John Woods

John Abercrombie's 1989 release UPON A TIME is, as the subtitle points out, an album of duets, mostly with bassist Mel Graves and drummer George Marsh. While bass and drum solos are often the punchlines of musical jokes, Graves and Marsh are skilled players with enough good taste to keep the flashiness to an interesting minimum. As for guitarist Abercrombie, his playing is typically brilliant, whether picking out the traditional melody of "My Scottish Heart" or moving into a more impressionistic sonic arena in tracks like "In the Woods" or "Chuck Man Rivers." Earthier and more expressly jazz-based than many releases on the ECM-affiliated New Albion label, UPON A TIME is a satisfying, richly rewarding album.

After their previous excursions into the outer cosmos - the highly acclaimed studio albums "Reflections and Odysseys", "Space Sailors" and the powerful live album "RYMDEN+KORK" - RYMDEN have returned to Earth with their new album, “Valleys and Mountains”. However, as one might expect from the trio of Bugge Wesseltoft, Magnus Öström and Dan Berglund, the music is not strictly earthbound - the inner cosmos, dreams and visions offer new spaces to explore, alongside bucolic rambles and treks. The instrumentation and techniques are once again diversified, the styles multiplied; yet all remains indisputably the music of RYMDEN.

Woods have been in a state of slow but steady evolution since forming in 2004, growing from their roots as a noisy and experimental lo-fi folk project into increasingly refined and ambitious, genre-bending sounds as the years went on. Perennial finds the group expanding once more, turning in some of their most ornate production while maintaining their signature earthen songwriting style. With core Woods contributors Jeremy Earl, Jarvis Taveniere, and John Andrews no longer near each other, the writing process for Perennial began with Earl creating loops of keyboard, guitar, and drum figures on his own. These loops became the foundations of the album, with Taveniere and Andrews fleshing them out and taking them in new directions.

This set features a very logical matchup. Richie Cole's main influence has long been Phil Woods, so these concert performances pitting the two altoists together have plenty of fire and extroverted improvisations. With pianist John Hicks, bassist Walter Booker and drummer Jimmy Cobb backing the soloists, Woods and Cole really push each other on "Scrapple from the Apple," "Donna Lee" and "Side by Side." Tenor-great Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis sits in on "Save Your Love for Me," the younger altoist has "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" to himself and Cole and Woods have fun on a brief free-form "Naugahyde Reality." It's a generally high-powered and enjoyable set.