Ism: Maua

What would a free jazz group sound like if it stayed within conventional rhythmic and melodic parameters? One possible answer was given by pianist Lennie Tristano's pioneering sides such as "Intuition" and "Digression," extemporized by a sextet including Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh. Ism, the cosmopolitan threesome of British pianist Pat Thomas, Swedish bassist Joel Grip and French drummer Antonin Gerbal, offer another option.

On Maua (meaning flowers in Swahili), the outfit's fourth album, they once again pay homage to the history of the piano trio, but not the repertoire. Instead, they frolic unhindered through styles in an improvised flow which contains whiffs of Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Latin, hard bop and more, but without the crutch of obvious quotes (although at one point it does seem as if Thomas has the Barry Manilow hit "Copacabana" at the back of his mind, however unlikely that might seem). Comprising one extended improvisation and a much shorter piece, likely an encore, the two cuts come from the final night of a four-day residency in the sadly now defunct Berlin club Au Topsi Pohl, in 2022.

The triumvirate form a familiar team, also being 75% of the wonderful Ahmed. Although their take on the canon is rather less radical, they similarly commit to a group ethos in which the three instruments largely conform to their customary roles, with Thomas out front and Grip and Gerbal laying down a swinging groove. As a consequence, this must be one of the best settings to hear the pianist display his in-the-tradition chops. Even so his imagination roams wild, and he certainly does not avoid the sorts of percussive hooks entertained in his more experimental guises. Grip and Gerbal faithfully adhere to a foot tapping but varied accompaniment, though instantly alert to any stylistic shift from the keyboard.

While Thomas might have some classic in his head, what escapes from the keys is inevitably skewed, glistening with a touch more dissonance than might be expected, or reveling in a jagged phrase hammered out for much longer than might be comfortable. Then there are the dazzling passages which occur almost in passing, like the series of mini glissandos coaxed midway through the title track. Later a sequence of treble register minimalism hints at early Cecil Taylor, with Gerbal and Grip locking into the same motif, before finally the tension eases and the journey totters to a slightly unresolved conclusion.

At just over six minutes, "Niloo's Dream" is more compact, beginning as a slightly hazy piano rumination, before Gerbal's shuffling brushes and Grip's harmonious counterpoint ease it into ballad territory. Thomas fashions the sort of melody you might think you have heard before but can't quite place, with further Monkish tinges, before a charming close. Ism might just be the gateway drug to free jazz for those who do not inhale.

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