The first-ever trio album from
John Escreet, 2022's
Seismic Shift captures the pianist in deep interplay with his highly regarded rhythm section partners, bassist
Eric Revis and drummer
Damion Reid. Born in the U.K.,
Escreet spent many years living in Brooklyn before relocating to Los Angeles at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was during one of his initial post-pandemic shows in 2021 that he first worked with
Revis (a longtime member of
Branford Marsalis' band) and
Reid (who has played with
Robert Glasper and
Steve Lehman). All three musicians found common ground, communing over their many years in New York and shared interest in pushing the jazz envelope. It's that push-to-the-edge energy they bring to all of
Seismic Shift, with songs that straddle the line between harmonically nuanced post-bop and frenetic, atonal avant-gardism. Aesthetically,
Escreet is an intriguing player with a style that bridges the warm sophistication of
Herbie Hancock and
McCoy Tyner with the bold free jazz and fist-crashing chords of
Cecil Taylor and
Thelonious Monk. In the past, he has led groups featuring horn players, including
Ambrose Akinmusire (2009's
Consequences) and
Evan Parker (2013's
Sound, Space and Structures). While it's always welcome to hear how engaged he is with another front-line improviser, he's just as compelling on his own, and more importantly with his trio partners here. Both
Revis and
Reid are titanically gifted players who regularly grab your attention with their boldly delivered accents and swinging flourishes. There's a maverick quality to
Seismic Shift that's evident right from the start, as in the opening "Study No. 1," where
Escreet pushes you with force, tearing your ears open with dense chords and great blasts of notey runs. More measured is "Equipoise," a dramatic modal piece in the
John Coltrane tradition. Here,
Escreet pours shards of linear broken-glass notes down a deep stairway of fourths against which
Revis and
Reid offer woody bellows and tumbling stick rhythms. The trio's tactile give-and-take is redolent throughout, especially on the evocatively named "Digital Tulips," which has the energy of a 1940s bebop track being remixed in real time by a DJ. The title song is yet more evocative, conjuring haunted house imagery as
Escreet's prepared piano technique of plucked strings and dampened keys gives way to
Revis' mournful bowed bass and
Reid's ghostly cymbal work.
Seismic Shift is a gorgeously arresting album, and there's never a moment where you can easily predict where
Escreet's trio is going to go next. ~ Matt Collar
![Portrait in Jazz [LP]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0025218108812_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Portrait in Jazz [LP]")
![Ellington & Coltrane [Bonus Track]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/8436542012461_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Ellington & Coltrane [Bonus Track]")
![Pharoah [Expanded Edition]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0680899800815_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Pharoah [Expanded Edition]")
