An album not afraid of silences and raw emotion couched in abstraction. Deeply serious in mood and openly contemplative it’s not at all self conscious and rewards close attention.
Mainly alto saxophone from Marty Ehrlich with double bass from the Fred Hersch player John Hébert and drums from the Jason Moran Bandwagon musician Nasheet Waits, all three played with Andrew Hill (1931-2007) during the latter part of the pianist’s life. And there is a strong Hill flavour to This Time. There’s no irony at all in the fact that the grouping does not involve a piano player as the spirit of Hill speaks volumes flickering like firelit magic lanterns.
Ehrlich was on Hill’s Palmetto 2000 release Dusk.
Waits was on 2003’s The Day The World Stood Still.
And Hébert was on Hill’s final studio recording, Time Lines (2006).
It’s 7 years since the release by Portuguese label Cleanfeed of the earlier album Trio Exaltation that gifts the trio its name.
That release included Ehrlich originals and a version of Andrew Hill’s ‘Dusk.’ A version of ‘Dusk’ is here again.
Ehrlich turned 70 recently.
This new album is dedicated to Hill’s widow Joanne. It was recorded at the Samurai Hotel Studios in Astoria, New York in May last year. In addition to ‘Dusk’ the trio also interpret Hill’s ‘Images of Time.’ Ehrlich tunes include ‘Twelve for Black Arthur’ dedicated to altoist Arthur Blythe (1940-2017) known for his work with Jack DeJohnette the Leaders and World Saxophone Quartet.
Inspired by how this speaks to the senses I break off after listening to read some Baudelaire, specifically these lines of the 19th century French poet’s drawn from 1857’s Correspondences:
Comme de longs échos qui de loin se confondent
Charles Baudelaire
Dans une ténébreuse et profonde unité,
Vaste comme la nuit et comme la clarté,
Les parfums, les couleurs et les sons se répondent
These far off long echoes found in the unity of the dark night contain a clarity that harnesses the chiming sense of smell, colour and sound.
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