Motion Poetry

by David R. AdlerBassist Mario Pavone and guitarist Michael Musillami played together for many years before embarking on this, their first full-length studio project. Their ensemble, which performs under the name Motion Poetry, includes pianist Peter Madsen and drummer Michael Sarin. All four of these great players share a strong connection with alto saxophonist and composer Thomas Chapin, who died of leukemia in 1998 at the age of 40. Pavone and Sarin, in fact, were two-thirds of the Thomas Chapin Trio until the very end. Like Chapin, who in death has become a cult icon, Motion Poetry boldly negotiates the tonal/atonal divide. They often unsettle their straight-ahead jazz vibe with a rhythmic and harmonic freedom that skirts the edge of the avant-garde. Pavone and Musillami write the bulk of the group's material. After setting the mood with a collective free improvisation titled "Foody," the quartet launches into Pavone's "3m Blues," an up-tempo track that continually alternates between a repetitive chordal vamp and breakneck 14-bar blues. Thomas Chapin's angular, mid-tempo swing tune "Poet o Central Park" follows, with strong soloing by Musillami. Madsen reaches astounding, passionate heights on Musillami's ballad, "Emmett Spencer," as well as on Marty Ehrlich's beautiful "Lament in Passing." Pavone's "New Socks" and "Song for M" are riveting exercises in brisk, atonal swing. The latter, one of the album's most involved tracks, begins with a dark guitar and bass intro, then eases into a hip unison head and a hot guitar solo without piano comping. Madsen worms his way into the action with a repeated low-register riff, and following his solo the intro section returns. If it sounds like a musical journey, it is, and so is the finale, Musillami's tension-filled "Archives." A fine debut by what will likely become known as one of the most potent improvising ensembles around.