Jon Lundbom & Big Five Chord

“Quavers! Quavers! Quavers! Quavers!”

(Hot Cup Records -Hot Cup 104)

New York based guitarist and composer Jon Lundbom is a new name to me but a closer look at the credits for this album quickly revealed a few familiar reference points. “Quavers!” represents Lundbom’s second album for Hot Cup Records, the label run by bassist Moppa Elliott of Jazzmann favourites Mostly Other People Do The Killing. Indeed Elliott appears on this album alongside MOPDTK’s saxophonist Jon Irabagon who plays both alto and sopranino. Irabagon forms part of a two sax front line, locking horns with tenor man Bryan Murray who also plays his self built balto! saxophone. The line up is completed by Australian born drummer Danny Fischer and guest keyboard player Matt Kanelos.

Lundbom’s music straddles the realms of jazz, rock and improv but it resolutely isn’t fusion, this group is far too muscular, intelligent and irreverent for that. Indeed it’s the blend of brain and brawn that makes Big Five Chord such an attractive proposition and while there’s a certain intellectual rigour about the band’s music there’s also a healthy dose of irreverence that sits well with the whole Hot Cup/MOPDTK ethos.

Lundbom’s influences include a broad spectrum of fellow guitarists, among them Marc Ducret, Derek Bailey, John Scofield and “Extrapolation” era John McLaughlin. Modern classical composers such as John Cage, Bela Bartok and Karlheinz Stockhausen are also on Lundbom’s radar alongside the more obvious jazz influences of Eric Dolphy and John Zorn, particularly the latter’s “game pieces”.

“Quavers!” represents Big Five Chord’s fourth album overall and contains six new Lundbom compositions. The guitarist’s themes act as jumping off points for group improvisation and overall the group strike a good balance between structure and freedom. Lundbom’s music may be uncompromising but it’s not at all “difficult” and should hold considerable appeal for adventurous rock listeners.

Opener “On Jacation” features duelling saxophones above a killer ostinato bass groove and unabashed rock drumming. The sax squalls become more intense and belligerent as the juggernaut marches relentlessly forward. Eventually a kind of bridge is reached, which in turn leads to Lundbom’s decidedly off kilter solo, his sound treated through a pair of rotating Leslie speakers, the kind normally associated with Hammond organs. Lundbom’s solo borrows from jazz, blues and rock on this gloriously ragged opener as Big Five Chord come across like a Frankenstein’s monster of a jam band.

“The Bravest Little Pilot No.2” is initially more reflective and adds Kanelos’ keyboards to the ensemble sound. The first solo comes from Irabagon on alto, a stunning demonstration of increasingly impassioned multiphonics. Kanelos combines well with Lundbom and also adds his own distinctive polyphonic solo on electric piano, supported by Fischer’s whirlwind drumming.

The title of “Ears Like A Fox” is apparently a reference to novelist and playwright Cormac McCarthy of “The Road” fame. The tune itself is a rumbling march fuelled by Fischer’s martial drumming which acts first as a feature for tenor saxophonist Bryan Murray and subsequently for Lundbom on guitar. Murray’s solo is intense and needling, Lunbom’s a splendid demonstration of the art of escalating tension and its eventual release.

The wonderfully named “Meat Without Feet” borrows it’s title from a New York based sea food business. It opens with a tight, in the pocket groove courtesy of Elliott and Fischer and features Lundbom’s slurred guitar plus the extraordinary ululations of Murray’s self built balto! sax. There is an almost animal like quality about some of the noises he produces. After this Lundbom’s gently reflective and ruminative solo acts as a kind of coda.

“New Feats Of Horsemanship” re-introduces Kanelos and the piece opens with an engrossing extended duet of intertwining guitar and keyboard lines. It’s followed by a languid, subtly bluesy saxophone conversation before Murray embarks on a mammoth tenor sax excursion that again pushes the instrument to its limits.

The effervescent closer “Faith-Based Initiative” features Big Five Chord at their irreverent fun loving best. But this is fun with attitude and with serious musical chops. There are shredding solos from Lundbom on guitar and Irabagon on sopranino, both riding the scalding grooves and rhythms laid down by Elliott and Fischer. Irabagon squeezes sounds out of his instrument that one wouldn’t believe were possible as the whole thing threatens to collapse into chaos- and almost does.

Mixing jam band sensibilities with strong elements of rock and the avant garde Big Five Chord manage to be both visceral and accessible; full of interesting, albeit sometimes very simple, ideas but never taking themselves or the music too seriously. All are tremendous technicians, capable of creating something exciting from the most basic of sources, and one would imagine the band to be a thrilling prospect live. The album picks an immediate punch but reveals hidden depths on subsequent listenings. “Quavers!” is a very welcome addition to the increasingly impressive Hot Cup catalogue.

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