Three years after
Tomasz Stanko's
New York Quartet issued their quietly stunning debut
Wisława, they return in slightly altered but no less inventive form. The Polish trumpeter brings back pianist
David Virelles and drummer
Gerald Cleaver, and welcomes new bassist
Reuben Rogers, who replaces
Thomas Morgan. Just as
Wisława took Polish poet and Nobel Laureate Wisława Szymborska as its muse,
December Avenue chooses writer
Bruno Schulz, another Pole, as its own. Two tracks here are in his honor, and due to their particular compositional elements, they reflect the writer's lasting influence on
Stanko.
December Avenue is a more deliberate outing than its predecessor, but it's also more intuitive. "Cloud," the opener, is an elliptical dialogue between
Stanko and
Virelles that poses a handful of unanswered musical questions, and is all the better for it. The mysterious piano intro in "Blue Cloud" opens the doorway for the band to engage in collective improvisation, though they never completely abandon the harmonic frame. "Burning Hot," led by
Rogers' pulsing bassline and
Cleaver's snare and hi-hat shimmer, introduce a post-bop workout that displays
Stanko's more muscular playing and
Virelles' most angular. "Ballad for Bruno Schulz" is tender but elegiac as
Stanko's smoky, airy tone and tender melody are provided added weight by
Rogers' simpatico bassline and
Virelles fluctuations between dirge-like chords and song-like runs.
Cleaver's graceful brushwork colors all the spaces between. The title tune is a swinging post-bop number with a great head and bridge. The drummer's effortless yet almost frenetic double-time swing drives the band as
Virelles delivers a punchy Afro Latin groove in his solo.
Stanko in turn offers lean lines with a bell-like sonority. "The Street of Crocodiles" -- titled for one of
Schulz's best-known short stories -- offers
Stanko's smoky tone delivered with graceful, bittersweet elegance.
Virelles adds a physical dimension as
Rogers' bowed bass and
Cleaver's brushes make more room for the trumpeter and pianist to explore abstraction. "Yankiels Lid" is another uptempo post-bop number with
Stanko displaying his physicality again.
Virelles is fleet and fluid while
Rogers pulls a long, soulful, and edgy solo out of his trick bag.
December Avenue offers a more subtle portrait of this unit overall, but that's welcome. As individuals and as a collective, these musicians stay focused on whatever the tune is trying to say. What's more, each player is careful to leave space for his bandmates, not only in solos, but in fills and harmonic feints and shifts. Assembled, this not only makes for a compelling listen, but also reveals the maturity and confidence this quartet has developed since the release of
Wisława. ~ Thom Jurek