Michael Musillami Trio: Block Party

A relentlessly active and inventive guitarist whose first recordings date back to the '80s, Michael Musillami began to hit his stride in the '90s alongside veterans of the New York downtown scene such as bassist Mario Pavone, drummer Michael Sarin and saxophonist Thomas Chapin. But one of his foremost partnerships took shape in the early 2000s, when he first teamed with bassist Joe Fonda and drummer George Schuller, themselves long-standing veterans of creative jazz. Twenty years and ten albums later, the trio came together once more to celebrate the joy of making excellent music, meticulously crafted but with a definite air of adventure and unpredictability too.

Musillami has utilized almost every format, from solo recordings to mid-sized ensembles, to this point; he lacks only a big-band notch on his resume. But one can easily see why a trio would perhaps be his strongest setting, as it privileges the kind of spontaneity and close interaction which have always been elemental to Musillami's muse. When it comes to working with Fonda and Schuller, it is abundantly evident that these guys speak the same language—that, in a sense, they are continuing a shared conversation which runs across the years rather than coming together merely for another recording date. The exuberance of the bouncy opener, "Robert Paris," for instance, oozes familiarity, with a funky groove and a deceptively tricky head to invite the listener into the proceedings. But rather than just stay in that comfortable space, the three find plenty of room to stretch the contours of the piece, venturing into freer territory, albeit without ever leaving the pulse completely behind. Fonda and Schuller's rapport is so solid that they can switch modes instantaneously without ever losing the thread which ties everything together. This is again evident on the album's title track, where the elasticity of the piece's rhythmic structure enables Musillami to take one of his characteristically lucid, exploratory solos, without being constrained by an insistent tempo.

It is also quite clear that this is a particularly ego-less unit. Musillami has no desire to monopolize the proceedings, as he gives Fonda a chance to carve out a terrifically lyrical arco solo on the delicate "Little Ruby Steps," dedicated to Musillami's granddaughter. Schuller gets his own moment on the aptly named "Freedom Calls," as he expertly generates the fissiparous energy at the heart of the track, before finally bursting into his own manic solo statement at the piece's finish.

Listening to the ten-minute "Off the Monster," with its infectious melody and gritty fervor, it is hard not to share the trio's obvious exultation at having the opportunity once again to burnish its hard-earned legacy. Although the album's brief closing track, "After Twenty," has a bit of a forlorn quality, one hopes this will not signal the end of what has been a remarkably successful and enduring partnership.