Jim Keltner is one of the few living “household name” drummers and to put this in perspective he’s collaborated on several of The Beatles’ solo albums and records by Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton. But the trio comprising Keltner, guitarist Mike Baggetta and bassist Mike Watt is a more modest affair fame-wise.
Baggetta, who leads the group and writes most of the tunes, is a music graduate of Rutgers University and was first influenced by jazz when he heard Jeff Beck’s version of Mingus’s Goodbye Pork Pie Hat on Wired (Epic, 1976). Mike Watt played bass with Minutemen and The Stooges, NME readers voting him one of the “40 Greatest Bassists of All Time”. Baggetta and Watt have also recently completed a US tour with drummer Stephen Hodges under the name MSSV, and recently recorded a single with guitar hero Nels Cline.
Everywhen We Go is the band’s second album, the first being the critically acclaimed Wall Of Flowers (Big Ego, 2019). The music has been variously described as post-rock or avant jazz, but inevitably these descriptors are inadequate. The title track opener, for example, is a gorgeous, haunting melange of Hank Marvin meets Bill Frisell, replete with echoey tremolo-guitar backed by thunderous bass and drums.
The tracks are occasionally underpinned by an ostinato bass as heard on Everywhen I Go and This Is Not A Euphemism. The subtle, ethereal qualities of Baggetta’s guitar as heard on In The Center and Not Enough Of Time contrast sharply with the visceral, searing sound he evinces on Yank It Out. The insistent heavy 4/4 beat of Fake Break interweaves glissando guitar with an overdriven solo. Fearmongers delves more into experimental improvisation whereas the short intro to Measure Of A Life is deftly executed on acoustic guitar, leading into its relaxed, blues-infused namesake.
Discography
Everywhen We Go; This Is Not a Euphemism; In The Center; Yank It Out; Fake Break; Not Enough Of Time; Fearmongers; Measure Of A Life (Intro); Measure Of A Life; Everywhen We Go (Slight Return) (45.09)
Baggetta (g, elg); Keltner (d, pc); Watt (b). Long Beach, California, 23 November 2021.
Big Ego BIG022, download and vinyl
