In recent years, the guitarist, composer and bandleader Ross Hammond has transitioned from creating grand works of progressive jazz to simple, lightly accompanied acoustic blues, folk and spiritual music. Nowadays, he’s making music organically from a lap steel guitar and the contrast only points up to his broad range as an artist. Our Place On the Wheel is the latest in a string of releases along those lines but now with a nod back toward the jazz of his earlier works.
That’s because joining him are a couple of jazz hands a generation apart: drumming beast Mike Pride and a living saxophone legend, Oliver Lake. Their presence with Hammond adds a ton more intrigue and a trio is the largest ensemble on a Hammond-led record in several years, if memory serves me correctly. This trio, though, ain’t really playing jazz aside for the improvisational nature that’s always present in Hammond’s music. It’s still Hammond in full-on rural mode, only this time with some really good help.
Lake and Pride revel in the leisurely pace, and largely hang back and let Hammond’s blues trances take over. It’s not until the second track “Mosaic” that Lake gets more than waist deep in the water but the more he mingles with Hammond, the more he seems to enjoy himself. “Our Place On the Wheel” is another spot where Lake chooses to accentuate the main riff with some lyrical complements, taking on the spot normally taken by a vocalist.
Pride is likewise going with the flow, fully aware of the trickiness of keeping time when beat can sometimes be such a nebulous thing with this sort of music. He ignores the pulse altogether on “Blue and Pixelated” and instead constructs lively counterpoints to Hammond’s hypnotic grooves.
As pastoral as Ross Hammond’s other lap steel output, Our Place On the Wheel gets little more engaging with the presence of a couple of jazz guys taking a break from their normal genres. Those guys are clearly enjoying their vacation.
Our Place On The Wheel can be ordered now from Bandcamp.
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