Dave Burrell’s new disc Expansion is brief, but packs a diversity of mood and texture into its seven tracks. The title-track is a gothic version of stride piano, all odd meters and clubfoot rhythms. It’s followed by “Double Heartbeat,” given an unusually dark flavour by Cyrille’s use of just toms and bass drum (no cymbals); Burrell works his way down the keyboard, starting with trebly pinprick clusters – like mice nibbling at the keys – and eventually reaching a deep fee-fi-fo-fum chant. “Cryin’ Out” is a forceful piano/bass duet, where Parker’s agonized arco bass is answered stoically by Burrell; the darkness lifts only briefly, at the piece’s end, as the pianist offers a flicker of tenderness. That tenderness carries over into the stride-piano reading of Berlin’s “They Say It’s Wonderful”, Burrell’s whimsicial righthand decorations answered by plunging doubletime lefthand figures. “About Face” is a wonky march – “a vision of soldiers running away from battle as fast as they rush in,” intended as a response to American military exploits in Iraq. Fittingly enough there’s even an echo of Morricone’s theme from The Battle of Algiers at 3:39. The last two tracks lighten the mood: “In the Balance” offers gossamer piano tinklings accompanied by kora and cymbals, while “Coup d’Etat” is a bustling variation on “Giant Steps.” Parker sounds pretty clutzy on that last track, but that’s the only flaw on an otherwise excellent album.

The Sonic Liberation Front describe their music as “Afro-Cuban Yoruba Roots meets Post Modern Free Jazz and Electronica,” which saves me the trouble of coming up with a label for Ashé A Go-Go. The personnel and instrumentation shift from track to track, but the sound is always sparse: two or three horns, bass, some laconic vocals, and an assemblage of bata drumming, conventional jazz drums and electronic loops that bumps along like a wagon ride over rocky terrain. The two constants are drummer/percussionist Kevin Diehl (who also handles the electronics) and percussionist/singer/guitarist Chuckie Joseph. Some of the tracks don’t work out because of conflicts between drumming styles: “Seize the Time,” for instance, is straightforward jazz with a needless frosting of out-of-sync percussion. Much better are the gently undulating “The Sirens,” the lovely guitar-and-voice interlude “Agua Dolce,” and the title-track itself.

Nate Dorward

Cadence, December 2004