Save Your Breath
Kris Davis Infrasound
Clean Feed CD
Ben Goldberg, Oscar Noriega, Joachim Badenhorst, Andrew Bishop, clarinets; Nade Radley, guitar; Gary Versace, organ; Jim Black, drums; Kris Davis, piano and compositions
On her new Clean Feed CD, joined by a cadre of clarinetists playing instruments in varying shapes and sizes, composer/pianist Kris Davis presents her latest suite of avant-jazz pieces. Save Your Breath features ardent solo work, not only from all of the clarinetists, but also from the members of the rhythm section. Organist Gary Versace’s sci-fi brilliance on “Union Forever” is a standout (he is matched pitch for pitch by the uniformly excellent clarinetist Oscar Noriega). The aptly named “Whirly Swirly” finds guitarist Nate Radley creating undulating syncopations that dovetail with clarinetist Badenhorst and Davis’s lines. The leader herself frequently contributes post-tonal percussive solos that propel the proceedings. Speaking of musical propellent, drummer Jim Black’s energetic playing keeps the music-making from ever lapsing into idleness.
Davis makes skilful use of the clarinet quartet, calling upon them to play on alternate instruments, testing them at either end of their registral extremes, from wailing up top to chorale-like textures on the bottom; some of the bass clarinet chords are spectacularly sepulchral. Throughout, there is a sense of a strong composer’s hand at work. Davis demonstrates that an imaginative approach can make even a very challenging ensemble grouping work handily.
Christian B. Carey 