It's funny the way these things work. Familiar, and funny. A group of two, three or four, sometimes five, men, sometimes women, get together and create some sound where before there was no such sound. We listeners grant them so leeway, a little time to find themselves, but then it's off to the races. The musicians are called upon to find something new or else they haven't done their job. We know the game they're playing and while ultimately the whole experience of receiving it is subjective — dependent upon the listener, the listener's mood on a particular day, perhaps the time of year — but we nevertheless determine if they've lived up to expectations.
On From the Discrete to the Particular, Joe Morris, Agusti Fernandez and Nate Wooley live up to the expectations of giving us something we wouldn't exactly have expected swimmingly well. Most listeners will already know the cast of characters — American guitarist and trumpeter, Spanish pianist — and may even have heard duos performed by the guitarist with either of his associates here. And while the three can't help but sound like themselves (or rather they doubtless could but we wouldn't want them to), they succeed in the job of adding up to something new.
The first five minutes of the opening 10-minute track are comprised of an unsurprising bluster, three separate trails crossing but never quite joining. Assuming tracks are presented in the order they were recorded (and if they weren't it doesn't really much matter), this is the usual gambit, the opening slavo, the establishing of territory so that borders can be established and then crossed. It's Morris who breaks the pattern, switching from string-scratching to a sudden filigree, the resonance of his hollow body guitar suddenly ringing through almost as if a tip of the hat to his Spanish associate. With that they start to dial back and by the third track Fernandez is holding center for a beautifully breezy exchange.
Tempi and velocity ebb and flow, Wooley's internal trumpet sounds add a mood-altering layer and the playing, as well as the recording, is spot on throughout. The trio does, simply enough, what they do, and they do it here wonderfully well.
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