A new working trio of American pianist-poet Eliot Cardinaux, known for his ongoing associations with Danish musicians, with bass player Will McEvoy and drummer Max Goldman. Cardinaux, again, mixes his beat poetry with free improvisations and Ellington-ian, melodic themes and promises that «Take me by the hand of darkness» is actually «an invitation into the unknown».

The 14 short pieces – few last less than two minutes, offer colorful and playful sonic postcards, always melodic but with a fine dose of risk-taking and an experimental touch, and often enhanced by the brief, suggestive poetics of Cardinaux. McEvoy anchors gently Carainaux musings – as a pianist, a poet and a theatrical, singing vocalist while Goldman allows himself to push the musical envelope of this trio to its outer limits and charging its pieces with loses senses of texture and tension.

The trio experiments with loose, unbinding form of free improvisation on «Muzz ’n’ P». But The trio sounds more focused and sharper on the composed pieces and on the pieces that highlight the poetics of Cardinaux, as on the opening piece, the surrealistic-Ellington-ian tone poem «At the Conservatory» or in «In white lies winter».  The atmosphere becomes more tense and fiery towards the centerpiece, «Song for Charlie», a homage to the great double bass player Charlie Haden, that sums the kind of slow burning harmolodics of this trio. This arresting ride ends with the chanting of the sober, self-referencing «Promise»: «the lilt outside / of language other / then its own / more meanings / slowly misunder- /standing / sound dug / into around / the eye curving / corkscrew me back toward / Earth».

Eyal Hareuveni

Eliot Cardinaux (p, v), Will Mcevoy (b), Max Goldman (dr)