Josh Sinton's Predicate Trio: Making Bones, Taking Draughts, Bearing Unstable Millstones Pridefully, Idiotically, Prosaically

Considerate isn't an adjective you generally apply to creative new jazz recordings these days. Vanguard musicians are accustomed to employing the shock and awe required to get attention and satisfy their constituents. Maybe that is why Making Bones, Taking Draughts, Bearing Unstable Millstones Pridefully, Idiotically, Prosaically is such a breath of fresh air. Josh Sinton's Predicate Trio delivers an exceedingly empathic recording.

Sinton is a veteran of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society Large Ensemble, Nate Wooley's Quintet, Anthony Braxton's Tri-Centric Orchestra, and, as a leader, created the quartet Ideal Bread to perform Steve Lacy's compositions. His previous ten releases as a leader include the solo recording Krasa (Irabbagast, 2018) and Slowlearner (Iluso, 2017) with Jason Ajemian and Chad Taylor.

Certainly compassionate playing was a requirement in Ideal Bread, with Sinton wielding a baritone saxophone to perform music written for Lacy's soprano. Think of an NFL linebacker performing a ballet and you get the gist of this reedsman's sensibility. With his new Predicate Trio, he finds sympathetic confederates in cellist Christopher Hoffman and drummer Tom Rainey. With Making Bones, Sinton picks up a bass clarinet to accompany his baritone saxophone, both of which trade-off nicely with Hoffman's cello. The disc opens and closes with Sinton's solo, bass clarinet first, then bari. Both tracks exhibit his multi-phonic tonal control, extended technique, and delicacy that is a thread throughout the session. With Hoffman and Rainey the conversation expands. Sinton's compositions elevate the cello as an equal front-line partner and Rainey acts as a colorist throughout. Whether he is vocalizing on "Taiga," corroborating with Hoffman's pizzicato attack in "A Dance," or smashing notes with "Blockblockblock," Sinton raises his game to match his partners. The sounds on "Propulse" are immediate and headlong without becoming reckless. Even the instant composing of "Idonal" and "Taiga" maintains a wholeness, a logic that is masterly, in other words considerate, of the music and the listener.