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Borderlands Trio: Wandersphere

By John Sharpe
November 20, 2021
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Like a billionaire with money to burn, the Borderlands Trio frequently launch into space, and hit the jackpot in doing so. On this double disc set, the threesome—comprising bassist

Stephan Crump

bass, acoustic
b.1972

" data-original-title="" title="">Stephan Crump, pianist

Kris Davis

piano
b.1980

" data-original-title="" title="">Kris Davis and drummer

" data-original-title="" title="">Eric McPherson—luxuriate in the wide open vistas of four expansive improvisations of between nineteen and forty-two minutes. The decision to play and present entire pieces rather than excerpts, as they did on some of the shorter numbers on their debut Asteroidea (Intakt, 2017), pays rich dividends, as it allows an opportunity to appreciate the daredevil creation on-the-fly as they invent structures, spawn tension, and unearth resolutions in unforced natural developments.

Although they operate in the free jazz arena, they use the syntax of the conventional piano trio to do so. The closest parallel might be Farmers By Nature, the similarly adventurous triumvirate of

Craig Taborn

piano
b.1970

" data-original-title="" title="">Craig Taborn,

William Parker

bass
b.1952

" data-original-title="" title="">William Parker and

Gerald Cleaver

drums
b.1963

" data-original-title="" title="">Gerald Cleaver. McPherson proves the key as he anchors the trio by deploying a vocabulary, honed in stints with

Andrew Hill

piano
1931 - 2007

" data-original-title="" title="">Andrew Hill and

Fred Hersch

piano
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Fred Hersch, in impromptu but always appropriate ways. Crump and Davis affirm the feeling. They share not only a composerly sensibility, which means that form is always in mind, but also an affinity for shapeshifting minimalist cells, which become all the more thrilling when reinforced by McPherson's rhythmic acumen.

The rapport between Crump and McPherson impresses from the very start, as the merest wisps of bowed bass find their echo in a stick scraped across metal, then is repeatedly manifest in the spontaneous grooves the pair magic from thin air. Such shifts in and out of time, without jarring disconnects, while still playing free is one of the most difficult tricks to pull off, but here the transitions happen almost imperceptibly.

For his part Crump brings the refined sense of complex yet supple swing which illuminated his contributions to

Vijay Iyer

piano
b.1971

" data-original-title="" title="">Vijay Iyer's Trio, and allies that to a propensity for extemporized melody and incisive counterpoint. Crisp and controlled, McPherson favors patterns and subtle propulsion rather than textures. He executes tight rhythmic kernels, like a bass drum throb, bustling cymbal traceries or ticking hihat, in graceful orbits across his kit.

Davis is a breathtaking improviser. She contrasts fast moving ripples with felicitous song like phrases, which she varies and mutates, with intermittent snags on miniature phrases. The interplay often takes on a percussive feel, accentuated when Davis morphs her sound through preparations to her piano interior, sometimes evoking a pocket gamelan orchestra, then at other times making judicious use of resonators on the wires to generate pure tones. When she pitches altered notes in one hand against untreated figures in the other, her ability to balance starkly different voices in each hand becomes devastatingly clear.

But even with such stellar components, it is an egalitarian outfit, creating strings of elegantly evolving ideas and moods which convince as so coherent they could be scripted. Among the many highlights, the lengthy "Old-Growth" stands out. One early peak comes as Davis interrupts her Morse-coded hammerings with increasingly wayward digressions, until she erupts in a keyboard-spanning explosion which is a reminder that

Cecil Taylor

piano
1929 - 2018

" data-original-title="" title="">Cecil Taylor remains one of her guiding lights. A decrescendo ensues as strums on the wire, dampened keys, whispering percussion and plaintive arco sighs conjure an atmospheric passage. It is here that McPherson reveals his amazing attention to detail as he complements the vibe with a cymbal wash rhythmically attenuated by his hand. Thereafter the piece again builds into another pulsing vamp, momentarily recalling the late lamented

Esbjorn Svensson

piano
1964 - 2008

" data-original-title="" title="">Esbjorn Svensson Trio, as it flows through multiple peaks and valleys.

It is a set which should feature highly in the upcoming year end reckonings.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Wnadersphere I, CD 1: Super Organism; An Invitation to Disappear. Wandersphere II, CD 2: Old Growth; Possible Pictures.`

Personnel

Stephan Crump

bass, acoustic

Kris Davis

piano

Eric McPherson

drums

Album information

Title: Wandersphere | Year Released: 2021 | Record Label: Intakt Records

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Stephan Crump Concerts

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Stephan Crump's Passerine

Barbes
Brooklyn, NY

Oct 9 Thu

Stephan Crump - Solo

P'tit Ours
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Oct 17 Fri

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Otherlands Trio

Firehouse 12
New Haven, CT

Jan 31 Sat

Stephan Crump - Passerine

Bar Bayeux
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Apr 21 Tue

Stephan Crump - Slow Water

Krannert Center For The Performing Arts
Urbana, IL

Apr 24 Fri

Stephan Crump - Slow Water

The Cleveland Museum Of Art
Cleveland, OH

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