BPM

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After a couple of very bland ambient efforts (Tones for the Twenty-First Century and Organik Mekanix), Graham Haynes chooses a junglist approach to his first solo CD on Knitting Factory Works. Smart move. This album comes on like gangbusters as Haynes discombobulates a Wagnerian opera with drum'n'bass beats, turning its Teutonic tympani in on itself and incorporating it into the rhythm before smoothing things out with his fluid trumpet lines. A second approach to Wagner is taken in the following track, with his horn sweetly sliding around over programmed drumming and upright bass. The other star of BPM is Marque Gilmore, who adds drums and programming to three tracks, including the brilliant "Inn A Most", playing loose and fast with qawwali scat and other subcontinental sounds while ricocheting riddims all over the place. Curiously, Haynes' trumpet is entirely absent from this piece. However, he returns shortly thereafter to take another whack at Wagner, a more-or-less straightforward approach to his "Tristan" theme in a duet with guitarist Brandon Ross. There are two pieces which might be classified as "ambient", the inconsequential "Red Zone" and the more successful introspection of "Climate", writting by Aaron Lazansky. The album closes effectively with a remixed reprise of "Inn A Most" called "Revamp". Tempestuous, imaginative, triumphant - these are the true tones of the twenty-first century.