Peter Evans: Quartet & This Is Your Message

Peter Evans Quartet The Peter Evans Quartet Firehouse 12 2007	The Right Moves This Is Your Message Tiger Asylum 2007

Trumpeter Peter Evans sports an astonishing technique — no two ways about that. His musical language is closest to that of Bill Dixon, who pioneered similarly inclusive and expansive approaches to sound in the mid '60s. Whether or not Evans will achieve Dixon's maturity and broad compositional scope remains to be seen, but these two discs present the young virtuoso as inventive and exploratory in his own right.

Evans' Quartet disc is more firmly 'in the tradition', which means only that notated material is present. Check out the Braxton-esque melody of "3/4 for the group take on complex structures that merge improvisation with melodic disjunction. Then, for an even more nostalgic take on postmodernism, listen through the head of "Sinatra , Evans' trumpet line doubled by bassist Tom Blancarte at a lower octave, as with "3/4 . The ever inventive and timbrally expansive guitarist Brandon Seabrook completes the picture with sumptuous '30s chordal accompaniment. Here, Evans functions largely in linear mode, demonstrating whimsical allegiance to Clifford Brown's speed and Woody Shaw's tone.

The Right Moves allow no such glances backward. Like a slightly tamer Fushitsusha, they take no prisoners, each track a blistering display of dynamic shifts, whiplash rhythmic precision and timbral prowess, all in incredibly brief snatches of time. Like much of Evans' justly acclaimed solo Psi release, This Is Your Message's first ten seconds demonstrate his huge arsenal of shrills, airy pops, ghost notes and high-register exhortations. For more, there are the almost human moans and whines that open the final piece, supported by guitar slides (Nini Morgia) and percussive rustlings (Kevin Shea). Like Seabrook, Morgia's approach to the guitar is fluid, both in terms of technique and sonic innovation. Indeed, these three players' shared vision of disciplined diversity keep the disc from getting stale, which it might have done in less capable hands. The beautifully droney opening of "Chubby Bartender is a case in point, a moment of sublime contrast to what precedes and follows it.

Tracks and Personnel

Quartet

Tracks: !!!!!; Bodies and Souls; How Long; Tag; Frank Sinatra; Iris; The 3/4 Tune.

Personnel: Peter Evans: trumpet; Brandon Seabrook: guitar and electronics; Tom Blancarte: bass; Kevin Shea: drums.

This Is Your Message

Tracks:

Personnel: Peter Evans: trumpet; Kevin Shea: drums; Ninni Morgia: guitar.