Percussionist Tyshawn Sorey has never concerned himself much with doing what a “jazz” drummer is supposed to do. Though his talent in that area is beyond doubt, it’s only a part of his full diapason. He’s a world-class composer who’s dramatically focused his vision in recent years. He’s a powerhouse player, yet on his brilliant 2014 trio album, Alloy (Pi), he’s a faint presence on the music’s surface, playing with exquisite subtlety and allowing remarkable pianist Cory Smythe to dominate the performances of Sorey’s compositions—which owe more to Morton Feldman than to Mark Feldman.
Below you can listen to the entirety of the lengthy “Movement IV,” which contains some of the album’s most rhythmic passages as well as a few (dare I say it) jazzlike moments. Of course, this isn’t simply jazz even when it sounds most like jazz: the stunning viola solo by Armbrust employs glissandos that collide academic microtonality and what sounds to me like Indian classical music. I’ve been waiting a while for Sorey to bring this music to Chicago—a few years ago, International Contemporary Ensemble played one of his pieces at the Museum of Contemporary Art—and while no show is announced yet, the drummer is in town tonight. He plays two concerts with pianist Vijay Iyer at Constellation, subbing for Marcus Gilmore in Iyer’s long-running trio with bassist Stefan Crump. Sorey has plenty of experience with the pianist, most notably in another trio called Fieldwork, and though he’s a sub, I’m sure he’ll significantly recast Iyer’s music—he and Gilmore are very different drummers. I’m psyched to hear how it plays out.The Inner Spectrum of Variables by Tyshawn SoreyToday’s playlist:
