Dwight Trible
has been exploring jazz's boundaries since the 1970s, and eventually became the vocal director of
Horace Tapscott
's
Pan African Peoples Arkestra
.
Trible
also sang with transgenerational collective
Build an Ark
(co-founded by
Carlos Nino
and
Miguel Atwood-Ferguson
), as well as saxophonists
Kamasi Washington
,
Kenny Garrett
, and
Pharoah Sanders
. In addition to jazzers, he has also guested with funk, rock, hip-hop, and R&B musicians. He's employed plenty of both live but has never allowed for wholesale experimentation with his approach. Until
Ancient Future
, that is. This set, like its excellent predecessor, 2019's
Mothership
, appears on
Gearbox
and was produced by
Darrel Sheinman
. Musically, all similarities end there.
's core quintet includes longtime collaborator, jazz keyboardist
John Beasley
, gospel bassist
Andrew Gouche
(
Winans
Mighty Clouds of Joy
), drummer/percussionist
Greg Paul
Jazz Is Dead
), and veteran guitarist
G.E. Stinson
Shadowfax
).
Opener "Truth" is introduced by rippling electric bass, drum cymbals, and skittering synths. When
begins singing, it's almost a prophetic declaration: "Right is wrong/Wrong is right/... Y'all know truth is in exile ... Lyin' is in style right now...."
Beasley
layers a Hammond B-3 atop a pulsing synth as
Paul
double times the band with breaks, rolls, fills, and accents. "My Stomping Ground" is its polar opposite. Introduced by funky left coast bass and electric guitar lines,
speaks as much as he sings, but it's not a rap, it's more like a poem relating the singer's personal landmarks in the City of Angels.
's synth adds a crescendo as a refrain, but the band comes right back, low, slow, and steamy. "Beach Vibes" is warm, spacy, and carried by
Gouche
's roaming bassline.
allows himself to be buoyed by Rhodes piano, guitar, and
's lithe drumming. The nearly ten-minute "Derf Recklaw" pays tribute to the former
Pharoahs
' and
multi-instrumentalist and longtime friend who passed away in 2022. Bass and keys lead it off as
Stinson
colors the margins with shard-like vamps while
creates a wide sonic palette to frame the rhythm section's canny interplay. He also provides
with an improvisational ledge to explore. "Black Dance" is the set's longest cut. It weds vanguard electric post-bop, mutant funk, improvisation, and R&B with a killer duet vocal and solo from
Georgia Anne Muldrow
adding resonance. "African Drum" weds '70s-era West African highlife via
's guitar to guest
's tenor sax, a languid yet swinging African rhumba rhythm under funky, trance-like Afrobeat keys and bass. Closer "Wind" is a humid, nocturnal exercise in ambient abstraction that recalls the Fourth World music of
Jon Hassell
as
moans and wails in and around the music.
's vocals are, as always, warm, spiritual, and instantly recognizable;
's compositions -- written by the quintet -- rely on dynamic electric instrumentation, funky polyrhythms, and abstract harmonics. Using a deliberate spatial approach, they balance circular interplay, deep listening, and killer improvisation.
is an auspicious new direction for the vocalist. ~ Thom Jurek