In May 2016, guitarist
Jeff Parker
, double bassist
Eric Revis
, and drummer
Nasheet Waits
spent a single day recording in a Pasadena studio. The seven tunes they cut appear on
Eastside Romp
. Mixed in 2018, it sat on a shelf for four more years. This collaboration juxtaposes
Parker
, an adaptable and mercurial player, with the incendiary, wildly inventive rhythm section of the ever-evolving
Tarbaby
.
All members of the trio got in on the composing. There are two tunes each by
and
Revis
, one by
Waits
and one group improv. Opener "Similar Limits" is the set's only cover. Composed by the late alto saxophonist
Marion Brown
, it originally appeared on 1967's
Porto Novo
. The trio keep the iconic,
Monk
-esque intro after a brief roll from
.
play the staggered melodic intro as
rolls, fills, and accents all over the kit. As the bassist expands the tune's harmonic reach,
explores the underside with great sensitivity and swing. "Wait," the album's longest cut, was composed by the guitarist. It commences as a dirge led by
playing vamped chords. He establishes a circular vamp as
points at his changes and
dances limpidly on his tom-toms in 4/4. The languid lyric line crisscrosses post-bop, Spanish-tinged modalism, and blues.
moves between melody and angular improv as his bandmates respond with empathy, highlighting and expanding the reach of his labyrinthine harmonic lines. As a perfect complement,
offers a studio version of his oft-performed nugget "Between Nothingness and Infinity." Paraphrasing the title of 1973's live
Mahavishnu Orchestra
album
Between Nothingness & Eternity
, he frames a musical narrative that emerges directly out of
's deeply moving ballad-esque playing, adding textural airiness, rhythmic spaciousness, and harmonic depth to its melody. "Drunkard's Lullaby" is a group improvisation, laden with guitar effects, knotty bass vamps, and dialogic conversation between snare, hi-hat, and kick drum.
's abstracted soloing is saturated in distortion, and it short-circuits, staggering his already jagged lines, creating a barely restrained sense of power. The rhythm section intersects and interlocks in detailed, propulsive conversation as the guitar travels afield, adding more frenetic yet glitchy notes and layers of feedback.
' "A Room for VG" employs an economy of scale as sparse notes, somber basslines, and reluctantly deployed drumbeats interact with silence and space to create ethereal shapes and colors.
's chord voicings are elegant, graceful, and eerie. Closer "Watusi" was composed by
. Led by
' walking post-bop bassline,
alternately traverses the melodic inventions of
Jimmy Giuffre
,
Sonny Rollins
, and
Pat Metheny
in his elongated lyric statement. He adds blues to post-bop swing, even as its repetitive three-chord vamp quotes from the heart of
the Champs
' "Tequila" progression, resulting in a finger-popping groove caressed by funk. No one except the creators know why it took six long years for this relaxed yet canny set to arrive, but its appearance adds immeasurably to the mystique and inventive creativity of these three musicians. ~ Thom Jurek