feature photo: John Rogers
Matt Mitchell is impossible to avoid for anyone who is engaged with the music of current, high-grade progressive jazz. The pianist and keyboardist has been an indispensable sideman to everyone from Dave Douglas and John Hollenbeck to Rudresh Mahanthappa and Miles Okazaki; just this year (2019) alone, I covered three albums where he lent his keyboarding skills. And all three all excellent albums…do you see a pattern here?
I do. It’s hardly a stretch to presume that Mitchell’s work as a leader and composer is quality stuff, too, and his solo recordings have assuredly lived up to the level of greatness with which he regularly associates. Phalanx Ambassadors is the latest of recording projects that he’s led, an opportunity to examine Matt Mitchell, the bandleader.
And what a band he leads. Okazaki is in it, on guitar of course. Kate Gentile — who is herself fast gaining notice as a forward-thinking drummer — is in the group, as are other avant-jazz notables Patricia Brennan (vibes, marimba) and Noah Preminger’s bass player Kim Cass.
When you hear his impossibly challenging yet engaging compositions heard right away with “Stretch Goal,” you hear echoes of PI Recordings associate Henry Threadgill as well as Mitchell’s most prominent boss, Tim Berne. But echoes are all they are, as Mitchell has developed a highly original approach of his own. And his band’s lineup is all able to handle the imposing tasks handed to them. Gentile may have the most challenging of them all, as Mitchell binds harmony so tightly to rhythm, the song is literally hanging on her being able to hit every beat correctly or it can fall apart (spoiler alert: she nails it).
Usually in highly improvisational jazz, the best moments are individual solos, but in this case, it’s the collective performance that takes center stage. Sometimes it’s hard to tell when there is soloing and when it’s charted but it’s a distinction without a difference because the compositions and the democratic way they are brought to life rule the day. “Phasic Haze Ramps” proceeds like guided tumult; a through-composed loose collective of notes that acts as an extended musical narrative with a cadence and tempo that is guided by some invisible hand. “ssgg” also follows a staggered path but slowed down with more contemplation involved.
“Be Irreparable” zigzags in directed dissonance too, until it settles into Gentile’s slack pulse and Mitchell leads the band through ascending chords and a buildup to a climax right near the end. “Mind Aortic Cicatrix” arcs in a similar fashion. And the 107 second “Taut Pry” has the melody going at one speed and the rhythm doing its own thing but they manage to sync up.
Matt Mitchell has the vision and the wherewithal to realize it, it’s that simple. Even if the music isn’t so simple, the intricacy makes this so absorbing. Phalanx Ambassadors is out now, from PI Recordings.
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