As left-field jazz fans know, drummer-composer
Whit Dickey has amassed a sizable catalog of recordings as a bandleader, in addition to several dozen more as a collaborator and sideman with
David S. Ware,
Matthew Shipp,
Ivo Perelman, and
Joe Morris among them.
Peace Planet and
Box of Light were recorded by his
Tao Quartets, whose membership varies. He and saxophonist
Rob Brown are the common denominators, while
Shipp and bassist
William Parker fill out
Peace Planet, and trombonist
Steve Swell and bassist
Michael Bisio appear on
Box of Light. As might be expected, the music on these albums varies significantly yet remains inexorably linked by the drummer's and saxophonist's presences.
Dickey composed everything on these dates, recorded during the winter of 2018 and 2019 in Brooklyn. The relationships between these musicians are longstanding.
Dickey,
Shipp,
Brown, and
Parker began working together during the late '80s;
Dickey met
Bisio shortly thereafter, and
Swell during the '90s on N.Y.C. downtown scene.
Peace Planet is constructed suite-like, with each piece flowing forward and dissolving into its successor.
Dickey's playing identifies a more in-the-pocket feel, and his sense of swing unites the interplay between
Shipp and
Parker -- check the final section of the opening title cut as
Brown's
Charlie Parker-esque melodic lines rise above, colored by sharp legato phrasing and an evolutionary harmonic architecture. The drummer's sense of elastic time is showcased by using the entirety of his kit, whether he's feinting and filling, double-timing, or creating points of emphasis in the shifting instrumental voices (as on "Suite for DSW").
Box of Light is more raucous and angular but no less compelling. On "Eye-Opener,"
Brown's
Monk-like lyric is joined contrapuntally by
Swell's bleating low-end; the pair join the interplay between
Dickey and
Bisio. On "Ethereality,"
Brown finds a bluesy,
Sonny Rollins-esque phrase that coaxes
Bisio's arco to highlight the jam's varied harmonic elements.
Dickey's hi-hat and ride cymbals are given added dimension via his prodigious use of tom-toms. When
Swell enters, the piece alters form, and drones mantra-like into space -- one can hear traces of the influence of the
New York Art Quartet's edgeless Mohawk linked, with
Dickey's modern ears, to the historic free jazz past.
Bisio shines, giving the drummer an added textural body by allowing his kit a grounding, song-like emphasis that actually swings. Disc two's title track commences as a funeral dirge before transmuting into a fluid, action-packed post-bop rumble with glorious soloing from all players.
Dickey has spent a lifetime getting here, where his playing and compositional acumen are on the same plane. On
Peace Planet/Box of Light, the drummer takes his musicality to another level, vast as a rainbow, intimate as a prayer, and flowing like a river. ~ Thom Jurek