Pianist Myra Melford is always generous with her time, as happy to lead her own group as she is to collaborate with others. Here she is part of a new and exploratory quartet co-led with drummer Allison Miller, its name inspired by the role of light in the panoply of life on earth, whether that be the vitality of the sun’s rays or the bioluminescence of creatures in the deepest oceans.
The pair draw on their shared passion for the preservation of nature and their boundary-stretching approach to music. Joining them here are saxophonist Dayna Stephens and bassist Scott Colley to create a collective radiance; according to Melford, this combination of musicians is “like throwing a spark at tinder – everything immediately bursts into flames”.
As indeed it does from the offset, the edgy, unsettling Intricate Drift setting an urgent saxophone against an often off-tempo piano and drums, Scott Colley delivering an impressive bass interlude. 23 Januarys is more spacious, a walking bass introducing a slightly melancholy saxophone theme and loose piano solo over the lightest of drums patterns, while Deeply Us is suitably intense and focused.
The uplifting Congratulations And Condolences, with Stephens on soprano, runs in more of an astral groove, Melford’s jubilant piano solo adding more fun to proceedings. The Wayward Line does what the title suggests, the musicians taking individual and wayward lines through the piece before Melford heads into total and abrasive abstraction. Again, as elsewhere, one can hear the different melodic and rhythmic approaches of the musicians as well as their compatibility.
A stop-start Speak Eddie and an even more rhythmically disrupted Dried Print On Cardboard take us up the concluding title track, which in contrast to what has proceeded it, is a contemplative, yearning eulogy to the future that brings out the quieter, even romantic but always hopeful side of all concerned.
Melford is always an energising presence on every she album she plays on, and this set is no exception. I have always been a great admirer of her work, and am thus delighted by this new set.
Discography
Intricate Drift; 23 Januarys; Congratulations And Condolences; Deeply Us; The Wayward Line; Speak Eddie; Dried Print On Cardboard; Tomorrowland (61.22)
Myra Melford (p); Dayna Stephens (ss, as); Scott Colley (b); Allison Miller (d). NYC, 2–3 February 2023.
Enja 9845
