Today On Earth

Joe Morris has been working with the three musicians heard on this disc for a long time. Saxophonist Jim Hobbs, bassist Timo Shanko, and drummer Luther Gray are friends, kindred spirits, and perceptive interpreters of his compositions. Morris plays guitar on this disc and composed each piece, though he doesn't thrust himself forward. As always, his clean tone comes through like a shaft of light at dusk — not quite piercing, but augmenting what's there. A piece like the nearly 12-minute "Observer" would never live up to its title were any of the players more obstreperous, but each man restrains himself, easing into a rhythm that's somewhere between calming and ominous. On "Embarrassment of Riches," by contrast, the guitar and alto sax play a unison melody that's a little bit Ornette Coleman, a little bit Albert Ayler, before launching into an exchange of solos where each note is chosen with the utmost care and not one is wasted or frivolous. Morris is a master of mixing total improvisational freedom with a realization that swing can be just as liberating as skronk, that a clean tone can say as much as, if not more than, a coruscating flood-tide of noise. Indeed, this album is so pretty that its adventurousness may slip right by on the first few listens. In other words, it's worth spending time with and getting to know.