Building Bridges With a Post-Bop Ideal

John Escreet began his first set at the Jazz Gallery on Thursday night with a solo piano rumination, soft but stern. He was playing “No Doubt,” by the pianist-composer Andrew Hill, as an invocation, and maybe a stylistic pledge of allegiance. But then when he struck up a tempo to cue his band, the theme it hammered out was a choppy thing called “Unison,” by the British saxophonist Jason Yarde.

That juxtaposition says something about Mr. Escreet, who moved to New York from England a few years ago. Now in his mid-20s, he approaches music with a broad perspective and a knack for drawing connections. Mr. Hill, who died in 2007, can be a touchstone for him, but so can Mr. Yarde, who’s closer to his age and scarcely known on this side of the Atlantic. It all feeds a purpose of dynamic abstraction, the progressive post-bop ideal.

Mr. Escreet recently released his first album, “Consequences” (Posi-Tone), featuring a New York group he calls the John Escreet Project: the alto saxophonist David Binney, the trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, the bassist Matt Brewer and the drummer Tyshawn Sorey. Here, with Zack Lober substituting for Mr. Brewer, the band was both elastic and fervent.

In the spirit of Mr. Hill — and Jason Moran, with whom he has studied — Mr. Escreet wants his performances to feel sudden and changeable. His solo on “Unison” was one long crescendo, all stuttering rumble and cresting tide. Mr. Binney, up next, ordered a breakneck swing tempo, his notes forming gusty arcs. When it was Mr. Akinmusire’s turn, the band fell away, leaving him space for a pointillist concerto.

The episodic strategy for the band flattered no one more than Mr. Akinmusire, an expert colorist with imposing technique. He delivered the most striking solo of the set on an Escreet original called “Dilemma,” flirting with free improvisation but keeping a toehold in melody. Even at his most texture-minded, with whinnies and slurs, he made sense.

The same was true later, when he made his trumpet evoke a sputtering turbine on “Wayne’s World,” another piece by Mr. Escreet (named for Wayne Shorter, not the movie). This time he wasn’t alone: Mr. Binney, hissing through his reed, and Mr. Sorey, thumping his bass drum with a mallet, helped stir the air. They paused only for a dash of pianism by Mr. Escreet, who treated it as a transition, another bridge to build.

 

John Escreet – Consequences

So the newest CD I’ve been listening to is John Escreet’s Consequences. It’s an eccentric, nearly indescribable, hour of music. The music is precise; each note is deliberate, every arrangement pointed, all instruments focused. The … consequence of this precision? Hmmm ….

Escreet has been a student of music from a young age. At age four, he began piano lessons, but also played the cornet, French horn and violin. By age ten, he was apparently improvinsing his own music. A decade and a half later, he’s played in London, toured the US, Canada, Europe and Asia. So, he’s got the skills. He’s left “normal” music behind and reached a higher plane of musical existence. Consequences is the product of that higher plane. Without doubt, this music is intelligent, hinting at themes I most likely missed completely.

The first three tracks, collectively titled “The Suite of Consequences,” is a private conversation betwixt the horns and the piano. Each takes a turn giving a soliliquy now and again. We’re allowed to listen in, knowing there’s something important to the dialogue, but not quite getting it. Or perhaps it’s more like a musical essay, contemplative and reflective. Yet, the three movements of “Consequences” seem to veer towards self-indulgence.

The same can be said of the other songs. All of them, save “No Doubt,” are Escreet’s own compositions and he seems to be indulging his inestimable talent, more interested in stringing and meshing together the stabbings of piano keys and blatting of horns than composing a song. It just seemed like a jumbled mess, tossed together just to be tossed together. And yet, it’s balanced and planned, too.

It’s a strangely compelling CD. The group explores scales and progressions in fabulous ways. It will take some time to fully absorb this material and distinguish the various influences and understand the improvisations. Really, I couldn’t say this record is either good or bad because I don’t really comprehend it. However, it is certainly worth exploring.

Joining Escreet on this recording is David Binney, alto sax and electronics (which are put to use in subtle ways on “Somewhere Between Dreaming and Sleeping”); Ambrose Akinmusire, trumpet; Matt Brewer, double bass (he only rears his head audibly a few times, but it was cool); and Tyshawn Sorey on drums.

TRACK LISTING:

1. The Suite of Consequences
2. Wayne’s World
3. Dilemma
4. Somewhere Between Dreaming and Sleeping
5. No Doubt

John Escreet – Consequences (Posi-Tone, 2008)

Pianist and composer Escreet takes on some potent challenges with a very talented band. He is accompanied by David Binney on alto saxophone, Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet, Matt Brewer on bass and Tyshawn Sorey on drums. The album opens with a very ambitious and lengthy three part suite featuring some stout and powerful trumpet playing and a very potent and percussive piano interlude in the third movement. This is a powerful arrangement that also allows the musicians in the group enough freedom for them to interpret the composition as they see fit.The highlight of the disc for me was “Wayne’s World” which gets appropriately Shorter-esque with an epic saxophone solo of knotty intensity, one of the best solos I have heard from Binney. “Dilema” ratchets down the intensity for a lengthy fender rhodes electric piano feature, and the closing “No Doubt” is a solo piano feature. I was impressed with this disc, for a young and up coming musician, Escreet acquits himself well in heady company and his compositions have a distinctively original and aspiring quality.

www.jazz.comBy Walter Kolosky

The Suite of Consequence (Movement II)

Musicians:

John Escreet (keyboards),

Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet), David Binney (sax), Matt Brewer (bass), Tyshawn Sorey (drums)
.

