With a rhythm section of Kris Davis (piano), Dave Holland (bass), and Terri Lyne Carrington (drums), chances are good that the music will be satisfying. Top that off with the playing and composition skills of the two leaders of the In Common quintet, saxophonist Walter Smith III and guitarist Matthew Stevens, and you’ve got something a lot more than good.
In Common
In Common III (Whirlwind Records)
A review
The group In Common is the brainchild of leaders/composers Walter Smith III and Matthew Stevens, on tenor sax and guitar, respectively. The two have recorded three albums—In Common, In Common II, and the most recent, In Common III—each a one-off studio affair and each with a different rhythm section. I cannot speak for the first two releases, but the third offers distinctive music with a modern sensibility that respects the foundations of jazz and the intelligence of its listeners.
The common purpose of the musicians on In Common III—Smith, Stevens, Kris Davis (piano), Dave Holland (bass), and Terri Lyne Carrington (drums)—is to serve the music, not their egos, and the music deserves their attention and care. Melodies, intricate and emotionally coherent, shine throughout, encapsulating story lines, and well-chosen textures that rub amiably against one another polish that shine, brought to a high gloss by rhythmic tensions.
Improvisational solos expand concisely on the melodic concept and emotional content at hand. It’s not just blowing for the sake of blowing (a tiresome tendency altogether too frequently encountered in the jazz world). The tunes run fairly short, the longest of the 15 tracks clocking in at 5:46, with 10 of the 15 under 4:00. But they are loaded with musical invention, heft, and intelligence. Four of the tracks are compositions freely improvised by Smith, Stevens, and Davis, and they are as pithy as the written pieces.
The music cruises along on the propulsion and the big springs provided by Holland and Carrington, who work well together, and Davis adorns their rhythmic adventures with sure accents. She also provides some of the more arresting lyrical moments, as on the closer, “Miserere,” a beautiful hymnlike piece from Stevens that is transported into the ethereal realm by Davis.
The interplay of Smith and Stevens, who often run the intricate melodic lines in unison, is delightful. In those interplays, Stevens sometimes sounds uncannily more like an alto horn than a guitar, but he employs a wide range of his instrument’s timbral possibilities in the course of the album. Smith brings a warm and soulful touch on the sax that deepens the music’s humanity.
Scents of rock, pop, blues, calypso, art music, and swing waft through the album, which offers a nice range of feeling, from tender to ironic, burning to floating. You can sniff out all of them on Bandcamp.
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