CD Quick Take: Linda May Han Oh - Strange Heavens

There are a few albums that have been sitting on or around my desk for a few months that I've been meaning to write about here. Some are close to 12 months old. But I still feel like writing a few words about them in hopes that it might motivate someone to check them out. This one is slightly more recent. 

Linda May Han Oh

Strange Heavens

(Biophilia) lindamayhanoh.bandcamp.com/album/strange-heavens

The instrumentation of trumpet/bass/drums might imply a minimal sounding trio if chordless jazz is on the agenda. (Free improvisation might be a different story.) But earlier this year at Winter Jazz Fest in New York, Linda May Han Oh's trio (with the leader on bass, Tyshawn Sorey on drums, Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet) created a full sound, built on Oh's visceral approach to her instrument. If memory serves, their set leaned heavily on material they had recorded for this album that same weekend. 

Like that performance, Strange Heavens moves at an exciting pace that doesn't leave time to miss the lack of extra instruments. It also harkens back to Oh's debut as a leader (2009's Entry), in a similar setting that included Akinmusire. All three performers could easily take the music out into free territory (and they occasionally do in tracks like "Home") but even as they push at their surroudings, all three maintain a steadfast commitment to the composition they're playing, which serves to elevate the music and the execcution. 

Oh's bass tone alone sounds captivating, putting the big wooden resonance of the instrument at the forefront. She begins the album playing harmonics on "Portal" that come off sounding funky. After bowing some opening harmonics in "Folk Song," she continues in an arco mood in the low register, making the instrument vibrate with intensity.

Sorey, who played with Oh in Vijay Iyer's trio, provides some skittery rhythms on which the bassist dances in "Paperbirds," before he eventually goes wild in the coda while Oh and Akinmusire play a vamp behind him. While the drummer is skilled at weaving rhythmic mosaics in the music (supporting the bass solo in "The Sweetest Water"), he also lays back, just adding gentle cymbal work and a few rolls to Akinmusire and Oh's thoughtful duet on the theme of "Acapella." Oh's harmonies at the end of each phrase really add depth as well.

Akimnusire's performance draws on a warm tone and adventurous quality throughout the album, going from sweet to aggressive. In "Work Song" (an Oh original, not the Nat Adderley classic) he switches roles with his bandmates, holding down a stuttering riff while they take liberties with it. 

Of the dozen tracks on Strange Heavens, only one comes in over five minutes, and two don't make it to three minutes. One of the latter is a Geri Allen tune "Skin." The trio wasn't likely thinking of radio airplay but instead used their sense of economy to boil down their ideas to concise, deep performances. Or to borrow the golden motto of punks the Minutemen, they jam econo.