Lindsey Horner: Don't Count on Glory

Multi-instrumentalist Lindsey Horner has assembled an exciting cast of musicians for his fourth album as a leader. He uses them in different combinations to give voice to his music, which they do in most articulate terms. Horner's riveting writing draws on several elements, including a respect for melody and arrangements that let the musicians open up and create interesting textures, developing into landscapes that often profile unusual structures.

Horner may not want to count on glory, but the title track is in a sense glorious. Pianist Uri Caine and drummer Allison Miller set time in motion before Brian Lynch (trumpet) and Marty Ehrlich (alto) bring in the ensemble lines. From then on it's a canvas of shifting motifs. Miller generates a marching beat, Lynch goes out on a bop journey that nails the edge with its progression, and Caine gives the melody a dancing litheness as he plays with a supple grace. The mood becomes upbeat, with Miller's accents and pulse directing the tempo. Ehrlich takes it all out, playing free, dipping and wallowing in the melody, and then blows it into his own liking.

A charged intensity electrifies "Gyp the Blood. A funky intro from Horner and drummer Dave Throckmorton leads into a saxophone and guitar free-for-all, the latter from Colter Harper and Eric Susoeff, who let distortion and hard rock colour the works. Horner prunes the band to a quartet for "Shadow Girl, a folk tune that he essays on the low whistle, accompanied with great warmth by Pete McCann on classical guitar. Neal Kirkwood and Lieven Venken bring all of this together satisfyingly by letting the spirit of the moment capture their playing.