Ivo Perelman Quartet: Water Music

New and old converge on Water Music. Tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman showcases a quartet with longstanding partner Matthew Shipp on piano together with the fresh rhythm axis of bassist Mark Helias and drummer Tom Rainey. Although they have not played with Perelman before, they are not exactly Johnny-come-latelys. Both have achieved veteran status, not only individually, but also as a team, exemplified by Rainey having fuelled Helias' mighty Open Loose trio since its inception back in the late 1990s.

In the liners critic Neil Tesser, who may know Perelman's music better than anyone excepting Shipp, detects some key developments in the reedman's powers of expression. Perelman relates these back to an enforced change of mouthpiece, and a consequent paring back of note density. While such transformations may not be readily discernible by the uninitiated, there is no denying that this particular outfit prompts some of Perelman's most potent explorations, pushing him further in all directions.

His restless amalgam of aching cries, insistent motifs and sinuous falsetto dominates the eight cuts in this 2022 studio session, but they exist in the context of a shifting rhythmic and melodic carpet constantly recalibrated by his companions. Everyone has agency. That is evidenced by instances such as the way that Shipp instigates a reflective episode in the hitherto fore choppy and skittering opener "Entrainment," or the way Rainey kicks on to propel into nervy motion the rubato "Sound Essence."

Helias and Rainey exploit the absence of responsibility for a steady beat to shape, comment and cajole throughout. The bassist's switches back and forth between bowing and plucking add contrapuntal muscle or piquant garnish as appropriate. His finely braided arco intertwines especially effectively with Perelman's lush middle register on numbers such as "Life Force." Rainey is the master of response: always on point, but never with what might be expected. With some 50 joint dates with Perelman under his belt, Shipp is hyper-attuned to the reedman's moves, whether snagging on a prancing staccato or cosseting a ballad feel.

Another trait Tesser highlights is a burgeoning lyricism from Perelman. It can be heard at the start of "Boundless," which suggests Ben Webster if he had been copping an earful of Evan Parker, and in more prolonged form in the well-turned phrases towards the end of "Fluidity." While each piece has abundant merits, the title track proves the standout, notable for the expansiveness of its mercurial interplay, cycling through moods, but capped by the leader's extended trembling altissimo line which turns querulous, pleading and then ultimately triumphant.