Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Barry Altschul’s 3Dom Factor feat. Jon Irabagon & Joe Fo...

6

Barry Altschul’s 3Dom Factor feat. Jon Irabagon & Joe Fonda: Long Tall Sunshine

By

View read count
Barry Altschul’s 3Dom Factor feat. Jon Irabagon & Joe Fonda: Long Tall Sunshine
The fourth release by Barry Altschul's 3Dom Factor, Long Tall Sunshine, evokes (in a weird way) the lyrics to "Helter Skelter" by The Beatles:

"When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide
Where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride
Till I get to the bottom and I see you again."


We're not talking the Charles Manson thrill kill angle of Helter Skelter, more like his very organized mayhem. Altschul together with saxophonist Jon Irabagon and bassist Joe Fonda maintain a structured, almost methodical maelstrom in their music that straddles the line between composed and free jazz.

Given these three artists, that helter skelter is not surprising. Altschul's history with freedom included stints in the 1960s with Paul Bley, before Circle with Chick Corea, Anthony Braxton and Dave Holland, and also with the Sam Rivers Trio and Quintet. He also maintained the long standing FAB trio with Joe Fonda and Billy Bang (1947-2011). Fonda's creative output can be heard in The Fonda/Stevens Group, Gebhard Ullmann's quartet Conference Call and his work with pianist Satoko Fujii. A generation younger than his partners, Jon Irabagon is the Swiss army knife of reedists. After winning the 2008 Thelonious Monk Competition, he was best known as a member of the upstart Mostly Other People Do The Killing ensemble before venturing out on a solo career and member of Dave Douglas' Quintet. Irabagon's association with Altschul began with the earth-shaking tenor/drums duo Foxy (Hot Cup Records, 2010) and has grown into this solid trio.

Irabagon applies his best mixture of the DNA of Sonny Rollins and Pharoah Sanders on the opening two tracks, "Long Tall Sunshine," and on "The 3Dom Factor" the trio engineers a hard bop collision with free jazz. With Fonda's hand on the pulse, the guardrails, as illusory as they seem, are maintained. This allows both Irabagon and Altschul to radiate energy. That control of a seemingly uncontrollable freedom is what makes this trio special. "Be Out S'Cool" flinches like a cross between an Ornette Coleman and Thelonious Monk composition with Irabagon switching between tenor and soprillo saxophones. Fonda's solo here and on the finale "Martin's Stew" are woody and chest-gripping performances. The latter composition opens with Altschul's solo, one that is a most organized helter skelter. Another reason that you will get to the bottom and go back to the top for another ride.

Track Listing

Long Tall Sunshine; The 3Dom Factor; Irina; Be Out S’Cool; Martin’s Stew.

Personnel

Additional Instrumentation

Jon Irabagon: tenor saxophone, soprillo saxophone, alto clarinet.

Album information

Title: Long Tall Sunshine | Year Released: 2021 | Record Label: Not Two 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

Thereupon
Vijay Iyer
Canopy
Lex Korten
Turn It Up!
Mike LeDonne's Groover Quartet

Popular

Trio Of Bloom
Craig Taborn / Nels Cline / Marcus Gilmore
All That Matters
Benjie Porecki
The Lost Session, Paris 1979
Dave Burrell / Sam Woodyard

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.