Carole Nelson Trio: Through The Storm

Twenty million years of song. And then silence. The seeds of Through The Storm—Carole Nelson Trio's fourth album since forming in 2015—germinated from a cautionary tale. In 1987, a male Kauaʻi ʻōʻō —a bird native to Hawaii—sang to court a prospective mate. Its song met with silence. In 2000, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) declared the species extinct.

Through The Storm is, in part, pianist Nelson's response to the Kauaʻi ʻōʻō's plight—a victim of habitat destruction, disease and storms—but it is also a celebration of the beauty and wonder of nature. "I want to travel the distances between the dark places and the joy of all beings, the joy of being alive," London-born, Ireland-based Nelson told All About Jazz in a 2022 interview, "that's the sort of spectrum I'm on." Both the thematic threads and impressionistic qualities of Through The Storm follow on from Night Vision (Black Stairs Records, 2022)—a work inspired by nature and by humanity's place in the environment.

Nelson, bassist Cormac O'Brien and drummer Dominic Mullan have been playing together since 2015, and their deep musical and personal empathy is a hallmark of music that unfolds as two suites. The first charts the migratory and homing instincts of swallows in spring; over the course of 25 minutes the music moves from impressionistic Bill Evans-esque lyrism ("We Begin Here") to boppish release ("Lift Off"), and from unrelenting rhythmic intensity ("Through the Storm") to elegant meditation ("Sky"). In "Arrival" and "Refuge," the musical journey resolves gracefully, with bowed bass, brushes and delicate pianism providing a soft landing.

The second suite evolved from a joint commission by Dublin and Belfast promoters Improvised Music Company and Moving On Music. They asked Nelson to write music for BAN BAM, a development program founded by IMC in 2017. The premiere was in Belfast in 2024 (see review), so the music has been road-tested, developed and refined since then.

Beginning with a brief field recording of the Kauaʻi ʻōʻō, the next 17 minutes is a carousel of evolving colors, moods and textures. Nelson turns to the alto saxophone on "Eden" (an improvisation based on the notes of extinct bird's song) and "Return"—ruminative forays evocative of Wayne Shorter at his most lyrical. Fender Rhodes is front and centre on "Encroachment," a short but menacing burst of funk that would not feel out of place on Brad Mehldau's and Mark Guiliana's Mehliana: Taming the Dragon (Nonesuch Records, 2014). The suite is crowned with "Epilogue," a free improvisation of delicacy and beauty.

Though Nelson penned all the compositions, the trio's intuitive interplay renders this very much a collective triumph. The playing is first rate, but it is the music's emotional arc—oscillating between hope and the despair of loss—that makes this arguably the most satisfying of the Carol Nelson Trio's releases to date. A trio on the up and up.