Three years after Tomasz Stanko's New York Quartet issued their quietly stunning debut Wislawa, they return in slightly altered but no less inventive form. The Polish trumpeter brings back pianist David Virelles and drummer Gerald Cleaver, and welcomes new bassist Reuben Rogers, who replaces Thomas Morgan. Just as Wislawa took Polish poet and Nobel Laureate Wislawa Szymborska as its muse, December Avenue chooses writer Bruno Schulz, another Pole, as its own. Two tracks here are in his honor, and due to their particular ...
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Three years after Tomasz Stanko's New York Quartet issued their quietly stunning debut Wislawa, they return in slightly altered but no less inventive form. The Polish trumpeter brings back pianist David Virelles and drummer Gerald Cleaver, and welcomes new bassist Reuben Rogers, who replaces Thomas Morgan. Just as Wislawa took Polish poet and Nobel Laureate Wislawa Szymborska as its muse, December Avenue chooses writer Bruno Schulz, another Pole, as its own. Two tracks here are in his honor, and due to their particular compositional elements, they reflect the writer's lasting influence on Stanko. December Avenue is a more deliberate outing than its predecessor, but it's also more intuitive. "Cloud," the opener, is an elliptical dialogue between Stanko and Virelles that poses a handful of unanswered musical questions, and is all the better for it. The mysterious piano intro in "Blue Cloud" opens the doorway for the band to engage in collective improvisation, though they never completely abandon the harmonic frame. "Burning Hot," led by Rogers' pulsing bassline and Cleaver's snare and hi-hat shimmer, introduce a post-bop workout that displays Stanko's more muscular playing and Virelles' most angular. "Ballad for Bruno Schulz" is tender but elegiac as Stanko's smoky, airy tone and tender melody are provided added weight by Rogers' simpatico bassline and Virelles fluctuations between dirge-like chords and song-like runs. Cleaver's graceful brushwork colors all the spaces between. The title tune is a swinging post-bop number with a great head and bridge. The drummer's effortless yet almost frenetic double-time swing drives the band as Virelles delivers a punchy Afro Latin groove in his solo. Stanko in turn offers lean lines with a bell-like sonority. "The Street of Crocodiles" -- titled for one of Schulz's best-known short stories -- offers Stanko's smoky tone delivered with graceful, bittersweet elegance. Virelles adds a physical dimension as Rogers' bowed bass and Cleaver's brushes make more room for the trumpeter and pianist to explore abstraction. "Yankiels Lid" is another uptempo post-bop number with Stanko displaying his physicality again. Virelles is fleet and fluid while Rogers pulls a long, soulful, and edgy solo out of his trick bag. December Avenue offers a more subtle portrait of this unit overall, but that's welcome. As individuals and as a collective, these musicians stay focused on whatever the tune is trying to say. What's more, each player is careful to leave space for his bandmates, not only in solos, but in fills and harmonic feints and shifts. Assembled, this not only makes for a compelling listen, but also reveals the maturity and confidence this quartet has developed since the release of Wislawa. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi
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