Back in 2022, serial improviser Ivo Perelman recorded an album with bassist Mark Helias, drummer Tom Rainey, and his longtime compatriot Matthew Shipp. The saxophonist was so impressed with the rhythm section, with whom he’d never worked before, that he re-enlisted them two weeks later. Truth Seeker is the result. The rhythm duo fits right into Perelman’s free improv vision, following him anywhere he chooses to roam. But they also ground him, sometimes encouraging him to pare his firestorm of sound down to mere flurries of sparks. While that doesn’t make any of these tracks easy listening – and who would want that on a Perelman record anyway? – it does bring songs like “Mystical Vibration,” “Lights,” and the title tune into sharper focus, allowing more appealing melodies to surface – even if they’re pulled apart by seahorses the moment they do. That makes Perelman’s post-postbop as adventurous as ever, but still cleaving to the laws of physics. Perelman is a loving adherent of spontaneous composition in all its forms, and on Truth Seeker Helias and Rainey are right there with him.
