Rob Clutton Trio
The Rob Clutton Trio is an aptly named outft, but perhaps not for the reasons one might anticipate. On their debut recording, the band is guided by the eccentric beauty of its namesake's compositions, yet each of its constituent personalities shines. This balance is a hallmark of Clutton's artistic vision, heard throughout his discography. In addition to his keen ear for colour and surprising melodic turns, he has an uncanny grasp of group chemistry—he's tuned in both to the potential of what's on the page and in the moment. He also understands how to blend but also highlight the wondrous idiosyncrasies of his collaborators.
According to critic Bill Meyer in the Wire, Nick Fraser "is Toronto’s go-to drummer for high profle jazz visitors, and his own music is where he lets his hair down." It's an accurate quote, so long as one accounts for the ways in which Fraser inhabits the music of his closest peers and makes it his. Clutton and Fraser have a long history together, performing together in wayward jazz composer-collective Drumheller (alongside Doug Tielli, Brodie West, and Eric Chenaux) as well as in Fraser's own eponymous quartet.
"Think of any style of modern saxophone playing, and chances are Toronto’s Karen Ng has done it, and done it beautifully," says Musicworks' Mary Dickie. The powerhouse saxophonist may be widely known for her versatility, lending her ferce skill to a wide variety of different projects (including Sandro Perri, Rheostatics, Do Make Say Think, and Ken Aldcroft's Convergence Ensemble) but her own sense of tone and delivery is always palpable. One never strains to hear Ng's immaculate technique — she produces fne gradations of sound with great ease and precision, yet her technical profciency is always matched by a profound, balanced, and soulful musicality. She's as daring as she is tasteful, as a strong a listener as she is a player, and of course she's able to bend her extensive sound vocabulary into unique and poetic shapes.
For more than twenty years Toronto bassist and composer Rob Clutton has occupied the unique position of being both a central fgure, and an eccentric outlier within the Canadian jazz and experimental music landscape. One might recognize him as a member of JUNO winners NOJO (the Neufeld-Occhipinti Jazz Orchestra) or from appearances alongside legendary fgures from Jandek to Roscoe Mitchell, Little Annie to Arnold Dreyblatt, and from Eugene Martynec (of Canadian psych legends Kensington Market) to Anthony Braxton. His quietly defant voice also leads on a number of recordings. Last year he released a duo disc Offering with NYC mainstay Tony Malaby on saxophone featuring his own compositions mixed with spontaneous pieces. He has also released a pair of utterly singular solo bass albums with cult Toronto imprint Rat-Drifting (spearheaded by Eric Chenaux and Martin Arnold), and more recently, two discs with unclassifable quartet the Cluttertones. Featuring Tim Posgate, Ryan Driver, and Lina Allemano, the band epitomizes Clutton's aforementioned savvy with integrating bold divergent players into a cohesive whole. The group's second album sees them inviting celebrated pianist Lee Pui Ming to join the group as an improvising concerto-like soloist for the disc's second half.
The music on Counsel of Primaries audibly sits adjacent to the jazz tradition, yet also looks upon it with a curiosity stoked by Clutton's immersion in numerous experimental practices—not to mention Ng and Fraser's own pluralistic perspectives. This trio's lean, open-ended sound is the ideal conduit for Clutton's disparate compositional aptitudes. There's ample space for the textural detail the players so masterfully conjure. Often these twists of colour share the foreground, even amidst pieces of a more melodic orientation. The collective feel is similarly supple and nuanced. Right from the frst quivering cymbal of opener "Strata", a foating quality is established that can be felt throughout the album. Yet the group swings—albeit delicately—even when navigating Clutton's most asymmetrical phrases.
PRESS QUOTES
"Throughout, one hears the special camaraderie that two gifted improvisers can achieve in a stripped-down setting." — Stuart Broomer, The WholeNote (on Offering)
"Expansive and sensitive in spirit. A natural and empathetic link is clearly evident here, a fresh case study in how the bass-and-sax partnership can yield broad results." — Joe Woodard, DownBeat (on Offering)
"Clutton’s unbound creativity, amiability and taste glint off his fngertips every time he touches his grandly weathered double bass… a man I suspect of being the fnest musician in Toronto." — Carl Wilson, Globe and Mail
