| James Buckley Trio - Stitches |
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| Written by Steve McPherson | |
| Friday, September 7, 2007 at 08:59 AM | |
 James Buckley Trio - Stitches Stitches Self-released myspace.com/jamesbuckley James Buckley and his trio echo a broad swath of disparate records from the past on their debut album, Stitches: the quieter moments of Miles Davis' In A Silent Way and Squarepusher's Music Is Rotted One Note in Bryan Nichols' mossy, fuzzy electric piano; the flexible interplay of Bill Evans' Waltz for Debby or Ahmad Jamal's The Awakening; the thoughtful fusion of textures and emphasis on mood of Brad Mehldau's trio work. And so it's all the more impressive that bassist Buckley has crafted a record (with the help of Nichols and drummer J.T. Bates) whose overriding tone is not of being overstuffed with influence, but rather with the dusky, dusty feeling of an old house, or the thick, gray blanket of a rainy Sunday. The trio has a lovely, intuitive feel with Buckley's compositions. Bassist-led groups are not all that common in jazz, but Buckley doesn't force his way to the front here, instead relying on a suite of casual, sketch-like songs and a warm, round upright tone to make his mark. Opener "Newer" begins with a simple bass line melody before Bates and Nichols enter in sympathetic counterpoint. Bates' drums are saturated with the tone of the room, emphasizing the intimacy of the playing, and the song evaporates into silence before it stretches itself too thin. Throughout, lead duties are passed casually around, and when the bass steps to the front on "New," there's little of the sense that Nichols and Bates are holding back, an impression you often get during bass solos on jazz records. Instead, they simply modulate their support to a lower rung—it's not exactly group improvisation, but just a collective sense that the goal here is feel and tone, not individual virtuosity. Too many modern jazz records seem to exist in a clean and odorless vacuum, taking advantage of the studio only insomuch as it allows the players to be polished to as streak-free a shine as possible. Stitches is an entirely different kind of jazz record, a weathered and care-worn gem whose best quality is the way its resolutely lo-fi sound accents and enhances the comfortable and intimate interplay between the players. COMING UP: The James Buckley Trio CD Release Show for Stitches . Thursday, September 20. Dakota Jazz Club . 7 pm. $5. |
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