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Upper Left Trio: Sell Your Soul Side
ByHaving said that, the Portland, Oregon-based Upper Left Trio, with a previous Origin records release, Cycling, and now with Sell Your Soul Side, has devolped its own individual voice, falling about midpoint between the bombast of the Bad Plus and the intospective musings of Brad Mehldau.
Take one tune to highlight the trio's style: the Clay Giberson-penned "She Casts No Shadow" begins with an understated and pensive mood and graduallyover eight and a half minutesbuilds in momentum on the foundation of Jeff Leonard's electric bass and Charlie Doggett's crisp, tight drum work, before Leonard takes a solo with electric muscle, with Giberson comping poetically, Bill Evans-like, behind him, a waning of momuentum that cranks up again under drummer Doggett's sticks.
"Comrade Camenzind" opens in a dark mood, Giberson floating over the keys before he nails down a small statement then flirts with abstraction as Doggett nails down a metronomic time and bassist Leonard looms with big beefy notes; and when Leonard solos, Giberson goes into a graceful, flowing, trance-like trilling comp, an eerily gorgeous interlude that leads back into the lyrical melody.
Pianist Giberson penned five of the tunes here, and bassist Jeff Leonard wrote three more. Slip in a Joni Mitchell tune, "All I Want," and you've got a first-rate set of lyrical melodies that have stories to tell in an always engaging voice.
Track Listing
Heads or Tails; All Want; Sell Your Soul Side; She Casts No Shadow; Comrade Camenzind; This is Where I Find Peace; Not to Decide; Reason to Change; Prayer.
Personnel
Upper Left Trio
band / ensemble / orchestraJeff Leonard: basses; Charlie Doggett: drums; Clay Giberson: piano.
Album information
Title: Sell Your Soul Side | Year Released: 2006 | Record Label: Origin Records
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About Upper Left Trio
Instrument: Band / ensemble / orchestra
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