Steve Coleman and Five Elements: PolyTropos / Of Many Turns

Perpetually churning rhythms, telepathic detours, unexpected juxtapositions: these are the stock-in-trade of Steve Coleman's Five Elements. And once again the intrepid alto saxophonist's inimitable approach surfaces on PolyTropos / Of Many Turns, a generous, two-disc helping of music that manages to be both intricately complex and fundamentally accessible at the same time. With two live dates captured in France in March of 2024, one can easily appreciate the infectious energy Coleman's group can generate, with rhythmic and melodic permutations galore, all crafted in real time.

As has become common with Coleman, there is once again a conceptual conceit at the heart of the album. In this case, he draws inspiration from amino acid chains, capable of forming and re-forming in combinations possessing their intrinsic logic. It is a fitting metaphor for the unpredictable structure of Coleman's live sets. But while we can easily get caught up in dissecting the various components of these pieces—some of which are repeated or combined in the two concerts, but of course never the same way twice—the most immediate pathway to appreciating Coleman's music is simply to let the beats take over, as the variegated array of grooves this band has at its disposal is itself a marvel.

It seems significant that for this release Coleman is working with a quartet, joined once again by trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson and drummer Sean Rickman, with Rich Brown replacing Anthony Tidd on electric bass. Unlike previous releases, like his Live at the Village Vanguard releases from 2018 and 2021 (both on Pi Recordings), which featured guitarist Miles Okazaki and spoken-word artist Kokayi, respectively, the quartet format presents Coleman's music in perhaps its purest form, with the sparkling exchanges between the two horns engaged in air-tight rapport with Brown and Rickman. There are moments where Finlayson and Coleman seem so attuned to each other's moves that their communication seems predetermined. Such is the chemistry that develops in musicians who have worked so extensively over the years that they have forged a shared language and set of musical intuitions. The same was also true of Tidd and Rickman, so one of the pleasant surprises of this recording is how well Brown fits into the group: his heavy, concentrated lines propel the group consistently forward, anchoring the grooves with unfailing precision.

Indeed, so relentless is the group's momentum that one sometimes longs for a brief respite. Take, for instance, the manic flight of "9 to 5," a Coleman staple that astonishes with its quicksilver tempo and almost mathematically technical rigor, or "Mdw Ntr," a piece that appears in both sets, highlighting the synergy of the horns amidst the hard-driving thrust of the bass and drums. Consequently, the occasional Coleman cadenza is more than welcome, particularly on the second disc, where he offers a lovely reading of Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life" and somehow transitions the piece perfectly into the much more Coleman-esque "Pi." Later in the set he turns in a similarly inspired take on "Round Midnight," eventually joined by Finlayson, in a poignant conversation so striking that Brown and Rickman lay out altogether.

At almost two and a half hours of music, there is much to take in here. Consuming it all at once can be a bit overwhelming, unless (as is likely) one simply succumbs to the music's hypnotic power. Eventually, Coleman may return to the kind of large-ensemble projects that brought him so much acclaim in the 2010s, such as 2015's Synovial Joints (Pi Recordings). But until then, the Five Elements does more than enough to provide a compelling outlet for Coleman's indefatigable creative impulses.