Continuing

Album review

Composer, drummer and multi-instrumentalist Tyshawn Sorey's musical output is vast. He's written post-minimalist pieces, played with avant-garde giants such as Roscoe Mitchell and Anthony Braxton, and created hard-to-categorize experimental works, but he also continues to explore older jazz traditions. 2022's Mesmerism found Sorey's standard trio covering pieces by Duke Ellington, Muhal Richard Abrams, Horace Silver, and others. The group, which includes pianist Aaron Diehl and bassist Matt Brewer, brought a distinctive touch to each track. It's an outstanding album, and the 2023 follow-up, Continuing, also does not disappoint. Here the band stretches out; all four tracks run between ten and sixteen minutes. 

On Wayne Shorter's "Reincarnation Blues," Sorey's snare provides a center of deep blues gravity that Brewer locks into. Diehl deftly explores the tune's contours, incorporating insistent, repeated figures and dissonant cascades of notes. At certain points, the band turns up the heat, bringing a swagger to the music that's electrifying.

Ahmad Jamal's "Seleritus" starts in a modal jazz vein before the band shifts gears and the composition's lovely melody comes into full flower. Sorey drives the group with subtle drumming; his tom work is particularly striking. Throughout, Diehl finds various pathways through the piece, including sections where his piano turns dense and assertive.

A take on Matt Dennis and Earl K. Brent's 1946 song "Angel Eyes" opens with spare and somber bass and piano. Three minutes in, Sorey enters with a cymbal splash and sizzling brushes: it's the first move in an understated yet powerful performance. Brewer's solo, which digs into the original's melancholy, is one of the cut's highlights.   

Sorey honors his late mentor, Harold Mabern, with a cover of the pianist's "In What Direction Are You Headed?" The version that appeared on Lee Morgan's 1972 album, Lee Morgan (The Last Session)—on which Mabern played keyboards—is expansive jazz fusion; here, the piece's bluesy, funky qualities are accentuated. Sorey's clattering trap-kit, Brewer's groovy playing, and Diehl's ever-shifting perspectives make it a strong closer.  © Fred Cisterna/Qobuz