Rob Clutton Trio — Counsel of Primaries (Snailbongbong)
Counsel Of Primaries by Rob Clutton Trio
Double bassist Rob Clutton is part of a Toronto jazz scene that has established an identity unto itself. While there’s substantial difference between his music and that of fellow travelers Lina Allemano, Brodie West, Nick Fraser and fellow double bassist Pete Johnston, they all subscribe to an inclusive understanding of jazz. While they aren’t afraid to interrupt a groove or let some tones clash, or to extract formal and sonic elements from rock, neither are they loathe to let the music swing and sing. Clutton has a band called the Cluttertones that embraces song-derived melody. But when he puts his name on the record sleeve, it seems, he focuses on more austere materials, as on Offering, a collection of duets with Tony Malaby that he issued at the end of 2019.
Joining the bassist are alto saxophonist Karen Ng and drummer Nick Fraser. You could not call either a minimal player; on “Thing One,” for example, Fraser’s robust forays around the kit fill up the frequency range while Ng maneuvers adroitly around Clutton’s athletic runs. But his silence counts for much as Ng and Clutton joust in the first part of the title tune as his dub-like, manmade echo in later in the piece. Each musician’s parts contribute to cohesive and clearly perceptible wholes, balancing elegance with intricacy. Reeds and strings curl long tones in immaculate formation for close to five minutes before Fraser joins in with a few strategic embellishments on “Sterling.” And the three move as one along the switchback path of the airily funky “Festival.” In the case of Counsel of Primaries, that approach yields a whole lot of just enough. The album’s ten tracks add up to a bit over 66 minutes in length, and during that time the musical approaches shifts both within tunes and between them within a field bounded by angular exchanges, still contemplations, and open-ended extrapolations from the material at hand.
