Throttle Elevator Music - Retrorespective
ARTIST........: Throttle Elevator Music
TITLE.........: Retrorespective
LABEL.........: Wide Hive Records
URL...........: http://www.widehive.com/discography/retrorespective
GENRE.........: Jazz
QUALITY:......: 247 kbps avg/ 44100Hz / Joint Stereo
RIP DATE......: 2017-08-19
RELEASE DATE..: 2017-02-05
Tracklist:
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01. Liminality 8:21
02. Playing The Alleyway 5:25
03. February Drift 7:01
04. Flux And Solder 3:26
05. Retrorespective 2:43
06. Second Liminality 5:54
07. Subtract Limited 4:03
08. Rapid Rotation 2:22
09. February 15 7:51
Total 47:06
Release Notes:
This is the fifth outing for a band that began life as Gregory HowesÆ experiment
in punk-jazz. While the thrashing drums and rocking bass lines are present and
correct on pieces coming in at around 3 minutes, especially on æFlux and SolderÆ
(track 3), what you have here is a far more jazz flavoured collection than some
of their previous outings. I was confused by the title Retrospective, assuming
at first that it would be a compilation of tracks from the previous recordings.
However, all the songs are previously unreleased and come from two sessions. The
first, in 2011, took place before the release of their first CD and the second
in February last year. The title track, æRetrospectiveÆ, is a pleasantly
lumbering blues, with a theme played jointly on saxophone and trumpet. Across
the pieces, the drums and bass keep a fairly strict 4-square beat, with the
ever-intriguing Mendoza adding avant-jazz, fuzz-dreched fills on guitar that
gives an edgy but nuanced and spacey commentary on the saxophone solos. This is
particularly effective on the three tracks that clock in at 7 or 8 minutes
(æLiminalityÆ track 1, æFebruary DriftÆ track 3 and æFebruary 15Æ track 9), with
the band having space to develop on the deceptively simple themes (some of which
they revisit and toy with on different tracks).
?There is an elegance to these longer pieces in the interplay of saxophone,
trumpet and guitar that is beguiling. Having produced one of the albums of 2015
with a collection of bop-inspired pieces, this set shows that Washington is
comfortable in a quite different musical environment, wringing soulful and
beautiful sounds from his saxophone. What is equally impressive is the way in
which all of the band members work together on a solid and equal footing to
produce a gem of one of the branches of contemporary jazz. The mixture of
blues, rock and haunting melodies give the music the feel of a soundtrack to an
American TV series, the sort you binge-watch on box-sets with plenty of twists
and suspense. Just like the very best of these series, there is plenty here to
keep your interest and attention and plenty to make impossible to just listen to
one track û once it is put into the player, you just have to listen to whole
album to see what the band will do next.
Kamasi Washington: saxophone; Erik Jekabson: flugelhorn, trumpet; Thomas McCree:
drums; Ava Mendoza: guitar; Gregory Howe: arranging; Matt Mongomery: bass, piano