Barry Altschul's 3Dom Factor: Long Tall Sunshine

Drummer Barry Altschul and his chordless 3Dom Factor—featuring reedman Jon Irabagon and bassist Joe Fonda—know how to lay down a rip-snorter. Long Tall Sunshine opens with the title tune, an in-your-face, three-way melee that introduces the group's fourth album in a characteristically steroidal, free-swinging style, throwing blows from all angles.

Recorded live, "somewhere in Europe," (record keeping does not seem to be one of the group's strengths), the opening one-two punch of the title tune and "The 3Dom Factor," seems to put the group into the position of drawing energy from the assembled audience with their boisterous approach—tumultuous, rumbling muscularity from bassist Fonda and drummer Altschul, bellowing, screeching diatribes from saxophonist Irabagon. The group employs a bombastic simpatico that careens away from chaos toward a hell-bent forward momentum which has the feeling of a choreographed assault. A surrender to this (don't fight it) is recommended.

Given the furious fusillade of the two previous tunes, "Irina" is surprisingly sedate and plaintive, giving reedman Irabagon much opportunity for adventurousness in his ruminations, while "Be Out S'Cool" finds a cool groove, and the closer, "Martin's Stew" reaches for the stratosphere on Irabagon's high-register reed work.

With the exception of the title tune—which has no apparent relationship with Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally"—the four remaining Altschul-penned tunes presented here have all been visited by Barry Altschui's 3Dom Factor before; these renditions present them in fresh forms as malleable compositions open to the moment, always ready to turn new corners and explore new angles.

Additionally, as with all the previous albums from the group, the CD's packaging, with its cool cover art and a sturdy (meant to last) high quality cardboard cover gives a nose-thumbing of sorts to the looming potential of the "digital only" format of the future. Kudos to all involved.

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