After six volumes of solo guitar interpretations of the compositions of
Thelonious Monk,
Miles Okazaki delivers his fifth album of original material, a proper sequel to his riveting 2017 concept offering
Trickster. According to the guitarist, "If
Trickster was the introduction to the characters, the songs on this album are their children, bearing their features but finding their own way." Therefore, the eight compositions on
The Sky Below cover themselves in archetype, mystery, and magic with most of the same group. The lone exception is that pianist and electric keyboardist
Matt Mitchell replaces
Craig Taborn here.
Complex narrative lines and counterpoint are the hallmark of
Okazaki's tunes on
The Sky Below. Opener "Rise and Shine" juxtaposes Spanish flamenco and Argentinean tango motifs from the guitarist and
Mitchell before the ensemble joins in, with
Sean Rickman's taut rim shots and
Anthony Tidd's knotty, bumping bass lines syncopating and stretching time signatures as
Mitchell switches to Fender Rhodes, weaving contrapuntal melody lines through
Okazaki's playing; they make an umbrella of labyrinthine lyricism, full of mischief and delight as a harmonic foundation. "Dog Star" is introduced by
Tidd's funky bass line and a roiling series of breaks from
Rickman. As
Okazaki weaves skeins of notes in repetitive yet labyrinthine patterns,
Mitchell improvises with a Prophet-6 synth, creating a doorway for the guitarist to stretch out. "Anthemoessa," is a respite, with its languid lyric line unfolding in expressionist chord voicings from
Mitchell on both piano and synth; the mood shifts and the harmony fragments in
Okazaki's precise and soulfully wrought arpeggios. "Seven Sisters" opens with a limpid acoustic guitar in clear tones amid restrained and fluid percussion.
Okazaki shifts over to electric guitar in union with electric keys that play toy piano-like sounds and hover about punctuating his lines. When combined with
Rickman's staggered, heavily accented percussion and the sheer physicality of
Tidd's bass line, they join to create a solid kaleidoscopic melodic architecture from seemingly etheric beginnings. "Monstropolous" is a dead cross between abstract bebop and the quizzical compositional complexities of
Frank Zappa, complete with squiggling synths, pointillistic guitars, and spiraling rhythm section. "The Castaway" and "The Lighthouse" are differing contrasts in futuristic jazz-funk extending itself from complex post-bop. The former engages with elements of progressive rock a la mid-'70s
King Crimson, while the latter's simultaneous contrapuntal soloing by
Okazaki and
Mitchell explodes notions of conventional lyricism as the two players engage in spirited contrapuntal improvisation. The blur of rolling snares and choppy strummed acoustic guitar vamps on "To Dream Again" introduces a ballad that's approached in layers. Finger-plucked atonal guitar strings atop minimal, angular, shard-like keyboard melodies and dancing snares hover amid single and double-note bass lines in a lopsided waltz tempo that eventually dissolves into drifting psychedelia. Though
The Sky Below is considered by its composer to be a sequel to
Trickster, the strident and easily memorable identities of these tunes stand on their own to fill out a separate work showcasing some of
Okazaki's most resonant compositions, all delivered by a truly inspired quartet. ~ Thom Jurek
![Waltz for Debby [1962]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0888072323261_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Waltz for Debby [1962]")
