Bobby Previte, Jamie Saft & Nels Cline: Music From the Early 21st Century

When Bobby Previte, Jamie Saft & Nels Cline get together to make a load of noise, they might as well call themselves the Three Provocateurs. On Music From the Early 21st Century, free-wheeling guitarist Cline, triple-threat keyboardist Saft, and the happily pounding Previte on drums waste no time stirring things up. Drawn from a quick tour of very small (100-200 seats) off-the-beaten-track Northeastern venues in the spring of 2019, this generous helping of free improvisations is a total gas from start to finish. Predictably unpredictable, the trio’s sound combines hard-rocking grooves, funky organ swells and synth flares, and crazed guitar fills plus the occasional shout of encouragement. Track times range from 3:39 for the gentle Totes to 14:04 for the mysterious and intense Occession. The prevalence of fade-outs on the disc makes me think that many of these tracks were excerpted from lengthier improvisations. Saft did the mix, and co-produced the CD with Previte, and together, they did a fine job of selecting, editing and sequencing the tracks to create a dynamic listening experience. Happily recommended.
RareNoise RNR0115 (CD & LP); Nels Cline (el g, effects) Jamie Saft (Hammond org, Fender Rhodes el p, MiniMoog) Bobby Previte (d); Beacon, NY, Hudson, NY, Milheim, PA, & NYC, May 9-12, 2019; Photobomb/ Paywall/ Parkour/ The Extreme Present/ Totes/ Occession/ The New Weird/ Machine Learning/ Woke/ Flash Mob; 76:37. www.rarenoiserecords.com

Jamie Saft, Steve Swallow & Bobby Previte: You Don’t Know the Life

The perpetually surprising trio of Jamie Saft, Steve Swallow & Bobby Previte’s latest venture is You Don’t Know the Life. After two releases with Saft at the acoustic piano, he limits himself this time around to two different electric organs and a Baldwin electric harpsichord that was manufactured from 1966 to the early Seventies. In addition to a pair of Saft originals and a few group improvisations, the trio’s typically eclectic repertoire includes a Bill Evans tune, a piece by the late Roswell Rudd, a couple of standards (Moonlight in Vermont and Alfie), and the title track, a song originally performed by the Moving Sidewalks, a Texas band from the late Sixties which was founded by future ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons. Evans’ tribute to producer Orrin Keepnews, Re: Person I Knew, kicks things off in surprisingly upbeat fashion. Dark Squares, the first improvisation, is well-titled for this somber investigation, showcasing Previte’s delicate cymbals and Swallow’s careful bass. Water From Breath is another improvisation, a sort of funky blues with a moody Saft out in front. Clocking in at just over six minutes, You Don’t Know the Life is the longest piece of the set. As played here, it’s a slow-moving dirge performed with impeccable grace by the trio. Previte’s tom-toms take the lead for a brief look at Rudd’s Ode to a Green Frisbee, with snaky organ lines by Saft. Two of Saft’s original compositions follow, The Cloak, an energetic romp, and Stable Manifold, an orderly blues line that rolls right along. The meanderingly self-absorbed The Break of the Flat Land is the last of the collective improvisations and the least interesting piece. Things get back on track with a finger-snapping version of Moonlight in Vermont, a favorite of jazz musicians since it was introduced by Margaret Whiting in 1944. A faithful version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s Alfie concludes this largely satisfying excursion by this redoubtable trio.
RareNoise RNR101; Jamie Saft (Hammond org, Whitehall org, Baldwin elec harpsichord) Steve Swallow (el b) Bobby Previte (d); NYC, January 2018; Re: Person I Knew/ Dark Squares/ Water From Breath/ You Don’t Know the Life/ Ode to a Green Frisbee/ The Cloak/ Stable Manifold/ The Break of the Flat Land/ Moonlight in Vermont/ Alfie; 41:14. www.rarenoiserecords.com