Lapis Trio: The Travelers

Musical compositions arise from numerous sources of inspiration : a person, the sky, a memory, a place, a color, or the mere curiosity of a particular chord sequence. For his Lapis Trio, nylon-string guitarist Casey Nielsen used a unique concept to generate songs. He imagined himself as a composer in a small village whose job was to write a new tune every day which “would need to immediately engage the work-weary audience by being unique and entertaining.” The result is The Travelers, with bassist Dan Thatcher and percussionist Tim Mulvenna joining Nielsen in a delightfully relaxed session, beautifully recorded live-to-2-track by Dana Nielsen. There’s a stately elegance to the trio’s formal yet emotionally rich explorations of Nielsen’s tunes. His writing is equally informed by classical guitar styles and the jazz and folk traditions. The acoustic instrumentation gives the music an intimate and friendly feel, just as Nielsen intended when he began the project. First among equals are Clavé, with its Latin-ish melody and Nielsen’s gorgeous solo perfectly accented by Mulvenna’s stripped-down hand percussion, and the sensitive closer, Beloit, with a rapturous bass solo by Thatcher. I liked The Travelers from the minute it first started playing, and the more I listen, the more enjoyable it becomes. Happily recommended.
Shifting Paradigm SP138; Casey Nielsen (ac g) Dan Thatcher (b) Tim Mulvenna (perc); Chicago, IL, April 21-27, 2017; The Travelers/ The Fischer/ Clavé/ Scatological Humor/ Culver City/ Gallagher’s Gift/ Beloit; 49:49. www.shiftingparadigmrecords.com