Kris Davis: Diatom Ribbons Live At The Village Vanguard

The term "proof of concept" might be the appropriate subtitle to Kris Davis' Diatom Ribbons' Live At The Village Vanguard. Her concept, first heard on the eponymous release Diatom Ribbons (Pyroclastic, 2019), is demonstrated on two discs taken from 12 sets over six nights at the famed Greenwich Village nightclub. The pianist does indeed verify that her concepts have practical application. She initially formed a core group, a quartet with bassist Trevor Dunn, turntablist and electronics composer Val Jeanty (aka Val-Inc), and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington. Diatom Ribbons' previous release added saxophonists Tony Malaby and JD Allen, guitarists Nels Cline and Marc Ribot, bassist Esperanza Spalding, and drummer Ches Smith. With this Vanguard session the core quartet adds just one additional musician, guitarist Julian Lage.

With Lage, Davis sets about to demonstrate that the Diatom Ribbons concept is adaptable to different voices, yet remains connected. That connection is found between her compositions and the history of the avant-garde. The set opens with Ronald Shannon Jackson's "Alice In The Congo" where turntable swipes and voice samples are overlaid upon a saucy groove. The sound is comparable to pianist Jason Moran's Bandwagon sessions. But where Moran improvised around a sample, Davis allows Jeanty to create sound sculpture within each composition. The track blossoms into some Cecil Taylor-like piano explorations and Carrington's funky drum eruption.

Davis draws far and wide for inspiration, from Eric Dolphy's "Hat And Beard" and Nancarrow's "Study No. 9 for Player Piano" for her "Nine Hats" which bubbles with spooky electronics to "VW" with samples of Sun Ra speaking of other dimensions, and Davis' prepared piano performing Geri Allen's "The Dancer." The three part "Bird Suite" presents in "Part 1: Kingfisher" a rocked out tribute to Charlie Parker with synthesizer and piano battling with Lage's guitar. "Part 2: Bird Call Blues" layers voice, Paul Bley's recall of Parker's extrasensory perceptions of music, and bird samples over a classic bebop swing. Finally "Part 3: Parasitic Hunter" finds Stockhausen speaking on 'intuitive music' with fragments of Parker's music and, is that John Williams' "Jaws" theme from the 1975 film that bubbles up here? With Davis, everything from popular culture to high art are available for sampling, elaboration and interesting improvising discoveries.