I Am A Man

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Watching the Arto Lindsay Band in London recently - one of the greatest gigs I've ever been to - I was particularly taken by the curious figure standing to Arto's right. A tall, rather striking man, wearing what seemed to be a dress and sci-fi trainers, and playing the most subtle, delicate ... well, perfect guitar accompaniment I've probably ever heard. The tour programme revealed him to be Brandon Ross, of Harriet Tubman - a trio named after the African American slave leader. Released on Knitting Factory Records, this is the perfect companion piece to the recent Marc Ducret trio release on Screwgun. Both musicians clearly owe a huge debt to Bill Frisell, and Ross perhaps even more so than Ducret, yet here he defines his own sound. Though his sense of dynamics, twisted harmonics, overdriven tone vs. delicate fingerpicking are all Frisell trademarks, Ross reinvents them all from his own angle, actually sounding quite different beyond immediate face value. Though, as with all good improvising trios, Harriet Tubman are about intimately close interplay, Ross' guitar is incendiary yet incredibly sensitive, leading this electric trio through some shatteringly intense pieces, and some gentle, lilting songs. Frequent, though not overplayed, multitracked guitar adds to the density of the sound, presenting a richer mix than the sparse Ducret set. Bassist Melvin Gibbs is hardly overshadowed - how could he be? From Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society, to Bill Frisell's Power Tools and beyond, Gibbs has pinned down the multifarious grooves of the avant-garde/jazz set for years. An astonishing player (he unleashed a solo of such outlandish ferocity at the Arto gig, that even the dumb ass who'd been calling out Gibbs' name all night was, well, dumbstruck). The drummer here, JT Lewis, is new to me, but no doubt well known in the vibrant New York scene these musicians feed into and from. Of course, he's ridiculously competent. I don't know of any previous recordings by this trio, but these three musicians gel wonderfully. It's not worth detailing particular tracks, as all are exceptional, however curious production means a couple of the tracks fade out rather sharply, and a couple of tantalising tracks are only 30 seconds long. 'Take Out' in particular hints at some thunderous, jungle-influenced drum and bass work - the kind of thing you want to last for 30 minutes. Still, maybe you should leave them wanting more? More! More!