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Lamb Anderson Sorgen: First Mile

By Mike Jurkovic
May 6, 2021
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You can discredit the human imagination for any number of horrendous things. But when used right, things like First Mile happen. Some odd quirk in the continuum comes along and you find three far-travelled veterans, namely pianist

Chuck Lamb

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Chuck Lamb (Dry Jack,

Brubeck Brothers

" data-original-title="" title="">Brubeck Brothers), drummer

Harvey Sorgen

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Harvey Sorgen (Hot Tuna,

Anthony Braxton

woodwinds
b.1945

" data-original-title="" title="">Anthony Braxton,

Paul Simon

composer / conductor
b.1941

" data-original-title="" title="">Paul Simon, {[Bill Frisell}}) and bassist

Jay Anderson

bass
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Jay Anderson (

Maria Schneider

composer / conductor

" data-original-title="" title="">Maria Schneider,

Paul Bley

piano
1932 - 2016

" data-original-title="" title="">Paul Bley,

David Bowie

vocals
1947 - 2016

" data-original-title="" title="">David Bowie,

Randy Brecker

trumpet
b.1945

" data-original-title="" title="">Randy Brecker) in a room in Saugerties, NY making it happen. Making it happen real good.

For a puncher like Sorgen, who never seems to tire, the whole of First Mile is a study in the finer subtleties. For Lamb, who wrote four of the seven tracks and had his rhythmic hand in the others, First Mile is the only response to the long form current urgency of the day. For Anderson, who provides the gravity between his trio mates, the music is a platform for his rooted, stoic approach.

"Pumpkin Eater," the first of Lamb's charged four, kicks off sprightly and never lets up. Lamb, a true alum of the

Dave Brubeck

piano
1920 - 2012

" data-original-title="" title="">Dave Brubeck,

Teddy Wilson

piano
1912 - 1986

" data-original-title="" title="">Teddy Wilson school of engaging all eighty-eight keys, provides the pop drive and active melodicism that sweeps the tune into the muscular romanticism of "Song For You" Sorgen holds back, keeping the swing, never losing vitality.

Dedicated to the late

Frank Kimbrough

piano
1956 - 2020

" data-original-title="" title="">Frank Kimbrough with whom all three had worked,

Jorma Kaukonen

guitar and vocals

" data-original-title="" title="">Jorma Kaukonen's iconic "Embryonic Journey" (from the Jefferson Airplane's equally iconic Surrealistic Pillow (RCA, 1967) receives a majestic, gospel arrangement and serves as the centerpiece to the entire affair. The trio's touch is one of grace and gratitude, homage and respect.

But they also want you to know they haven't totally put aside their mischievous jump-wildness, so everyone posits muscle on the post-bop burner "Covidity" and the humorously martial stepped "Street Fair." After twenty-five years on sometimes disparate, sometimes shared roads, there's an ease to First Mile that is deserved by one and all.

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Track Listing

Pumpkin Eater; Song For You; Embryonic Journey . . .For Frank KImbrough; Codivity; Borealis; Street Fair: Then Step In.

Personnel

Chuck Lamb

piano

Jay Anderson

bass

Harvey Sorgen

drums

Album information

Title: First Mile | Year Released: 2021 | Record Label: I Am Them Records

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