Eric Plandé / Hasse Poulsen / Claude Tchamitchian: Beyond Dreams

Here, we can throw genre type discussions out the door, since this European trio transparently interconnects worldly motifs with tribal insinuations, classic free jazz interplay and asymmetrically improvised and structured song forms. In addition, the musicians artfully generate a magnetic field that also includes bluesy vamps with melodious contrasts and unison phrasings, often cast with ethereal backdrops and chromatic tonalities.

On "Levitation" the trio ratifies the song moniker with serene etudes and spacey progressions, heightened by guitarist Hasse Poulsen's nimble picking and zinging amplified licks atop bassist Claude Tchamitchian's buoyant flows and saxophonist Eric Plandé's peaceful momentum. Indeed, these eleven tracks coalesce sans noticeable gaps in-between, where every piece tenders a distinct narrative.

Plandé's extended notes skirt the fringes of minimalism with succinct treatments and silky overtones during "Inner Trouble." Moving forward, the band professes a subdued celebration of life amid gradual ascents, dreamy phrasings, and nouveau classical with semi-boisterous overtones and vigorous improvisational uprisings. Moreover, they tear down and reassemble melodic content as Plandé occasionally generates plaintive cries to insert a bit of tension into the proceedings, intermittently offset by the bassist's sawing arco lines. Yet the amenable currents and understated themes set this session apart from similar endeavors by others of note.