THE NICK FRASER QUARTET launch the album at the Tranzac Main Hall on Saturday (February 2).
How much you enjoy Nick Fraser’s debut album depends on your tolerance for dissonance. Opening track Prescott: The Fort Town makes a cacophonous introduction to the local experimental jazz quartet, thanks to New Yorker Tony Malaby’s skronky and wildly fluttering sax lines, which feature prominently throughout.
Then there’s Fraser’s inventive drumming. On disorienting third song Tricycle, the musician (who’s also in Drumheller, Peripheral Vision and other bands) seems to tap and splash anything in his immediate vicinity before heading into a rumbling, tumbling fill section. Andrew Downing provides textural cello and Rob Clutton labyrinthine double bass, which takes an excellent turn in the spotlight during six-and-a-half-minute standout Sketch #12.
Most of the 12 compositions are short sketches built on a motif that provides a launch pad for daring free improvisation. The musicians show great instinct and fraternity, and you never know where things will head or end up (Revolution introduces an Eastern music element), making Towns And Villages a fascinating listen.
Top track: Sketch #12
