feature photo: Paul de Lucena
It’s damned near impossible to indulge in quality progressive jazz music of the last couple of decades and not encounter drummer Chad Taylor. On the other hand, it’s easy to miss him as a bandleader because he made so few records under his own name. We did have an opportunity to put a close ear on one just a couple of years ago with 2018’s Taylor-only Myths and Morals, so it came as a pleasant surprise that Taylor the leader is already returning with The Daily Biological.
This time out, Chad Taylor unveils a trio with accomplished pianist Neil Podgurski (Nicholas Payton, Orrin Evans) and Brian Settles, a tenor saxophonist I’ve long felt has been underappreciated, but his peers know he is the real deal. Taylor and Settles go back to when they were both in Tom Abbs’ Frequency Response band circa 2009.
The music isn’t as overtly ‘out there’ as some of the projects Chad Taylor’s long been associated with ranging from the Chicago Underground to Fred Anderson to Digital Primitives, all the way up to 85bears. But the songs are rich with detail, small inventions and a democratic trio sensibility.
“The Shepherd” exemplifies those traits, containing moments where players pair up and peel off; tempos swell, recede and swell up again, while the melody and rhythm are tightly bound to each other. Settles wrote that tune and one other, “Swamp,” which also features unison lines shared by two or even the full trio but things take an unexpected turn when Settles is allowed to go a capella for a good while and he makes the most of the spotlight. The full band returns in time for Podgurski to play an inside-outside sequence that’s a little like Don Pullen before a return to the theme but at a slower, staggered pace.
As this is truly a group effort, everyone shares in the composing duties, and Podgurski contributes four of his creations. He leaves no gaps between chords in the flowing “Prism,” helped along by Taylor’s calypso inflections. The spiritual chant “Resistance” has some hallmarks of A Love Supreme-era Coltrane, especially evident in Podgurski’s Tyner-isms. Taylor, meanwhile, propulses it along with his driving swing. “Birds, Leaves, Wind, Trees” is attractive in its oddness: a lighthearted motif is introduced going at varying tempos, leading to long stretch where Podgurski sits out, making room for one-on-one between Taylor and Settles until Settles and Podgurski swap places. The pianist has an advanced ability to go far outside and not lose sight of the underlying melody.
Taylor’s “Matape” has Settles and Podgurski cycling through a serpentine path together in a manner that strongly suggests Tim Berne but those hard-driving drums that’s very attuned to the harmonic pattern can be no one else but Chad Taylor. For “Recife,” Taylor’s polyrhythmic crosscurrent goes in opposition to a catchy ostinato. “Between Sound and Silence” is where Taylor’s free jazz bonafides finally fully show up, here at the end. Settles and Podgurski still play with a lot of direction and Taylor generates an agile rumble heavy on the snare and cymbals not too unlike Rashied Ali. But four minutes into this twelve-minute performance, a different kind of free jazz emerges, one that’s delicate and melodious.
With all the shades of progressive music that Chad Taylor thrives in, no record of his is going to do more than scratch the surface of his artistry. With Neil Podgurski and Brian Settles by his side, The Daily Biological does cover a lot of that fertile ground, though.
The Daily Biological is now available, courtesy of Cuneiform Records.
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