Cento Threeo is the Austin-based trio of guitarist Don Cento, bassist Phil Spencer, and drummer Norm Bergeron. On their debut Halfway to Mellowtown, they nix the vocalizing as unnecessary to a sound that blends post-bop jazz, hearty Americana, and even flashes of rock, all within the unit’s precise dexterity. Compositionally robust and melodically rich, the 12-song set is out now on vinyl, compact disc, and digital through SecondBridge Records.
It’s certainly accurate to consider Halfway to Mellowtown a guitar album. Don Cento, who has been active for a while as a session player-engineer-producer (Jerry David DeCicca, Sarah Jaffe, Will Beeley, Matt Kivel, etc.) and a contributor to bands (Shibboleth, El Cento), is inarguably skilled, blending verve and finesse.
Cento clearly understands that in an instrumental trio, the guitar needs to do more than cover the basic bases. But importantly, he also resists gratuitous flash spillage, in part because he’s a tasteful player more concerned with atmosphere and consistency of tone than he is in dishing flurries of notes.
It never sounds like Canto is doing too much, which leads us to the abilities of his bandmates to bring something more than support. There is improvisation in the mix, and, in particular, a few knockout bass solos from Spencer, but there is also ceaseless interaction and expressiveness from all three as they put their personalities into the whole.
There’s plenty of jazzy phrasing from Cento and in Bergeron’s rhythms (the very sound of Spencer’s upright deepens the jazz feeling), but Halfway to Mellowtown has a distinct feel from the guitar trio albums cut in the 1960s in the classic Blue Note Records style. This is directly related to what’s described as the Americana influence, which blends with the jazz thrust to formulate a fairly distinct feel across the tracks.
If Bill Frisell comes to mind, that’s not off base, but Cento’s playing often flows forth like a ’60s-era session wiz from Nashville or Memphis who was given the chance to record an album with a tight group of the guitarist’s choosing. A big difference is that many of those old-school session cats were expected (and enjoyed delivering) the exact sorta technical showing off described above.
Again, Cento is about the tunes, and big hunks of this album feel much more contemporary. Opener “The Judy Valve” recalls the long-gone ’90s instrumental rock band Shark Quest, while “It Takes What It Takes” has a surfy undercurrent and “Dennis Muren” gets a little funky.
There is plenty of range across the set to keep things interesting, but the closing cover of Roseanne Cash’s “Seven Year Ache” is a sweet capper that reinforces the session vibe. Per the title, there’s nothing abrasive on Halfway to Mellowtown, but Cento Threeo never comes close to being mere audio wallpaper. This is lively stuff. “Filibuster in E Minor” gets downright boisterous.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
