The latest adventure in the career of NY-based drummer, composer and bandleader Devin Gray is a new quartet, consisting entirely of Belgian musicians, excepting the American Gray. Robin Verheyen (saxes), Bram De Looze (piano) and Nicolas Thys (bass) combine with the leader to bring a fresh, pan-Atlantic jazz that is showing out with a lot of terrific team dynamics.
We know this, because Gray wasted little time in getting out some initial recordings with this group, laying down four brief tracks of fresh Gray originals in a studio in Belgium and putting it out as an EP. To the Point reveals great promise in Gray’s latest project, talented Europeans capable of carrying out the drummer’s vision in the most complimentary way.
What immediately stands out is the maverick and rangy compositional style of Gray, such as the interesting chords and wandering rubato of “Go Zen.” “Floating Rooms” is another free flow-er where Verheyen brings the soul and De Looze comes with the spunk.
“Dialectics” — the longest performance clocking in at just over three and a half minutes — is a delicate, ECM-like piece that benefits from Verheyen on soprano sax. Thys’s circular bass figure wed to Gray’s groove underpins “Unbundle The Bundle.” The concise “To the Point” wraps it up with another hypnotic bass figure with De Looze and Verheyen offering up interesting harmonic counterpoints, sometimes in unison.
The downside of this EP? It whetted my appetite for further explorations of the ideas introduced here, but that’s kind of the point of an EP, right? A fully satisfying main course can’t be too far behind.
Pick up a physical or digital copy of To the Point from Bandcamp.
*** Devin Gray CD’s on Amazon ***
- Ron Miles – ‘Old Main Chapel’ (2024) - June 19, 2024
- Chick Corea Elektric Band II – ‘Paint the World’ (1993, 2024 reissue) - June 14, 2024
- Devin Gray – ‘To the Point’ [EP] (2024) - June 13, 2024
