A longtime fixture of NYC’s downtown jazz/arts scene, veteran of hip bands like the Lounge Lizards, Karen Mantler and Her Cat Arnold, Peter Apfelbaum & the New York Hieroglyphics, Spanish Fly, and Alison Miller’s Boom Tick Boom, leader of his long-running avant-jazz act Sex Mob, trumpeter/composer Steven Bernstein follows his restless muse wherever it may roam. Double-titled disk ResoNation Trio/Ultra Resonance finds him wandering two different but intimately related paths.
In the first half, Bernstein fronts the titular trio, an exploratory jazz outfit featuring veteran bassist Scott Colley and extraordinary drummer Nasheet Waits. With boundaries in place, but no particular place to go, the triad explores bluesy grooves on “Mammoth,” open-ended fields on “Turf,” and the art of finding melancholy in a tune as unfailing positive as the standard “Sittin’ On Top of the World.” The trio’s interaction and commitment to their singular vision could’ve filled another forty minutes, but Bernstein has something else in mind. Turning the tracks over to producer/instrumentalist Scotty Hard, the open-eared trumpeter watches gleefully as Hard adds keyboards, rearranges rhythms, and turns the tunes into unrecognizable melds of trip hop, ambient electronica, and acid jazz. Check out the haunting “Argos” or the psychedelic “Rubidium” for new trips through established country.
Bernstein has always been known for his open mind and sense of adventure. ResoNation Trio/Ultra Resonance giddily lets his freak flag fly freely.
