Michael Attias: Quartet Music Vol I: LuMiSong & Vol II: Kardamon Fall

Saxophonist Michael Attias has impressed on the NYC scene for over three decades. He has recorded with Paul Motian, Anthony Braxton and Taylor Ho Bynum, while artists like Eric Revis, Anthony Coleman and Kris Davis have covered his compositions. But despite such recognition, Attias's discography undeservedly languishes in single figures.

His decision to issue two volumes of quartet music, Lumisong and Kardamon Fall, available separately or together in a single package, represents the next step in his evolution as leader. With these two releases his tally increases by 25%. Though recorded at different times, with shifting personnel and with different conceptions in mind, Argentinean pianist Santiago Leibson is a fixture on both.

No matter what the line up, Attias's approach blends invention with precision. But though fluent and talented, he allies forceful and well-balanced phrase-making with a curious reticence. He never overstates his case; instead, he sketches around the edges, allowing dissonance and restraint to serve as expressive tools. His writing can be similarly sidelong, not grabbing the ear immediately, though it still furnishes his bandmates with ample material to dig into.

For LuMiSong, the first volume of the two, Attias enlists bassist Matt Pavolka and drummer Mark Ferber to complete the foursome, which lays down four foundational tracks that don't quite breach the half hour mark. In a distinctive move, in this project Leibson also uses electric keyboards and Attias overdubs further keys and horns to thicken a weave that tends further towards riffs and insistent repetition than some of his charts elsewhere. Consequently the multi-tracked altos on the opening "#63 (Settled)" evoke a spectral, layered atmosphere, while on "NME" at least two saxophones twist around both one another and the plaintive theme.

Any post-production is much less obvious on "Mister Softee Is A Front," a loping number which opens out for a flowing rhythmic solo from Leibson, whose style leans into and exploits the reiterated patterns. Similarly sparsely modified, the closing "Hexway Liner," feels almost syncopated, but also benefits from dubbing in some spiraling sawing from guest Christopher Hoffman's cello.

When convening in the studio over a year later for Kardamon Fall, Sean Conly and Tom Rainey, two of the saxophonist's long established partners, occupied the bass and drum chairs respectively. Their deep rapport brings a tensile strength to even the most delicate passage and ensures that Attias' sometimes complex harmonic choices benefit from their unshowy but uplifting interactions, both with each other and the front line. Solos tend to be pithy, embellishing but not overshadowing the group aesthetic.

While Attias pares back on cuts like the spare ballad "Kardamon Spring," he still pushes others such as "Manners" that nod in the same direction toward a simmering climax, with Leibson's swirling rubato setting the stage for the saxophonist's feverish alto runs. Similarly multifaceted, "The Angel Told" stands as another highlight, morphing from the controlled to the dramatic and churchy, to mention just some stops on a persuasive journey.

Taken together, these two volumes confirm Attias not just as an adventurous improviser, but as a bandleader capable of shaping ambiguity into a compelling artistic vision.

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