Introduced on her 2015 Clean Feed album
Save Your Breath,
Kris Davis'
Infrasound octet is a monster band capable of delivering a gargantuan punch. Creative jazz pianist/composer
Davis is joined here by drummer
Jim Black, organist
Gary Versace, and electric guitarist
Nate Radley, and as if they weren't enough to rattle the windows, peerless clarinetists
Ben Goldberg,
Oscar Noriega,
Joachim Badenhorst, and
Andrew Bishop add the deep vibrations of their bass and contrabass instruments to the ensemble. Then, for added oomph,
Davis enlisted rock veteran producer
Ron Saint Germain (
Bad Brains,
Sonic Youth,
Living Colour) to engineer and mix the session. The album's opening moments display
Davis'
Infrasound conception at its most acute, as "Union Forever" (aka "Union" on the 2012 album of the same name by
Paradoxical Frog) begins with a circular spiraling motif layered in counterpoint; after a brief retreat, the group's phrasing becomes more clipped and knotty, accentuated by
Black's powerfully incisive drumwork in bold contrast to the rounded tones of the clarinets. As the electric instruments enter, "Union Forever" becomes downright
Rock in Opposition-tinged avant-proggy, but the octet remains improvisational at heart, with dark chording beneath a moody
Noriega clarinet feature as the music escalates in urgency, retreating and then ramping up into a dissonant and powerfully pounding finale with second soloist
Versace abandoning all sense of restraint in his keyboard attack.