Tokyo-born Gene Ess (real name Gene Shimosato) returns to form with a trio album, his ninth to date as leader. All the tracks were composed by Ess whilst stuck in Japan during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2021.
Ess says in the sleeve notes that a “trio with bass and drums is a huge challenge musically as the guitar is completed naked in the sonic landscape” but to judge from the lively title track Ess proves more than equal to the task. All three members of the trio are true virtuosos, as their playing throughout attests.
On Yuki, Ess employs a clean, warm guitar tone in conjunction with a relaxed style not dissimilar to that of six-string greats Jim Hall and Kenny Burrell. By stark contrast Array, the album’s dramatic outlier, begins in a feisty, fuzzy/overdriven mode which evolves into a non-distorted quiet passage, but returns to the heavy-metal jazz and again back to a tranquil mode before the bass and drums take precedence. Ess ultimately rejoins the rhythm section with his opening arpeggio-laden riff and the piece ends with a brief fade-out. Crossing is a reflective solo piece on electro-acoustic guitar, sounding like an étude but mesmeric nonetheless.
The eight pieces on the album take the form of a song cycle, a construction that was popular with Schubert, Schumann and Mahler. The characteristic element of the song cycle is the unifying features of the music throughout the work, requiring musical coherence but with many variations. The chief unifying feature here is Ess’s honey-toned guitar and even on the angular opener Ah-Bop there’s a warmth that permeates throughout.
The material here, with the notable exception of Array, is relaxed and thoughtful and meticulously executed. Despite Ess’s concern about the nakedness of the trio format, he acquits himself with aplomb and has produced a record that’s worthy of many replays.
Discography
Ah-Bop; Waltz; Yuki; Array; Dark Blues; Crossing; Trance; Ending Credits (56.01)
Ess (elg); Scott Colley (b); Clarence Penn (d). Brooklyn, New York, 5-6 November, 2021.
SIMP 221007
