BARRY ALTSCHUL — Barry Altschul’s 3dom Factor : Tales of the Unforeseen (review)

BARRY ALTSCHUL — Barry Altschul’s 3dom Factor : Tales of the Unforeseen album cover Album · 2015 · Avant-Garde Jazz Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
snobb
Barry Altschul is an under-recorded virtuoso free jazz drummer who made his name in the short-lived but exceptional Circle - early avant-garde jazz band where he played with such (now) stars as pianist Chick Corea, reedist Anthony Braxton and bassist Dave Holland. His new trio, 3Dom Factor, is an extremely rare project as a leader. They just released their new live album, "Long Tall Sunshine", so it looks like it makes some sense to re-listen to their second, and last (Aug.2021) studio album, "Tales of the Unforseen", released six years ago.

The trio's bassist, Joe Fonda, is another free jazz veteran who played with Altschul in FAB Trio (with violinist Billy Bang). Third 3Dom Factor's member is a younger generation reedist, one of the modern scene's leaders, Jon Irabagon.

From the very first moments the trio's sound is easy recognizable when Irabagon plays bluesy and soulful different reeds solos with the support of a very technical and muscular rhythm section. Twenty-six minutes long opener, "As The Tale Begins", is a spontaneous composition (as well as two others on the album) which gives a lot of space for each of the three artists' soloing. Of the three composed songs, one belongs to Thelonious Monk ("A Tale Of Monk: Ask Me Now"), one more - to Annette Peacock("Annette´s Tale Of Miracles") and the rest - to Altschul himself ("A Drummer´s Tale"). Still, the spontaneous pieces are full of tuneful snippets and lyrical moments while the composed ones get quite free, so the border between firsts and seconds are often blurred.

Most importantly, the trio is of the highest level of professionalism, playing mid-tempo soulful free jazz with lots of spirit, what once was almost a standard for the genre (I'm speaking about early 70s), but almost disappeared with time.

There are not many novelties in this music, and the sound is quite conservative (yeh, it sounds funny - conservative free jazz), but somehow it revitalizes one of the best traditions free jazz established long ago, and it works well in the modern world.

One can hardly find here harsh moments, or explosive energy, or even faster pieces (all of that partially can be found on the trio's freshly released live album), but "Tales Of The Unforeseen" is a solid masters' work, which demonstrates great spirit and maturity.
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