Donny McCaslin

“Casting for Gravity”

(Greenleaf Music GRE-1028)

I recently saw American saxophonist Donny McCaslin performing as a member of the international City of Poets quintet co-led by US trumpeter Jason Palmer and French pianist Cedric Hanriot and also featuring bassist Michael Janisch and drummer Clarence Penn. The group’s performance at Dempsey’s in Cardiff was one of the most exciting ever seen at that venue and is reviewed elsewhere on this site.

It was in Cardiff that McCaslin kindly gave me a copy of his latest album for review purposes. Recorded in Brooklyn in 2012 “Casting for Gravity” is McCaslin’s tenth album as a leader and represents something of a departure from the majority of his previous releases as he augments the distinctive sound of his tenor with the electric stylings of Jason Lindner ( electric and acoustic pianos, synthesisers) and Tim Lefebvre (electric bass). Drummer Mark Guiliana completes an impressive line up and the album is produced by fellow saxophonist David Binney who leaves his alto in its case but contributes some additional vocals and synthesiser.

Besides his work as a leader McCaslin is also an in demand sideman. I first encountered his playing when he performed with trumpeter Dave Douglas’ band at the 2009 Cheltenham Jazz Festival, a show that was the undisputed highlight of that year’s festival. He’s also well known for his long running tenure as one of the star soloists in the Maria Schneider Orchestra. “Casting For Gravity” appears on Douglas’ Greenleaf record label, also the home 2011’s “Perpetual Motion” and the 2008 trio album “Recommended Tools”. 

Originally from California but now based in New York McCaslin is an an astonishingly fluent and inventive soloist, a tenor sax specialist with terrific stamina whose improvising has been compared to such titans as John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson, Michael Brecker and Chris Potter.

“Casting for Gravity” can be seen as the natural successor to “Perpetual Motion”, the first McCaslin album to include elements of electronica and a record that also featured the talents of Lefebvre and Guiliana alongside keyboardists Adam Benjamin and Uri Caine and with Antonio Sanchez alternating in the drum chair.

With regard to the sound of the new album McCaslin cites formative influences such as Tower of Power, Weather Report and Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters (particularly bassist Paul Jackson) but there are more contemporary inspirations too, chief among them Aphex Twin, the recording name of British electronica artist Richard D. James.

McCaslin describes James’ influence thus; 
“I was attracted to the way he uses really simple melodic ideas with all the activity happening in the drum programming. He’s got a palette of ambient sound, there’s a textural backdrop, the melodic elements are sparse and the beat is really intense. I wanted to try to write some stuff coming from that feeling.”

The album opens with the wonderfully titled “Stadium Jazz” (who says Americans don’t do irony?) which begins with a deceptively serene passage of sax and keyboards before erupting into a quick and punchy but constantly mutating groove, this is music with the propulsiveness and urgency of funk but the sophistication of jazz. Lindner’s keyboards are sometimes deployed to create a kind of layering effect but at other times he’s down in the groove with LeFebvre and Guiliana. There’s a stunning passage of unaccompanied drumming but it’s McCaslin’s assured and fluent tenor that represents the human heart of the music. Binney’s wordless vocals feature in a soaring climax that presents a kind of Metheny-esque grandeur as Guiliana is given licence to roam freely and thrillingly around his kit.

“Says Who” has an edgy, urban feel with its short, pecked saxophone phrases and dirty sounding Rhodes and synths. It may be a cerebral kind of funk but it’s highly exciting thanks to the energetic rhythms and the power and fluency of McCaslin’s tenor.

“Losing Track of Daytime” adopts a more languid funk groove with Lefebvre’s supple,springy electric bass at its heart. Clipped sax phrases and stabs of synthesiser threaten to muddy the waters and provide a certain edginess. Lindner takes the first solo on shimmering electric piano but the dream like quality is shattered as the groove steps up several notches and becomes more urgent as McCaslin worries his tenor - brisk, staccato phrases alternating with prodigiously sustained single notes as the excitement levels again begin to build.

McCaslin’s continuing fascination with electronica is exemplified by the inclusion of “Alpha and Omega” written by Marcus Eoin and Michael Sandison, the Scottish duo otherwise known as Boards of Canada. McCaslin’s arrangement skilfully combines ambient minimalism with monstrous contemporary grooves in a manner that is highly effective.

The saxophonist’s own “Tension” exhibits many of the same virtues and clearly exhibits the influence of the world of electronica. There’s nervous energy about this piece that reflects its title as McCaslin solos powerfully above bustling bass and drum grooves and the whoosh and roar of Lindner’s synths. Guiliana features prominently and one can’t help feeling that this album represented invaluable groundwork prior to his recent electric Mehliana collaboration with pianist/keyboardist Brad Mehldau.

“Praia Grande” is relatively more conventional and again displays a Metheny-esque scope and grandeur, the epic sweep of sax and keyboards underscored by fat bass grooves and powerful drumming. McCaslin himself takes flight with a blistering solo that both soars and roars. Binney’s background vocal adds to the Metheny comparison and it surely wouldn’t be two fanciful to think of Lindner as a kind of funkier Lyle Mays to McCaslin’s Pat Meth.

“Love Song for an Echo” is probably as close as the album gets to a ballad with the leader adopting a softer tone on tenor above the sound of Lindner’s synth washes and Guiliana’s neat cymbal embellishments. There’s even a passage of lyrical acoustic piano but there’s still a sense of barely suppressed energy beneath the relatively calm exterior with McCaslin threatening to slip the shackles on the solo that precedes the somewhat grandiose ending.

The title track begins gently, just saxophone and keyboards but grows exponentially as bass and drums are added. McCaslin solos imperiously above a constantly mounting groove.

“Bend” exhibits something of the edgy, urban energy of the earlier “Tension” as short, punchy sax phrases dovetail neatly with Lindner’s keyboards above urgent, odd meter bass and drum grooves.
McCaslin solos garrulously above the propulsive grooves generated by his colleagues while Lindner’s feature incorporates some deliciously dirty synth and keyboard sounds.

The album closes with “Henry”, a dedication to McCaslin’s infant son. Tender and anthemic it’s another example of the gentler sound of the band with Lindner adopting a bell like electric piano sound on his solo. McCaslin’s solo finds him probing more deeply above bubbling bass and drum grooves. Even in it’s more reflective moments this is music that is more than capable of packing a punch.

“Casting for Gravity” is essentially Donny McCaslin’s “fusion” album, one that may raise the hackles of some jazz purists but one that is undeniably intelligent and exciting. For me it’s good to see a musician ten albums into his career still searching for new directions and succeeding brilliantly. It’s unmistakably McCaslin’s album and the leader takes the majority of the solos, imbuing this fresh musical situation with his usual fire and fluency. Lindner is the perfect foil, his various keyboards adding a wide array of colours and textures as he deploys them in almost orchestral fashion. His occasional solos are also highly effective. Guiliana impresses throughout, I’m familiar with his work with both Brad Mehldau and Phronesis, and he’s in terrific form here, inventive, colourful and energetic. I’d like to have heard something more of Lefebvre as a soloist having previously been impressed with his very different contributions, on electric and acoustic bass respectively, to the music of guitarist Wayne Krantz and pianist Michael Wollny. Nonetheless he serves the music faithfully as the master of the groove. I would imagine that this quartet’s live shows are highly exciting, combustible affairs but I’m not sure that it’s a line up that has ever performed in the UK.

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