Loss And Gain
Infrequent Seams, 2021
8/10
A trio of improvisers from Brooklyn, James Ilgenfritz, Brian Chase, and Robbie Lee bring their inimitable skill and execution into an abstract version of chamber and jazz sounds that you’re not going to hear anywhere else.
“first time (before)” opens the listen with very adventurous drumming alongside manipulated strings and low sax sounds, and this atypical formula continues to the busy drums, bass and recorder mashing of “bridge-difference”.
Elsewhere, “happening” is a bare and mysterious 5.5 minutes of soulful, stirring song craft, while “in warmth in solitude” emits a mesmerizing, even jagged approach of quivering ideas. “redemption not without”, one of the album’s best, then exhibits both firm and sparse tendencies in the trio’s very capable hands.
The title track lands near the end, and plays with pitch and tone in very unusual, exciting ways, and “finally (after)” exits the listen and turns minimalism into a refined art form with its unpredictable nature.
An extremely expressive, eclectic and musically precise yet loose experience, the contrabass, flute, saxophones, recorders, drums and electronics are all utilized in atypical and fascinating ways that you won’t soon forget.
Travels well with: Andrea Parkins- Two Rooms From The Memory Palace; Eli Wallace- Precepts