Jeremy Cunningham / Dustin Laurenzi / Paul Bryan — A Better Ghost (Northern Spy)
Photo by Robbie Jeffers
A Better Ghost by Jeremy Cunningham / Dustin Laurenzi / Paul Bryan
A Better Ghost opens with a piece called “Everything” that encapsulates the finest aspects of this new collaboration. What sounds like a looped fragment of Dustin Laurenzi’s saxophone creates a droning backdrop, against which drummer Jeremy Cunningham and bassist Paul Bryan tentatively sketch out a groove. As the looped drone multiplies and Laurenzi begins to solo over the top, the atmosphere is questing yet languid, feeling out the boundaries of the music collectively created. Then, once the main horn theme resounds, the effect is so satisfying that the listener immediately trusts the players’ chemistry.
This is no surprise based on the album’s back story. Cunningham and Laurenzi are frequent collaborators in the Chicago jazz scene, and it was their creative connection that sparked the genesis of this album. Once ideas began to take shape, they brought in LA-based producer and bassist Bryan to help bring the project into focus. Having co-produced Cunningham’s 2020 album The Weather Up There, Bryan set a precedent for a productive working relationship. As a result, A Better Ghost is a succinct and satisfying record, balancing open-endedness and improvisation with declarative moments in which themes and harmonic ideas coalesce into something almost anthemic. In that regard it shares some common ground with instrumental rock bands such as Do Make Say Think, as well as other jazz musicians who incorporate electronic elements, looping and effects into their ensemble playing.
“Worlds Turn” has the shimmering atmospherics of what feels like a rainforest scene, only for the peace to be disrupted by some unexpectedly timed snare hits, effected saxophone, and fat fuzz bass. This pseudo-tropical flavor re-emerges on the title track, where the trio locks into a more straight-ahead groove, complete with an earworm of a theme. “Ray Tracing” builds its framework from a spidery synth arpeggio, over which Laurenzi plays melodic lines that bring to mind Norwegian collective Jaga Jazzist. The only point where the creative focus dissipates is on the closing track, “The Way We Remember,” which features a sweetly sung female vocal that feels at odds with the rest of the album; it’s the kind of left turn that makes you wonder if you’ve accidentally skipped to another album entirely. However, for the most part, A Better Ghost offers ample evidence of a fruitful creative partnership, well worth revisiting.
Loose dog anon here. Just to clarify, the dog was not contained. She ran up to my car when I got home, then skittered away, and was running around in the street until I approached her and she retreated back to the property. I got her about 2 feet away from me with treats, but she bolts if I move. I left a scoop of food where she was usually tethered, and it was gone in minutes. We've taken her back home multiple times and I did check to see if anyone was home... But I guess we'll call AC next.
Thanks for taking time to reply.
Ah, yeah, that’s harder.
Unfortunately my way of catching loose dogs has always been a lasso/leash, blanket, and pray you don’t get bit combination, but it is a very good way to be bitten and while I’ve gotten lucky so far I don’t advise people to try it or tell people how I do it because I don’t want to be responsible for someone else getting bit. I also don’t physically catch dogs unless they are wandering in an unsafe area and or if I see the owner chasing them as well. I let AC handle it if I just spot them wandering around somewhere they won’t be hit by a car or shot etc.
If you want AC to do something about it, typically they have to catch her off the property and wandering. Reporting after she’s already back on the property means they can’t really do anything about it. Same with giving her food- if they come out and see the food you’ve given her, technically they can’t get on the neighbor about not supplying food.
