Dupont T: Spider's Dance

The Dupont is Hubert, a bassist from Paris, and his T-team is pianist Yvan Robillard, also presumably from that same city, drummer Chander Sardjoe (who lives in Amsterdam) and alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa, who resides in New York. This collection of Dupont's compositions was recorded in Paris towards the end of 2006 and fits in well with the settings that Mahanthappa finds himself in on this side of the Atlantic.

There's a mathematical hard-nose, but it's still sniffing around the corners of jazz traditionalism, particularly during what have to be called the "ballad numbers. The disc opens with some heavily processed piano, in the manner of Craig Taborn, letting "Spider off the leash, free to skitter around, just like its namesake. The piece begins like it's already in midstream, with Mahanthappa and Dupont playing fast licks in tandem, establishing a mood of brooding darkness.

Although residing in Paris since 1989, Dupont grew up in Lyon, starting out playing electric rock guitar. Receiving upright bass lessons from JF Jenny-Clark soon put paid to that. Dupont's pliable thickness lies at the core of this quartet sound, with strings often harassed down to near-breaking point, rejoicing in a dark snap. Mahanthappa displays his rooting in Indian classical patterns on the introduction to the placid "Irid, with "1010 next up, converting to a bullish speediness, complex and tough. Bass strings are radically loosened on "Moundéle, leading up to a savagely flayed solo, answered in rough kind by Mahanthappa's uncharacteristically coarse alto.