With Don’t Go It Alone, cellist Daniel Levin displays a variety of finely balanced compositions with interesting, but not risky, excursions in experimentation. His quartet explores the more interesting ends of the instruments’ ranges, and often plays off each other in pairs or as a foursome. “Unfortunate Situation,” for example, stretches the imagination with eerie sounds from both the vibraphone and cornet, but Joe Morris holds the ground with a regular, thumping bass line. Daniel Levin gently pushes the limit of his cello by mixing standard jazz melodies with harmonics. His bowing is purposeful yet responsive to the sounds of the other instruments. On the cornet, Dave Ballou flirts with Matt Moran’s ethereal vibraphone tones, creating an enjoyable push-pull effect.
Although the pieces are generally technically precise, “Underground” could have benefited from a metronome. Playing in unison is always tricky because any mistiming by a single instrument is plainly obvious. This is the case with the first few measures of “Underground;” though the piece develops into an interesting conversation between the cello and vibraphone, and later with the cornet, one can’t help but wonder why such an obviously technical quartet did not time the first few measures better. Levin, however, relies on unison quite a bit in this album to introduce the themes of his compositions, and the timing improves with each piece.
“In Parts” stands out as one of the more exciting and inspired compositions, partly due to Levin’s lively introduction with Joe Morris. The energy carries all the way through the piece and is an education in bowing techniques. Near the end, the piece descends into a beautiful, rhythmic mess; it becomes indiscernible which instrument is producing each sound. Aside from this piece, however, those who are looking for something more unusual and experimental may lose interest by the album’s finish.
Daniel Levin is a talented and skilled cellist who has a very good understanding of using bowing techniques to drive a piece and elicit unusual, yet not inaccessible, sounds from his instrument. Frequently, however, it feels like the other three members of the quartet respond to his playing, rather than show initiative. Perhaps in future compositions, Levin will become less of a soloist who leads the quartet, and work with his quartet more as an equal collaborator.
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