John O'Gallagher
Ancestral
Of all the riveting moments that take place on Ancestral, the most impressive ones come from the interactions between drummers Andrew Cyrille and Billy Hart. Not to discredit leader John O'Gallagher, whose alto saxophone acts as a guiding force of melody and heavy fire, most notably in "Altar of the Ancestors." The same praise is earned by the forth member of the group, guitarist Ben Monder, who deftly combines roles as a foundation of the music, playing bass lines, with moments as the second harmonic voice in O'Gallagher's compositions or in the group improvisations.
At the same time, the way Cyrille and Hart - both imaginative players, to put it mildly - interactive with one another, sharing the percussive space, really makes the music electrifying. (Presumably Andrew Cyrille is in the left channel and Billy Hart occupies the right channel.) In the flowing opener "Awakening," Hart plays sparingly with mallets. The alto and guitar play the melody as one, though Monder occasionally slips in some chords to bump it up. Cyrille doesn't come in prominenently for about two minutes, and he emerges with brushes in hand, which adds more color to the rubato feel of the song.
A track like "Tug" reveals the almost telepathic connection both drummers. Hart begins tapping the tempo on the rims, moving to the toms, responding to Cyrille's snare crack with a crack of his own. All of this while Monder keeps the steady groove going. Throughout the eight tracks, one drummer seems to know the right time to play the full kit, while his partner might stick to the snare. When they both come to a full boil during Monder's rapid solo in "Profess" things sound more complementary than busy.
O'Gallagher's PhD work on the music of John Coltrane has inspired his own writing, which often feels free but never completely forgoes struacture (one of this conclusions in his deep analysis of late-period Coltrane). "Altar of the Ancestors" takes a hint from the Trane-Elvin duet "Vigil," with the saxophonist spontaneously creating torrents of lines, accompanied only by the drummers. Conversely "Under the Wire" has a playful, Monk-like theme.
After having his own quality time with Cyrille and Hart, O'Gallagher extends the courtesy to Monder for "Contact" which climaxes with a wave of chords that, in the guitarist's frequent fashion, sounds massive without getting too loud. The album ends with "Postscript," a group improvisation that, ironically, was the first recording of the session. Guitar and saxophone both create some heavy lines as the drummers alternate snare and tom work.
Despite the relative spareness due to a lack of a bass anchor, the album has several spots where things never get minimal, moving instead in a direction that recalls the fire of Sonny Sharrock's Ask the Angels. Or to put it another way, these guys rock.
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