Triage - Twenty Minute Cliff

Captain Hate · May-23rd-2003, 08:17 PM

Familiarity doesn't always breed contempt. When I first listened to this I wasn't very impressed; I thought it sounded ok but nothing special. But something led me to keep playing it, which I don't usually do. Now I'm set to recommend this fairly extensively. This is a very well put together disk of interesting compositions. The majority of the songs are by tenor and alto player Dave Rempis, with two by drummer Tim Daisy and one by bassist Jason Ajemian.

Five of the eight songs are right around ten minutes and all but two of the eight feature drastic tempo changes as well as other thematic shifts. Only two of the shorter songs, Mohandiseen (a post bop cooker) and River Rouge (taken at a medium tempo with a loping bass) maintain close to a steady beat. The songs are all very engaging. The opener, Angles of 90 Degrees, sounds like a song from Conference of the Birds, getting off to a rip-roaring start and in the middle shifting to a sparse ethereal slow tempo before gradually building to a restatement of the original theme at the end. Lamento starts off like an Arthur Blythe song from his India Navigation days with a tuba and percussionist before shifting to an interesting bass and drum figure. All players acquit themselves very well on this disk. Rempis sounds excellent on both his horns and on both he can vary his approach from an icy, biting tone to a breathy, soft, almost flute-like sound. Daisy, along with Ajemian, propell the songs very effectively as well as throwing in interesting accents in a timely manner. I only know this from having seen them play: On two of the songs, Sun Dawgs and Glass, Ajemian takes drumsticks to his bass, on both the strings and the body of the instrument. It wasn't very visually compelling but it makes for some interesting percussive sounds. I think that this release from Okka is worth anybody's time. Just be sure to give it more than one listen.

gnhrtg · January-23rd-2004, 04:59 PM

I would second the recommendation and also agree with the part about multiple listens. I was just through with listening to this one and I think this is my 4th spin over as many months and I was not really mad about it before, just thought it above average, but I was completely hooked on this time. A lot of variety, within and across tunes, very solid playing.
Thanks Captain.