Geof Bradfield / Ben Goldberg / Dana Hall

Confirming their academic status by titling this album with a phrase concerned with translating events into perceptions, reedists Geof Bradfield and Ben Goldberg plus drummer Dana Hall move in the opposite direction. For each of the CD’s tracks transforms these cognitive ideas into original Jazz sounds. West Coast clarinetist Goldberg is known for playing with the likes of Myra Melford and his own groups, while the other two work in the Chicago area. Saxophonist/clarinetist Bradfield has also recorded with players such as Greg Ward, while Hall has backed everyone from Malachi Thompson to Terell Stafford.

Although they put individual stamps on tunes by Cecil Taylor and Ellington-Strayhorn, how the trio members interpret the three Bradfield and five Goldberg lines is more significant. Taking a middle path, the three bounce and vibrate the tunes with advanced technical strategies, but never forget basic chromatic grooves. Contrapuntal reed improvising is as generic as unison harmonies. For instance Goldberg’s “Hit Flip Switch” with trills from soprano sax and clarinet, also resonates with faux Second Line bell ringing and drum pops from Hall. Spectacular forward motion shuffles from the drummer defines the title tune as much as contralto clarinet smears from composer Goldberg and mid-pitched tenor saxophone slurs from Bradfield. In contrast the happy foot-tapper defined by reed beeps and buoyed by drum hand strokes doesn’t appear to fit its “Lamentation” title. Neither does “Last Important Heartbreak of the Year”, with its near-Dixieland two beat clatter and intertwined horns ending. Change of pace again, the concluding “Under and Over” is propelled by funeral-march-like drum tolling with clarinet snarls and saxophone snorts finally relaxing into an elongated coda of dual harmonized high and low tones.

That track tile actually confirms how three players’ perceptions fit so well together in creating this session. Blending textures, concepts and intonation from all sound strata, the trio members arrived at this engaging mix.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Air 2. Tioga Street Zenith 3. Last Important Heartbreak of the Year 4. Lamentation 5. Hit Flip Switch 6. General Semantics 7. Half the Fun 8. 3-4-5 9. 8 de Agosto 10. Never Met a Stranger 11. Under and Over

Personnel: Geof Bradfield (tenor and soprano saxophones, bass clarinet); Ben Goldberg (Bb and contra-alto clarinets) and Dana Hall (drums and percussion)