It’s no longer unusual to find a koto – a Japanese zither-like axe – nestled into a jazz band. Having experience with experimental jazz folk like Joe Morris and Brandon Lopez, South Korean DoYeon Kim takes it a step further. Armed with her own country’s gayageum, a similar instrument, she not only surrounds herself with jazz players – she leads them.
Joined by maverick improvisers Tyshawn Sorey (drums), Mat Maneri (viola), and Henry Fraser (bass), Kim refuses to simply layer her instrument into a jazz arrangement as a texture. Instead she pushes it ahead, forcing her bandmates to build their spontaneous combustion around her expression. Fortunately she chose the right crew – listen to the way Maneri provides instant counterpoint on “Sun Shower” or “The Beats of Distant Thunder,” or how Sorey reacts to Kim’s direction, and then gives back provocation with which everyone else can interact. “Diffraction,” meanwhile, comes frontloaded with dizzying gayageum riffs, leading Sorey by the hand, while the enthusiastically sung “Calculus of Our Souls” probably counts as pop in this universe.
Ultimately, Kim and her trio reach full flight on “Linear System” – nearly sixteen minutes of freely improvised deep listening, interplay, and instinctive energy that allows the players to test their own and each other’s mettle with a truly distinctive aesthetic. Even in the free jazz world, there’s nothing like DoYeon Kim’s Wellspring.
