Spike Wilner Trio Contrafactus: The Children & The Warlock

A parodist might quip that Trio Contrafactus is simply another name for a quartet, as that is what pianist and entreprenuer Spike Wilner is leading on his new recording, The Children & the Warlock, wherein Wilner and his rhythm section (Paul Gill, bass; Anthony Pinciotti, drums) are flanked by renowned tenor saxophonist George Garzone.

Wilner writes that the album is a tribute to one of his teachers, the late pianist and composer Harry Whitaker, who wrote its title song and to whom Wilner and Garzone's erratic composition, "Moment to Moment" (also the name of Whitaker's band), is dedicated. As spontaneity was Whitaker's credo, the trio (pardon; quartet) strive to create a similar ambience, one whose stance of creativity is free and relatively unimpeded by special norms.

It is designed, in other words, to resemble a footloose blowing session in which concentration and awareness are the watchwords. As such, it works rather well, although most avenues of that nature house their inevitable twists and potholes, impediments that Wilner and his colleagues are either unwilling or unable to avoid. These include but are not limited to the sort of melodic and rhythmic imbalance that too often inhabit a freer jazz sphere to the detriment of one's listening pleasure. Even though everyone is playing well and giving the music the best he has to offer, the result is too often more cluttered than coherent.

There are pleasing moments of poise and clarity, as on John Coltrane's fast-paced "Miles' Mode" and Frank Lacy's groovy "Theme for Ernie," but they are outweighed by the relative disorder that overspreads the other themes, starting with "Hey, Open Up!" and continuing for the most part through "Child & Warlock," "Benediction," "Moment to Moment" and "Re-Solution." As noted, everyone plays well, and the music the Trio Contrafactus creates will no doubt linger more sweetly in other ears than it does in these. The effort is duly noted and appreciated; the result, somewhat less so.