Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Gordon Grdina/Mark Helias/Matthew Shipp: Pathways
Gordon Grdina/Mark Helias/Matthew Shipp: Pathways
ByPathways, another Attaboygirl release, is a trio outing featuring Grdina alongside pianist Matthew Shipp and bassist Mark Helias. All three players boast high profiles in the avant-garde arena. They could be tagged as all-stars, Here, they show no all-star egos. The players meld into a cohesive whole on nine adventurous tunes. Succinct in their way everything clocks in at the four to eight minute rangewith a consistency of mood and purpose, that exudes freedom and risk-taking while embracing accessibility, occasional grooves and a unique approach to interplay.
Free jazz with Middle-Eastern motifs are here, as are loose interludes from Shipp that seem to nod to Cecil Taylor at times, tangled up with Grdina's strikingly pungent, sometimes prickly guitar and oud playing, held together by the glue of Helias' muscular bass. Throw in moments of wildness that avoid anarchy (maybe it is the bass) alongside pensive reveries that delve into deep deliberations.
Shipp is a versatile player with a long record (on record and off) of collaboration. He seems to fit into any ensemble, oftimes not sounding quite Matthew Shipp-likejudged from albums under his own name.
The tunes are all credited, compositionally, to all three players, meaning, almost certainly, that this is a three-way improvisation outing. Sit down and see what happens. Sometimes, no matter the skills and intentions of the players involved, such freewheeling outings swing and miss. This one hits, hard and far. Grdina's year-opening Oddly Enough: The Music Of Tim Berne set off the radar for a spot on the Year's Best Jazz Albums' lists. Pathways, free jazz with a finely-focused vision, raises that flag again, and waves it around.
With the focus of purpose, his cohesion of artistic vision and his drive to put out lots of excellent music that is idiosyncratically his own, Grdina may have what it takes to move into the top spots of jazz guitar players, alongside Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell and John Scofield. He is on the young side at this point, but time will tell.
Personnel
Additional Instrumentation
Gordon Grdina: guitar.
Album information
Title: Pathways | Year Released: 2022 | Record Label: Attaboygirl Records
Comments
Tags
Album Review
Dan McClenaghan
Braithwaite & Katz Communications
Pathways
Attaboygirl Records
Gordon Grdina
Matthew Shipp
Mark Helias