Bet on this: you just can't go wrong with drummer Jim Black and bassist Skuli Sverrisson. Together they form a muscular and infinitely malleable rhythm section. Add to that the clarinet of Chris Speed and the guitar of Blogcritics' featured artist Brad Shepik and you've got... well, I'm not sure.
Pachora is often described as being influenced by the musics of Eastern Europe and the Middle East. True, but it's more than that. This is a group that takes that folk material and filters it through the more modern sounds of the New York "downtown" scene: together, the members of Pachora have played with the Dave Douglas Tiny Bell Trio, Tim Berne's Bloodcount, Ellery Eskelin, Dave Douglas, Anthony Braxton, and many others. It's a very, very deep well to draw from.
The melding of these influences is displayed in many different ways. The opening "Romanics" seems somewhat traditional with its percussion and sprightly acoustic bassline, but then Chris Speed's clarinet drops in steeply descending chromatic figures that are mirrored by Sverrisson. Things quickly switch back to traditional as the main theme is stated in unison. This approach is not unlike that taken by John Zorn's Masada, with one foot in the "old" (Klezmer) and one in the "new" (Ornette!).
"Bushka Lounge" starts off sounding like an old world meets new James Bond score bite. A tense staccato bassline is abetted by clinky percussion and ringing artificial harmonics. Shepik then switches to the electric saz, laying out swirly angular lines over which Speed plays a repeated figure. Modern jumps back a step as the song's theme takes over. It's almost a musical slight of hand, as these transitions seem completely natural and make perfect sense.
The rest of Astereotypical offer similar juxtapositions, some soft ("Klink"), some harsh ("Little Theatre" and especially: "Push"), and some just plain beautiful: Sverrisson's "Drifting" and the closing traditional arrangement of "Mexahata." Experienced in total, the music of Pachora really does defy categorization. That's a good thing. It's also a fine example of how much this music we call "jazz" can be stretched.
Article comments
1 - Connie Phillips
Nice review, and the perfect ending to the wonderful featured artist coverage you've given Brad Shepik here. Thanks for all the hard work!