feature photo: Marc Millman
Ever since first gaining notice in the 90s, Will Bernard has been known as a top notch jazz guitarist and over time it’s clear that the “jazz” part can mean literally any shade of jazz from acid jazz to soul-jazz to straight ahead and even avant-garde. He does it all well – which is a good thing – because for his latest LP Pond Life, we’re treated to damned near all sides of Bernard.
Like for so many of Bernard’s albums, Pond Life is a return to his past but with a couple of new twists. John Medeski appeared on Bernard’s 2008 platter Blue Plate and Ches Smith goes back even further with 2004’s Directions to My House. Pond Life absorbs some of those phases and suggests new ones without ever losing Bernard’s identity.
And he sees little need for spreading out his deluge of designs across overlong jams. These ten Bernard originals are fairly short but Bernard packs about ten minutes worth of ideas into these 3-5 minute performances. Chris Lightcap is on hand on bass to round out the trio foundation with Smith’s drums and Tim Berne adds saxophone when the need arises just as Medeski guests on some tracks to add piano or a Hammond B3.
“Poor Man’s Speedball” has no windup, it hits you right away with Medeski’s big dissonant chords and when the smoke clears enough for a gritty and angular Bernard solo, you notice how Smith is everywhere at once.
Medeski and Lightcap both go acoustic for “Type A,” but there’s no redirect back to tradition; virtually everyone solos at once but around a common framework and when the rhythm section regroups to launch a riff, Bernard’s trademark slide is as out there as I’ve ever heard it.
That slide sounds more conventional and righteously so for “Surds” where it’s just the base trio. “Moving Target” is another trio thing, a sly and funky number showcasing Bernard’s fastidious licks and Lightcap’s brawny standup bass holding it all together. The guitar fuzz tone is set at 10 for “MoTooz,” as Lightcap’s pedal effects makes the song even more ‘out there’ along with all the changeups Bernard prescribed for the song. Bernard hints of the blues with an acoustic guitar on “Lake of Greater Remnants,” going together quite well with Lightcap on acoustic bass and Smith softening his blows with brushes.
All this capriciousness is something Berne thrives on. “Still Drinkin’?” likes springing surprises: after an intro with suspenseful movie soundtrack music, the band breaks into rock ‘n’ roll and Tim Berne is leading the charge on alto sax. The outro is a brief piano/sax sprint, and all of this is clocking in under three minutes.
“Pond Life” does the reverse, starting fast and settling into a lazy stroll until Lightcap launches a vaguely bossa nova groove that explodes under Smith’s command and when Berne enjoins him it’s that ol’ Snakeoil chemistry kicking in. Berne and Bernard start off “Four Is More” with unison lines that quickly drift apart and segue into a motif that moves out to an ever-widening orbit.
“That Day,” is rhythmically free, but Lightcap and Smith are masters of flow while Berne and Bernard sketch out the melody.
The artistry of Will Bernard has been somewhat hard to peg down because he likes to do so many disparate things. But it comes into sharper focus on Pond Life because he pulls all those threads together into one tidy package.
Pond Life drops today (May 27, 2022) on Bernard’s Dreck to Disk imprint.
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