Five Eateries (In New England)’ (another eight-minute piece) in an alternative jazz rock fusion mould, the three musicians sound as if they are playing different variations on a theme in an ingenious melange, the sax alternately fluttering like a butterfly and howling at the wind in the changing mood, Mitchell hitting the low notes of his piano in response, a poignant jazz melody leading to a tangled denouement. There’s a piano solo piece before longest number ‘Miiire’, subtle flute intermingling with odd piano chords and repeated notes, brushes of the drums, distinctly fugue-like, becoming increasingly animated then stalling in a myriad of reverberated piano and flurries of flute, Hollenbeck’s dexterity given some moments in the spotlight late on; an uncompromising but intriguing piece.
After the storm comes the calm: ‘8va’ on which the introductory sax shrinks to a whisper, sparse piano chords and the occasional note creating an ambient soundscape that provides a quiet zone after the labyrinthine excursions that have proceeded it, another ‘go to’ piece. The drummer’s brief spotlight solo track that comes next is refreshingly unconventional. It continues into final number ‘Moveable Do’, more quixotic moves, on which the pianist excels, unleashing his own inventive solos alongside the saxophonist’s, a piece that will appeal to all spectra of jazz lovers, and another recommended starting point if sampling; all-in-all, an inventive and intriguing album of contemporary and experimental jazz laced with ‘tales’ of mystery and imagination.
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