Mats Gustafsson, Ken Vandermark, Tomeka Reid & Chad Taylor - Pivot

"The band showed up, four folks from three different spots on the globe -- Chicago (Vandermark, Reid); Nickelsdorf, Austria (Gustafsson); Philadelphia (Taylor). They assembled their gear and sound-checked at the studio. There was a four-way freedom at play, structures but liberties and no need for elaborate explanation. Everyone spoke the same shorthand. Cues were understood; timings were implicit and considered; space was made for chances to be taken. In creative music, you sometimes need to rehearse a band incessantly to get to a level of understanding, that 'condition of secrecy' that Inger Christensen speaks of in relation to poetry. Not so with this ensemble.

Some scores with directions and motifs that specify the relationships, but also the relationships prefiguring their being directed, relationships between the people themselves, the standing understanding between Mats and Ken, who worked together extensively for the last 30 years including the quartet version of Gustafsson's AALY and of course the Brötzmann Tentet. The relationship between Chad and Tomeka including the cellist's Hear in Now Expanded and in Rob Mazurek's bands; the one between Ken and Tomeka including a quartet with Hamid Drake and Lemuel Marc; one between Chad and Ken in the trio Side A, with pianist Håvard Wiik; one between Mats and Tomeka dating back to a 2017 studio session that might someday see light of day. The relationships and their prepositions. Not only simple prepositions, like 'on' or 'in,' 'above' or 'below.' More subtle ones, like 'across' or 'through.' Relationships of duration and transfiguration. Not just 'since,' but 'until.'" --John Corbett