Contra la Indecision is the first recording by
Bobo Stenson's trio in six years. On 2012's
Indicum, drummer Jon Fält was a new addition, while the musical partnership between the pianist and bassist/composer
Anders Jormin had existed for nearly three decades. It was nonetheless convincing in its wonderful selection of tunes by
Bill Evans ("Your Song," dedicated to the memory of former trio member
Paul Motian),
George Russell, Carl Nielsen, sacred music, free improv, and hymns. That diverse M.O. continues here: The two albums are mirror images with a notable caveat: The trio has matured greatly and they are more flexible, confident, and speculative.
Stenson contributed a lone tune in the lovely yet abstract ballad "Alice," but his signature lyricism informs each segment of the band's exploration of tone and space and he is the undisputed leader.
The program consists of five
Jormin compositions, a group improvisation, readings of
Bela Bartok's "Wedding Song from Poniky" (based on a folk dance),
Federico Mompou's "Cancion y Danza VI," Erik Satie's "Elegie," and the startling opener "Cancion Contra la Indecision" by Cuban folk singer and dissident
Silvio Rodriguez. Its lithe lyricism and graceful interplay with a nursery rhyme-esque melody is an obvious attraction for a pianist like
Stenson; he pursues its lines and appends them with colorful chord voicings as Falt's brushes caress the margins and
Jormin underscores the changes. While the
Bartok piece contains some of the shadowy modal exposition of the original,
Stenson and
Jormin open them up as gently bracing motifs to illustrate the dance at the tune's core.
Jormin's "Three Shades of a House" is introduced by a two-minute bass solo that highlights the triad of musical statements within. When
Stenson and Fält do enter, they pick up in the middle and move in concentric circles toward the outside, illustrating its impressionistic harmonics and gentle colorific shifts. Satie has always been an inspiration for
Stenson. Here, he takes the root melody, staggers its harmonic center, and offers it to his sidemen in fragments. They pick it up and wind it out into a gently swinging series of call-and-response improvisations -- this track has more "groove" than any other moment on the set. Fält's playing, in particular -- even with brushes -- is remarkable.
Mompou's "Canzion y Danza VI" has been the object of jazz interpretations before --
Kenny Drew, Jr. took it on for 1999's Winter Flower -- but
Stenson's couldn't be more different: It's less deliberate, it's wrapped in ethereal mystery from the first bar, and each segment is filtered through the rhythm section's fluid accents and shimmers.
Jormin's "Stilla" is based in blues, its three-chord statement winds around
Stenson's labyrinthine fills and Fält's sliding shuffle.
Jormin's closer, "Hemingway Impressions" -- complete with gorgeous arco playing -- is framed in Eastern modalism, adding an exotic twist to the finish. As a whole,
Contra la Indecision is more colorful, more varied, and brighter than anything the pianist has released this century, making it a welcome return. ~ Thom Jurek