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Chris Welcome: Beyond All Things

By Mark Corroto
April 5, 2019
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Saxophonist

Stephen Gauci

saxophone, tenor
b.1966

" data-original-title="" title="">Stephen Gauci has begun to document some of the weekly concerts he curates at the Bushwick Public House in Brooklyn, New York. Although brief, this session of a single, 29-minute track packs a satisfying punch to the solar plexus. Led by guitarist Chris Welcome (of the Lisa Mezzacappa Trio, David McDonnell Group and Weasel Walter), this octet frames a dose of free jazz as both unconstrained and choreographed—if by "choreographed" we mean the players are generously simpatico.

For a free jazz octet to share in this manner, they must be first-class musicians and really good people. Welcome employs trumpeter

Jaimie Branch

trumpet
1983 - 2022

" data-original-title="" title="">Jaimie Branch, who the world discovered with the release of Fly Or Die (International Anthem, 2017), cornetist

Kirk Knuffke

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Kirk Knuffke (who has played with

Allison Miller

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Allison Miller and

Matt Wilson

drums
b.1964

" data-original-title="" title="">Matt Wilson), saxophonists Anthony Ware and Sam Weinberg, trombonist

Ben Gerstein

trombone

" data-original-title="" title="">Ben Gerstein, bassist

Shayna Dulberger

bass, acoustic
b.1983

" data-original-title="" title="">Shayna Dulberger and drummer

Mike Pride

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Mike Pride.?

After the opening bell, the performance draws momentum and intensity through a focused delivery of probing and exploratory ideas. The music sounds as if each player is pooling resources and charging batteries for the eventual solos. Then they come:? Branch scores from downtown before horns combine and Weinberg's trombone is exercised over a percussion display and spooky guitar effects. Everyone gets a turn to raise the pillars and posts of this building. But even when things get noisy, there is a coherence to the music, even as it gets weird.

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Track Listing

Track 1.

Personnel

Chris Welcome

guitar, cello

Jaimie Branch: trumpet; Kirk Knuffke: Bb cornet, Eb cornet; Anthony Ware: alto saxophone; Sam Weinberg: tenor saxophone; Ben Gerstein; trombone, percussion; Chris Welcome: guitar, percussion; Shayna Dulberger: bass; Mike Pride: drums, percussion.

Album information

Title: Beyond All Things | Year Released: 2019 | Record Label: Gauci Music

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