Album Notes

Michael Evans - drum set / percussion / electronics
Anders Nilsson - electric guitar / electronics Ken Filiano - double bass / electronics
play their own music + a Carla Bley tune
Fulminate Trio feature Anders Nilsson electric
guitar, Ken Filiano on double bass and Michael Evans on drums, with
everyone doubling on electronics. Swedish-born guitarist, Anders
Nilsson, has been a part of the downtown scene for the past decade
and is one of unsung local heroes of jazz/rock guitar. His Swedish
quartet, Aorta, has two of the finest jazz/rock discs out that we've
heard in many a year. He has also collaborated with Ras Moshe, Tom
Bruno and Raoul Bjorkenheim. Fulminate Trio is a new
project with the great East/West bassist Ken Filiano and another
unsung hero, Michael Evans on drums. This fine disc was dropped off
nearly a month ago when I wasn't at the store, so I didn't get a
chance to listen to it closely until now. All I can say is - wow! All
of the five songs are originals, except for the opening track, which
is Carla Bley's "Floater." "Floater" is a dark, spooky tune with
ominous bass and sly, skeletal guitar. It is difficult to be delicate
and dark at the same time, but this piece does do that so well.
Michael Evans' "Road Runner/Coyote" is a somber, freer piece with
some strong bowed bass, old-fashioned slow-burning jazz/rock guitar
and quick-spinning drums. "The Red One" starts off with some eerie
static before the trio slowly builds freely and ominously. Soon the
trio hits its stride when Ken introduces this great, hypnotic
repeating bass line. Anders takes a long, story-telling guitar solo
that is most inspiring, tasteful and imaginative. Fusion lovers-watch
out, you have a new saviour! I am kidding actually, since Anders'
solo is relatively short, to-the-point and doesn't overstay its
welcome. One of the things that I dig about this trio is the way they
use acoustic bass with electric guitar in a most natural way. There
is a long spacy section in this piece that features eerie, minimal
guitar, buzzing contrabass and free & fractured drums. "Tiger
Variations" has an odd jazz/rock/psych sort of theme, reminding me of
the good old early free/fusion days, before pigeonholing forced some
to prejudge what they might actually dig if they heard something in a
blindfold test. This is a most impressive trio offering that appears
to defy categorization and remain engaging throughout. - BLG