This CD arrived on the
day that the government announced an increase in National Insurance to pay for
social care in the UK. We now have the threat of fuel price rises and the end
of the Universal Credit uplift. Not only can you not take it with you, you might
not have it for very long in the first place!!
I hadn’t heard of Chet Doxas or Thomas Morgan before this CD, though I knew Iverson from his playing with The Bad Plus, a self-proclaimed ‘power trio.’ This is a drummer less group that creates space and the instruments can float, unanchored, between each other. The lack of the drummer seems to make the listener lean in that much closer, though that’s partly the result of some soft playing as well. The standard of composition and playing is such that you want to catch all of what’s going on. Closer listening is rewarded.
Although this is a
showcase for Doxas’ compositions he actually lays out for much of the album
(his liner notes say he was practising getting out of the way) and Iverson’s
piano is often the lead voice. This throws more light onto the bass as well and
Morgan is always up to the task, a constant pulse, under and behind everything,
on the title track, for instance, Morgan takes the lead, opening the album and
there is relatively little of Doxas.
The second tune Lodestar (for Lester Young) has Iverson
playing inside the piano. Sporadic fantastic sounds and increasingly heavy
chords mark out a path for the sax to follow. It builds to a liberation then a
Prez inspired outro that leads into Part
of a Memory, a wailing lament that becomes a more uplifting dance with
twinkling piano, the bass guiding the steps.
Twelve
Foot Blues is the easiest track on the album to find
your way into. It’s a rolling Mississippi riverboat blues with the three
protagonists circling each other and giving each other the nod and a hint of who Could Ask For Anything More?
Doxas describes Last Pier as a film noir soundtrack with
the piano playing the world weary Joe who cracks the case. The sax provides the
relief and the imagery of the bad guy face-down in the water as dawn is
breaking and the broad (can we still say that?) has been rescued.
Snapshot
is
a high volume, low knowledge argument with Doxas ranting through and round his
sax. It’s what passes for politics on Fox News. By way of contrast, Up There in the Woods is an easy West
Coast swing, a two-step in the light in tribute to guitarist Jim Hall.
The closer, View from a Bird, was inspired by Femme,
oiseau, etoile by Joan Miro, rather than by Charlie Parker and its
Spanish roots show through. It’s more of a Hollywood interpretation of Spain
but it ends the album on an optimistic note, it’s an invitation to dance whilst
you still have both the ability and the desire to.
You Can’t Take It With You is available on CD from Sept. 24 and on vinyl the week after. It can be bought HERE through Bandcamp, from Jeff ‘The Urban Spaceman’ Bezo’s site and through the usual other outlets. Dave Sayer
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