Mike Downes: The Way In
Mike Downes

The Way In reunites three-quarters of the personnel from Mike Downes's 2017 Juno winner Root Structure, with keyboardist Robi Botos and guitarist Ted Quinlan returning for their third go-round with the Toronto bassist. While it would have been great to see drummer Larnell Lewis return too, his absence is compensated for by percussionists Joaquin Nunez Hidalgo and Davide Di Renzo, who guest on five of the album's dozen pieces. Other benefits accrue: a different ensemble sound naturally emerges when more than half of the release features the trio, which in turn allows the bass to be heard with enhanced clarity. In Joni's words, “Something's lost, but something's gained.”

The Way In is Downes's take on the piano, bass, and guitar format earlier tackled by the trios of Oscar Peterson and Ahmad Jamal, the latter's Chamber Music of the New Jazz an acknowledged inspiration for the new release. The bassist plays with authority throughout, his attack never less than assured. His skills were beautifully documented on his solo bass recording from 2022, Mind Mirrors, and are reaffirmed here (see, for example, his improvised intro to “Disbelief”). That guitarist Pat Metheny once deemed him “one of my favourite bass players” won't surprise those acquainted with the bassist's work. The rapport between the trio members is also strongly evident, but that too is to be expected when the three have played together in different capacities for over two decades. As solid a player as Downes is, he's matched in that regard by Botos and Quinlan, both of who contribute high-level soloing to the project.

With Hidalgo and Downes generating a tight groove and the pianist and guitarist gradually inserting themselves into the proceedings, “Gratitude” initiates the set on an infectious wave of joy. A hint of Metheny surfaces in Quinlan's tone, and it's not the last time some echo of his American counterpart emerges on the release. The Way In is nothing if not eclectic, as the shift in character from the opener to the title track demonstrates. After an intro sprinkled with sparkling keyboard colours, the meditative setting brings its chamber dimension to the fore before abruptly shifting into swing mode.

Each track ventures into a slightly different area, it seems. Wielding the bow, the leader develops “Monumental” into a stately chamber expression replete with steel guitar-like textures and a rock-tinged Quinlan solo. The folk-inflected “Banff Nights” finds the guitarist extemporizing on acoustic in a warm, lyrical expression that exudes starry-eyed wonder. Whereas Downes shifts his gaze to the East coast for the regal lilt of “Call of the Sea,” certainly one of the album's prettiest reveries, traces of of funk and African highlife seep into the breezily swinging “Sirilessly,” the bassist's cheeky dig at the well-known digital assistant. Meanwhile, “Crimson” might be intended as Downes's homage to King Crimson, but the tune's locomotive drum pulse and sprinkles of piano and guitar more call Metheny's “Last Train Home” to mind than “Red” or “21st Century Schizoid Man."

March 2024