Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Michael Bisio: Inimitable

4

Michael Bisio: Inimitable

By

View read count
Michael Bisio: Inimitable
Although unaccompanied recordings certainly had a moment during the pandemic, bassist Michael Bisio's Inimitable was actually recorded a few weeks before Covid upended the world. While he is a bandleader of some accomplishment, with a string of excellent albums from his quartet in the mid-2000s, and recent dates which include Row For William O (Relative Pitch, 2016) and Requiem For A New York Slice (Iluso, 2019), he may be best known for his association with two free music stalwarts, pianist Matthew Shipp and multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee. But even on his own, Bisio is a formidable proposition. He has already risen to the solo challenge once before on the self produced Travel Music back in 2011, so he is in possession of all the necessary tools.

On a program just shy of an hour, Bisio tackles seven of his own pieces and two covers, a similar mix to last time out. However there is a difference in that on this occasion most of the cuts adopt the go-where-you-will trajectory of an improvisation with any thematic material in heavy disguise. That follows a trend in Bisio's group work too, as he explains in an interview published in February 2022: "In recent years, I would call my compositional style conceptual." Without fixed rhythmic or melodic structures, Bisio trusts his imagination, melding contrasts in density, tonality and pacing into flowing excursions into the unknown.

Canny sequencing also maintains interest. So the purposeful pizzicato of "Quintessence," in which he spans the fingerboard, bending pitches, following fast runs with ringing slurs, moving between cascades of knotty motifs and pensive phrases, precedes the slow arco of "New One," where the frayed edges of the deep notes convey an emotional fragility. John Coltrane's solemn "Wise One," with its abstract melodicism and yearning upper register patterns, is succeeded by the grating harshness of "Hear Now," confirming that it is with bow in hand that Bisio explores timbre and texture most thoroughly. But he ends the program with a standard, "I Fall In Love Too Easily," given an aching feel, an introspective close to a heartfelt set.

Track Listing

Quintessence; New One; Henry's Theme; Small Things Interrupted; Renew One; Wise One; Hear Now; Before Dawn Rising; I Fall in Love Too Easily.

Personnel

Michael Bisio
bass, acoustic

Album information

Title: Inimitable | Year Released: 2022 | Record Label: Mung Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.