Taylor Haskins, who’s done an impressive amount of soundtrack work, has put out an appropriately cinematic project here. Originally recorded in 2009, but just issued by NineteenEight Records earlier this month, Taylor Haskins + Recombination begins with the soaring sunrise of “Morning Chorale,” moves on into the rush-hour bustle of “Upward Mobility” and then the shimmering lyricism of “A Lazy Afternoon,” before finally settling into the long shadows found on “Forgotten Memory of Something True.” Throughout, Haskins lives up to the advance billing as one of Downbeat’s “25 Trumpets of the Future,” combining his probative intellect with both acoustic instruments and electronics. The result is a sound that’s both new and somehow old, both imaginatively free-form and cogently dramatic. Taylor Haskins + Recombination, complex and beautiful, rewards repeated listens — as on “Lurking Shadows,” which sounds by turns like early 1970s fusion and an outtake from space-music pioneers Tangerine Dream. Haskins is credited on the track with trumpet, Korg mono/poly bass and “laptop computer.” It’s that kind of record.
Half Notes is a quick-take music feature on Something Else! Reviews, presented whenever the mood strikes us.
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