There is something resoundingly comforting about Tori Freestone and some of this is because of the playing: an imaginative meander through various styles, musical landscapes and ideas but also the class of both the structured and improvised sections, which imbues intrigue and interest to the music.
El Mar de Nubes, due on May 31 via Whirlwind Recordings, opens with the title track, and it’s a stroll through various tempos. Sax-led, but also with enough space for Dave Manington’s double bass and Tim Giles’ drums to emerge from the background into structured solo sections. This is a joyful, gentle number with one eye on the tempo and the other on how far you can stretch out within the restrictions of the theme, inspired by the breathtaking landscapes around Mount Tiede on the island of Tenerife.
“Hiding Jekyll” has an Eastern theme, juxtaposed by almost outlandish off-beat interruptions on the off-beat by the drums and bass. It’s an interesting, ear-catching gem of a track with a split personality and a playfulness which, I am learning, is very much part of Tori’s style of playing. The sweeps up to and down from notes make it so there is almost glissando in the music. Gorgeous.
“Shenandoah” is ethereal and has a definite highland air to it in the beginning, but the quietude is worked out before the track develops toward the beautiful solo at the center, over Tim Giles’ drum before a Dave Manington bass solo with breathy, winsome sax underneath. An atmospheric track with changes and rhythmic variations aplenty. “Hasta La Vista” is mild mannered, opened by drums and then developed into a rapido, quick-firing number which runs along and amok with a fervor before pulling right back and then setting off again – a trick which is employed several times to create a wave-like sense throughout. There is a swing here and some traditional references with solos for both Manington and Giles, too.
“El Camino” is relaxing, meandering, atmospheric and feels like two parts. It’s a well structured and developed track before “Beatrice,” who sounds positively divine – all soulful, sassy and with a definite swing to her step. “Beatrice” proves a worthy showcase for Tori Freestone’s rapid fire saxophone. “Los Indianos” is a wonderful track, full of quirky rhythms, calypso, changes and surprises. Here, Tori’s sax speaks to the listener of ancient places, times and past events in a manner which is inexplicable yet implicit. The playing has a surety to it which at once intrigues and maintains interest.
“La Nochevieja” has a different essence again, yet is still connected to the Eastern/Latin tinge with which this Canary Islands-inspired album is painted. “Shenandoah (reprise)” features Tori Freestone on vocals and violin, which is played a la Celtic style and is beautiful with a heart-aching emptiness behind the music at times. “Shenandoah (Reprise 2) has the Freestone’s sax take on the violin line of the previous track and this is an effective and beautiful thing – especially the middle section, where the theme is taken, worked with and improvised around with imagination and flair. “The Way” ends with beauty and style, improvised playing yet maintaining a link to a theme showing how the two can go well.
What is striking on the Tori Freestone Trio’s El Mar de Nubes is how strongly themed each track is, and how the traditional references are worked in among the improvisation sections. There is a definite strength of communication here, not only between musicians who enter and fade with impressive empathy, but also for the listener – who is engaged and captivated for most of the album.
There are places where Freestone, double bassist Dave Manington and drummer Tim Giles throw caution to the wind and play with incredible imagination, and these are balanced and tempered by the returns to the theme, the structure and the careful and clever arrangements. Hardly a chord in sight, the trio work well and understand each other. A glorious album all round.
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