Composed by John Escreet
.

Recorded: Brooklyn, NY, June 2008
Albumcoverjohnescreet-consequences

Rating: 86/100 (learn more)

A foreboding introduction ushers in “The Suite of Consequence (Movement II).” While “Movement I” was somewhat structured, “Movement II” is nothing of the sort. A somber and simultaneous chaotic atmosphere hangs in the air. Saxophonist David Binney and bassist Matt Brewer take turns trying to sound like each other in a slow and sad section. Pianist John Escreet and Binney follow by trying to fill the now present sound vacuum with some spatial texture. The doom and gloom continues as the volume and participation levels increase. Now all obvious structure is lost. A free jazz formlessness appears, then disappears. It turns out that there is form in the unformed. I am usually not a big fan of this free jazz stuff. But Escreet’s music has the ability to maintain interest. Perhaps it is because it is a section of a larger piece, and you need to hear this to get you from here to there. At any rate, “Movement II” is quite engaging.

There are three parts to the overall suite. They are listed as separate cuts, but “Movement II” flows seamlessly into “Movement III” without any pause on the CD. It is a continuation of the substance of “Movement II.” However, as the piece draws closer to its end, there is an increased amount of dynamic syncopation, stops and starts and unison playing. The suite ends with a dead stop.

This music will not be to everyone’s liking. But those of you who enjoy listening to jazz musicians trying to meet the strong challenge of powerfully intricate music that is still somehow free will be very stimulated.

www.jazz.com
By Mark Seleski

Musicians:

John Escreet (piano, Fender Rhodes),

Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet), David Binney (alto sax, electronics), Matt Brewer (bass), Tyshawn Sorey (drums)
.

Composed by John Escreet
.

Recorded: Brooklyn, NY, June 2008
Albumcoverjohnescreet-consequences

Rating: 91/100 (learn more)

After a particularly weird dream, have you ever noticed how the chemicals your brain parts pumped out managed to make the oddest transitions seem perfectly normal? The unofficial term for this is “dream logic,” and this track provides an aural outline of the concept. Oddball plinky noises, broken piano arpeggios and ominous bass scrapings simulate the dreamer attempting to tune in something meaningful on that apparently malfunctioning living-room radio of the mind. But then the sounds begin to coalesce, and what seemed random now makes sense. The theme radiating from those sparse piano and horn notes was set up perfectly by the previous musical scene. When things almost fly apart as the suite ends (we’re past the 9-minute point here), that makes sense too. Dream logic indeed.

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=31058

Consequences
John Escreet | Posi-Tone Records (2008)

By Mark F. Turner

Since moving to New York in 2006 the exciting London pianist/composer John Escreet has assembled a sensational group of likeminded leaders/thinkers—first call saxophonist David Binney, and equally dynamic younger stars, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, bassist Matt Brewer, and drummer Tyshawn Sorey—to form the John Escreet Project. The resulting recording Consequences, is a scintillating work of modern progressive jazz.

A commanding performer who comps and solos with the percussive flamboyance of Jason Moran (who wrote the recording’s liner notes), Escreet’s imaginative pen brings forth omnivorous music: Andrew Hill’s avant- gardism, flawless bop, the eccentricities of free jazz and contemporary composition. The three-part and thirty minute “Consequence Suite” contrasts multiple moments of drama, intensity and calm. These counterpoints can be heard during Escreet and Sorey’s chaotic dance in “Movement I,” Brewers’ stirring bowed solo in “Movement II,” or the cacophonous torrent of instruments in “Movement III” which morphs into Akinmusire and Binney’s marching horn dialog and then into a power coda.

What lies outside of the suite is also intriguing. The angular beginnings of “Wayne’s World” flow into a hip melody contrasted by two distinct paths: the first contains a powerful exploratory solo by Binney; the second trajectory, a slow pattern where Akinmusire delivers some introspective playing. As in the other compositions, the group interaction and each player’s vivid abilities are outstanding.

Escreet provides nimble Fender Rhodes action on the classy “Dilemma” along with with some nice horn arranging, whereas surrealist explorations in “Somewhere between Dreaming and Sleeping” are colored by electronic atmospheric touches. The recording closes with the brilliant take on Andrew Hill’s “No Doubt” from the master pianist’s 1964 Blue Note recording Andrew!!!. Esctreet’s version continues its unique qualities of dissonance, mystery and poignancy.

Cerebral, gutsy, and filled with personality, Consequences is a discriminating work from a promising talent and one of the brightest releases of 2008.

Track listing: The Suite Of Consequence – Movement I; The Suite Of Consequence – Movement II; The Suite Of Consequence – Movement III; Wayne’s World; Dilemma; Somewhere Between Dreaming And Sleeping; No Doubt.

Personnel: John Escreet: piano, Fender Rhodes; David Binney: alto saxophone, electronics; Ambrose Akinmusire: trumpet; Matt Brewer: double bass; Tyshawn Sorey: drums.