Steve Lehman

(Le) Poisson Rouge; Mon 8

Playing music like Steve Lehman’s requires furious concentration, not least of all from Lehman himself. The doggedly intense alto saxophonist calls his new octet CD Travail, Transformation, and Flow—words that capture the flavor of a typical Lehman performance, in which he and his colleagues chase after rhythms beyond counting. We’re hearing a groove discipline at the crossroads of modern jazz, contemporary-classical music, glitch and adventurous hip-hop, yet there’s an unvarnished gutsiness to the stuff, offsetting its intellectual heft and overall darkness.

Along with his work in live electronics, his quintet music, and his roles in the collectives Fieldwork and Dual Identity, Lehman regularly crosses the porous divide between the jazz and classical avant-gardes, an example set by his Wesleyan University mentor, Anthony Braxton. In April, So Percussion performed Lehman’s “So/Sarcelles” at Roulette; weeks later, the International Contemporary Ensemble premiered his forbidding, glacial “Baltimore/Berlin” at P.S. 122. Now studying with composer Tristan Murail at Columbia, Lehman is finding ways to bring a spectralist aesthetic—centered on the science of raw sound as a generator of musical structure—into his bracing form of acoustic jazz.Travail, the initial result, is an accumulating onrush of fidgety beats and haunting counterpoint, executed with startling aplomb by Lehman, trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson, tenor saxophonist Mark Shim, trombonist Tim Albright, tuba player Jose Davila, vibraphonist Chris Dingman, bassist Drew Gress and drummer Tyshawn Sorey. Rarefied, yes—but the album concludes with an improvisatory Wu-Tang cover, diving back down to earth.—David R. Adler

Buy Travail, Transformation, and Flow at Amazon.com | Buy it on BN.com

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