The Tomeka Reid Quartet consists of the leader and composer on cello, Mary Halvorson on guitar, Jason Roebke on bass, and Tomas Fujiwara on drums. This lineup has been solid since their debut recording arrived in 2015, and with dance! skip! hop!, they’ve now cut four full-length albums of structurally dynamic and skillfully exploratory contemporary jazz. The set consists of five tracks that range from astute swing to full-throttle scorch. The record is out now on limited vinyl (black, green, multi-colored one-of-a-kind CHROMA), limited compact disc, and digital through Out Of Your Head Records.
A band that stays together can attain exemplary levels of elevated interaction and do it gracefully. Some might say these bands make it sound like they are doing it with ease, but anybody who has played an instrument, or even (especially) tried to play an instrument and failed, will understand there is nothing easy about it. Interacting and improvising with other musicians can increase the level of difficulty but also inspire heightened creativity.
As the leader of this decade-long-running quartet, Tomeka Reid brings the compositions and also an instrument that, while solidly established in jazz history (Fred Katz, Oscar Pettiford, Ron Carter, Abdul Wadud, Hank Roberts, and Eric Friedlander, to name six), still has a captivating freshness about it when played well, and Reid plays with consistent excellence.
And so, the Tomeka Reid Quartet continues to get down to it on dance! skip! hop! This is due to a lack of faltering by any participant, but we’re not done with Reid yet. In the opening title track, she presents a composition that’s almost bebop-like in its sheer infectious groove-verve. Roebke and Fujiwara lay down a foundation that’s massive as a linebacker but still supple like a youthful ballerina, upon which Halvorson and Reid get off and go off mightily.
In terms of melody, “a(ways) For CC and CeCe” is a highlight, with Roebke and Fujiwara given lots of room to roam, Reid delivering some beautiful gliding lines, and Halvorson’s by now trademark wiggle-wobble enhancing the fleet precision of her patterns. It’s in “Oo long!” that the band effectively brings the heavy, as Roebke lays down some meaty action a la the great McBee, and Halvorson’s solo is positively molten.
The last two tracks spread out a bit more, and “Under the Aurora Sky” slows it down. It’s a bit like a ballad played in a smoky club from inside one of Saturn’s rings. It’s here that one can hear a smidge of Chico Hamilton, like his small group with Katz, Jim Hall, and Carson Smith blasted off in a rocket ship. Buddy Collette missed the flight. Sweetly, this track scales mountains from this somewhat balladic foundation.
dance! skip! hop!’s finale “Silver Spring Fig Tree” really benefits from the closeness of the recording, particularly when they plunge into some exquisite abstraction. Halvorson comes out the other side sounding a little like Chadbourne, and then Fujiwara explodes into a glorious flurry. It’s a grand capper to another outstanding record from the Tomeka Reid Quartet.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A
