Savage & Smit: Of Course

It was pretty much etched in stone that by the middle of the Grateful Dead's second set—and those second sets of its post-Jerry Garcia spin-offs—there occurred a period of musical and mental improvisation they wisely named "Space." That indefinite stretch of musical time aptly defines the dreamscapes within of course. Hosted by the Hudson Valley collaborative of Rick Savage- trumpet/flugelhorn, Ian Smit-guitar/fx, pianist/composer Joe Vincent Tranchina, bassist Steve LaSpina and drummer Pete MacDonald the disc's ten lucid fluidities hit the spot in these increasingly crazed times.

Under the collective imprint of Savage & Smit the quintet embarks freely. For many, embarking freely is a hugely anxious thing. Others welcome the muse. These five guys take it tight and spacey. "Concord Dance" and its watery slide into "Salt and Pepper" are a spotlight for Savage's triumphant trumpet. On a constant roll, drummer MacDonald especially calls the shots, rolling and tumbling at will. Everyone else in the hunt circles the wagons for "Noir a No No," a classic piece of ECM-like group think that rides a rapids all its own. 

"Skies," the first of two lushly crafted compositions by Tranchina, boasts the band in full samba agreement. In between Tranchina's ranging solos, Savage flashes traces of Freddie Hubbard and Terence Blanchard. It is a sweet ride that morphs into "Windings." Freer formed than its predecessor, there may be no discernible motif but there is structure. And in that structure a very real sense of any possibility. The same can be said for the open-ended "The People's Key Opens." "My Son Miles" is the trumpeter's deceptively blue school ode, finding LaSpina reveling in his instrument. Tranchina's solo midway through the track's seven-plus minutes is one of those ethereal things. It is wise not to miss it. All punchy and breakneck, "What?" proves to be a most animated cacophony and serves as a fiery prequel to Smit's laconically spirited "Too Much Mulling."

Savage & Smit. of course. It deserves a good listen.

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