Angelica Sanchez / Chad Taylor: A Monster Is Just An Animal You Haven't Met Yet

Two of the leading lights on their instruments strike sparks in a series of impromptu duets on A Monster Is Just An Animal You Haven't Met Yet. Pianist Angelica Sanchez has birthed a string of impressive releases, Nightmare Creatures (Pyroclastic, 2023) with her Nonet, and the twin keys extravaganza How To Turn The Moon (Pyroclastic, 2020) with Marilyn Crispell, being particularly notable. Factor in appearances with luminaries such as trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, flutist Nicole Mitchell and saxophonist Tony Malaby and it amounts to considerable experience brought bear in this hook up with drummer Chad Taylor.

For his part, Taylor has become increasingly ubiquitous, recognized as one of the finest drummers of his generation, as evidenced by his tenure with saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, bassist Eric Revis and late trumpeter Jaimie Branch among many others. He convinces as a supreme technician, not only calling on a kaleidoscope of beats, but also painterly adding complementary shades and rhythms which make the canvas seem even more vivid, without ever doing the obvious. Consequently this studio session presents the perfect opportunity to appreciate the two players' many gifts, up close and personal.

Throughout the pair demonstrate that they are in it for the long haul. There is no unseemly dash for immediate impact. That much is clear from the annunciatory flourishes of the opening "Liminal," which later falls into a pleasingly near synchronous tumble. Both could join in lockstep if they wished, but why negate the tautness and whiff of danger the tension generates? Although none of her charts are featured, Sanchez approaches the date with a composerly sensitivity to both form and effect, ever willing to contribute structural elements, such as the repeated motif which unifies her sudden eruptions on the pulsating "Holding Space."

While drawing the map as they go, sometimes one or other creates a mood that is cultivated, as manifest in the baleful dark textures of "Tracers of Cosmic Space" miraculously assembled from tambourine shakes and swipes across the piano innards, the dense all elbows whirl of "Animistic," or the thumb piano driven patterns of the title cut. Elsewhere though their navigations yield wide ranging excursions. The standout "Myopic Seer" offers a case in point, evolving from tolling piano, via myriad reflections, a tattoo undergirding with spiky momentum, and high density keyboard spanning runs to a final drum rampage.

Programmed with theatrical attention to variation and flow, drama is never far away.

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