Billie Davies: 12 Volt (2013)
Drummer Billie Davies' previous recording,
All About Love
(Self Produced, 2012) was novel and compelling, a trombone trio with
the drummer lead. Davies assembled original and standard works,
achieving both educational and artistic endpoints. The present
recording,
12 Volt, retains the trio format, substituting the
guitar for the trombone and pushes the trio envelope out with a moody
collection of eight originals, when considered together comprise an
avant-garde suite possibly conceived by
Grant Green and
John Coltrane.
This music is most comparable to Jimmy Giuffre's 1960s trios exploring
free jazz using three independent instruments probing jazz's
three-dimensional space. Davies directs a very similar interrogation of
spatial sound dependence and independent of time. "Collioure" is based
on a descending chordal guitar figure, simple and unadorned with brief
drum and arco bass support. Guitarist
Daniel Coffeng
sparsely solos, extending the opening theme. The title piece is a
rolicking jam with all instruments hitting their mark. Davies carefully
cultivates her cymbals while bassist
Adam Levy provides the harmonic roadmap and time over which Coffeng solos most robustly.
"Les Landes" is a good representation of the disc as a whole, an
anxious piece with many corners and edges to navigate. Davie's challenge
to her bandmates is to glide as smoothly as possible about these
corners while she stirs the water with her persistent and restless
drumming. The mood is dreamy and slightly soporous, a child of Morpheus
and honey, preparing a bed of experiences for the listener.
Track Listing: Collioure; Meeting Manitas; 12 Volt; Les Landes; Tango for Patti;
Grapes, Plums and Tomatoes;
Gypsy; La Sieste.
Personnel: Billie Davies: drums; Daniel Coffeng: guitar; Adam Levy: bass.
Record Label:
Cobra Basement
Style:
Beyond Jazz
