Thursday, December 29, 2011

Tony Jones Trio, "Pitch, Rhythm and Consciousness:" Explorations in Chamber Jazz


Tenor saxophonist Tony Jones has gathered together a singular trio and put together a vivid set on the vinyl release Pitch, Rhythm and Consciousness (New Artists 1049LP). They manage to give out with a kind of synthesis between the chamber jazz of the classic Jimmy Giuffre trios and the exploratory subtleties of some of the early AACM small group excursions.

It's Tony on tenor, Charles Burnham on violin and Kenny Wollesen on percussion.

They go from Jones's "Dear Toy," which sounds like a sort of paraphrase of "Don't Explain" with reminiscences of "My Funny Valentine," to more absolute realms of evocative abstract improvisation.

The subtle play of Wollesen's gongs, cymbals and bells sets up a contemplative world that allows for some very introspective tenor and unadorned modernistic violin. There are winding written lines juxtiposed with spatially sensitive freely quiet musical utterances, purely free-form junkets and almost Eastern sounding periodicities.

It's music that does not easily translate into words because it is highly singular. And it is all the more interesting for it.

The album comes with a free access code for a download of the music, so you can have it in analog and digital forms if you wish.

This is a highly interesting, very worthwhile set. Apply your ears to it with earnestness and I believe you will agree.

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