Alister Spence Trio: Gather

Australian pianist Alister Spence is a master collaborator. He teams up with fellow keyboardist Satoko Fujii for various recording and live show efforts, and also with pianist Myra Melford and saxophonist Raymond McDonald. In addition, he is a founding member of the group Wanderlust, and he collaborates with guitarist Ed Kuepper in the Asteroid Ekosystem ensemble.

Gather, released under the Alister Spence Trio moniker, features eight of Spence's original compositions, along with his piano artistry, and with improvisations and transformations by his trio mates, bassist Lloyd Swanton and drummer Toby Hall. It is a standard piano trio, with Spence augmenting the sounds with piano samples, a mode that, while not new to the scene, does add an element of modernity to the sound.

Those familiar with Spence from his work with Satoko Fujii, especially in her Kira Kira ensemble, a band that makes music, according to All About Jazz's Glenn Astarita, that contains "skull battering jazz-rock grooves and some fervent breakouts" as they explore "multidimensional territory with avant-garde extremism" (review here). Sounds wild, right? It is. But Gathering, while free and hinting at the avant-garde, is more subdued, closer to mainstream as the trio delves into the art of the piano trio with an eyes-wide-open attitude of the possibilities of making loosely-constructed sounds while adding their personalities into the mix.

The tune "The Gathering," which opens the set, has a solid majestic feeling. Spence adds some samples in the improvisational section as bassist Swanton and drummer Hall lay down a solid-as-cement foundation. It sounds like a cover of a rock anthem, but it comes, as do all the tunes, from Spence's pen. "Homeland Introduction" is a glistening four-minute piano improvisation leading into the pensive"Homeland," featuring solos all around, with drummer Hall playing the glockenspiel on his turn. It could be a funeral march. "Beginning At The End Of the Beginning" has a reverential vibe, with beautiful piano/bass interplay.

The disc's closer, "Antidote For Lean Times" could come out of a dance club, the music stopping and starting to throw the dancers off balance. An aggressive, energetic, in-your-face piano trio romp to round out the night.

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