Spaces In Time

It's a bit shortsighted to consider Bill Moring as merely one of many capable jazz bassists, for in fact he is one of the best-sounding players on his instrument over a three-decade career. A skilled accompanist having worked with many big bands, singers, modernists, and fusioneers, Moring adds a contemporary retro-activist tag to his résumé with this quintet, dubbed the Way Out East band. Always potent veteran trumpeter Jack Walrath (why is he not heard more often on recordings?) and saxophonist Tim Armacost add sauce, spice, and depth to the melodic proceedings, while Moring, electric keyboardist Steve Allee, and the exceptional drummer Steve Johns collectively explore this new/old aesthetic. You hear the Fender Rhodes-based fusion music of the early '70s (think of Mainstream record label artists like Hal Galper, Larry Willis, and Jan Hammer) merged with more modern complicated jazz compositions like those of Charles Mingus, Carla Bley, and Chick Corea. While it is the amplified sound of Allee that identifies this band, the drumming of Johns cements it rhythmically, while the horns make it fly. Most recognizable in this vein is the title track, a sweet modal tune merging from 6/8 to 3/4 time, with composer Moring anchoring the band on his heavy contrabass in a manner reminiscent of predecessors like Cecil McBee, Richard Davis, and, naturally, Mingus. The excavated lesser-known Ornette Coleman tune "The Disguise" sounds typically harmolodic, lean, witty, and humor-laden in a free bop stop-start style very similar to Ornette's band with Don Cherry, punctuated with an outstanding muted trumpet solo from Walrath. Walrath contributes three pieces to the book of this band: his peppy rock & roll to tango to bop tune "Sweat" features the horns in sharp staccato accents; "Balls of Everything" typifies the hip retro flashback of early jazz-rock groove fusion; and "Snakes" is a sneaky, dark, free piece with two-note phrases over the improvised rhythm section, then into a six-note rondo section. Moring also wrote the closer, "iHop," a sleepwalking dark funk with Allee flipping the switch to a Hammond organ sound. Happily, Walrath in particular is on top of his game, which should be shouted to the rafters. One would hope this is not a one-off group, as it certainly sounds like a working band, but the liner notes suggest a single rehearsal was conducted prior to the recording session. It indicates these five musicians are indeed thoroughly professional, with a single-minded concept, resulting in high-level progressive music that should appeal to several generations of jazz listeners. ~ Michael G. Nastos, Rovi