Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Colin Hinton: Simulacra

Colin Hinton: Simulacra

By John Sharpe
November 13, 2020
View read count

It would have been a shame if drummer and composer

Colin Hinton

drums
b.1988

" data-original-title="" title="">Colin Hinton's Simulacra, released in 2019, fell through the cracks. On this, his second leadership outing in the wake of Glassbath (Snake And Cornelia, 2018), he captains a crew of current and former Brooklyn-based talent in a mysterious but satisfying set. Hinton merges compositional elements with unfurling interplay which sounds guided in its cohesion, but without any evidence of the joins. As a result the six cuts evolve naturally, but without signaling their destinations, spanning numerous genres but without putting down roots in any of them.

While the liners allude to the inspiration from composers such as Alexander Scriabin and Morton Feldman, they also reference jazz-related luminaries such as

Tyshawn Sorey

drums
b.1980

" data-original-title="" title="">Tyshawn Sorey,

Ingrid Laubrock

saxophone
b.1970

" data-original-title="" title="">Ingrid Laubrock,

Anthony Braxton

woodwinds
b.1945

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

Muhal Richard Abrams

piano
1930 - 2017

" data-original-title="" title="">Muhal Richard Abrams. What distinguishes that last cohort is a refusal to be pigeonholed. Hinton's writing often recalls the perplexing synthesis between charts and freedom achieved by his erstwhile teacher Laubrock's Antihouse. Nowhere more so than in the intricate unison atop a snappy beat of the final "Slab Warmth," a piece in which Hinton draws on ideas he found in Braxton's music.

Before that point, each piece comes rammed with multiple themes and events. The longest track at over 18 minutes, "Obversify" begins with an annunciatory shimmer, then delicate pointillism from

Edward Gavitt

guitar

" data-original-title="" title="">Edward Gavitt's guitar and

Shawn Lovato

bass, acoustic
b.1985

" data-original-title="" title="">Shawn Lovato's bass, before molasses-slow long tones from the reeds of

Anna Webber

saxophone, tenor
b.1984

" data-original-title="" title="">Anna Webber and

Yuma Uesaka

saxophone, alto
b.1991

" data-original-title="" title="">Yuma Uesaka. Next Webber's coolly etched flute line heralds another crescendo and a series of incisive gestures before Uesaka takes off on a piping clarinet excursion. That's only the start. Here and throughout, written material emerges seemingly from nowhere, only to dissipate as quickly as it arrives.

Ample opportunities for individual expression arise as integral parts of the scripted frameworks, such as when Webber's fluttering and swooping flute provides one of the highlights of the lengthy angular "What Was." And not only individual. An extended Webber tenor solo becomes a bickering duet as Uesaka connects, on the opener, and on "Synesthopy (intro)" Webber's bass flute and Uesaka's bass clarinet combine once more in an a capella breathy chatter which leads to a stately progression preceding the main action.

The whole time Hinton steers, accents and colors without bombast, moving between choppy pulse, staggered grooves and punchy riffs, as the ensemble touches on jazz, chamber, rock, improv and contemporary. That all this succeeds without a hint of pastiche vouchsafes that Hinton has a clear vision, and even more importantly the flair to realize it.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Obversify; Synesthopy (intro); Synesthopy; What Was; Breath; Slab Warmth.

Personnel

Colin Hinton

drums

Anna Webber

saxophone, tenor

Yuma Uesaka

saxophone, alto

Edward Gavitt

guitar

Shawn Lovato

bass, acoustic

Additional Instrumentation

Anna Webber: tenor saxophone, flute, bass flute; Yuma Uesaka: tenor saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, contralto clarinet; Edward Gavitt: electric and acoustic guitar; Shawn Lovato: bass; Colin Hinton: drums, percussion, glockenspiel, gongs.

Album information

Title: Simulacra | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: Panoramic

PREVIOUS / NEXT

What's Next
< Previous

@ Bremen 1964 & 1975
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.