At the beginning of 2024, the experimental trio Jupiter didn’t exist and by September of that year, they had a fully formed album out of music that takes a fresh approach to freeform music using jazz and rock concepts. The self-titled Jupiter could refer to how outward bound this music is, a distinct, mysterious object like the solar system’s largest planet. Or it could refer to a track from John Coltrane/Rashied Ali’s mind blowing improvisations Interstellar Space. But Jupiter is also the small community near Asheville, North Carolina from which the band is based.
All three members have meaningful bonafides in the worlds of experimental & improvisation informed by the jazz tradition. The two guitarists Kris Gruda and John English have been collaborating for five years, with English making a name for himself in the Birmingham, Alabama music scene during the 90s. Drummer and percussionist Jeff Arnal studied under Milford Graves and Saunders Smith, played with Charles Gayle, performed in festivals worldwide and cut a few records, including one earlier this year leading a trio that includes Chicago sax titan Ken Vandermark.
Jupiter is a bit remindful of Ed Ricart’s guitar/drums duo Matta Gawa but what sets Jupiter from Mata Gawa or just about anyone else is that it’s a trio with two guitars and drums. No bass, and there’s no ‘lead’ guitar and a ‘rhythm’ guitar, just two spontaneously played guitars.
In fact, perpetual, forward-moving improvisation is the paramount strategy in their approach. These tracks aren’t so much songs as they’re broad, extended concepts around which instant ideas flourish.
Arnal sets a light, jazz feel for “Metis” and the two guitar players immediately let known their intentions to not follow the widely-held rules of guitars. One guitar is nasty, heavy and instinctual, the other thoughtful, reactive and nimble, at times moving close into bass territory. But no bottom end reveals more of what each is doing to make the collective sound greater than the sum of the parts.
English and Gruda figuratively rub their guitars together to create the sparks, but also cunningly manipulate the tones and timbres (with the help of effects) to complement and amplify each other, demonstrated so well on “Europa.” “Callisto” goes deeper in the domain of freeform, where microtonality, dissonance but also three-way synergy reign supreme. “Ganymede” starts with the sound of an alarm being set off and Arnal’s rolling drum pattern sets the undercurrent for the succession of fireworks that follow.
Jupiter, the band, and Jupiter, the album feels like the start of a long run of some meaningfully explosive genre bending. Kris Gruda, John English and Jeff Arnal make open-minded listening very rewarding.
Jupiter is now available at Bandcamp.
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