John Escreet: the epicenter of your dreams
Blue Room Music

Some fundamental principles underpin the music John Escreet makes, whether it be with the trio on his 2022 album Seismic Shift or the quartet on his latest, the epicenter of your dreams. The Los Angeles-based pianist doesn't disavow structure, but he also doesn't want things to be too tidy and tension-free. “If everyone's comfortable all the time,” he says, “it makes for boring music.” And as a bandleader, he aims to strike a balance between dictating how he wants his music to sound and allowing the people he's playing with to be themselves. There'd be no point, after all, in recruiting exceptional musicians for a project without maximizing their potential.

As they did on Seismic Shift, bassist Eric Revis and drummer Damion Reid join Escreet on the new release but now with tenor saxophonist Mark Turner in the mix. In carrying on with the same bassist and drummer, it's not so much that the pianist craves continuity but more that he knows when he's got a good thing going—who wouldn't want such dynamic drivers as musical partners. Revis and Reid are renowned and hard-hitting players, the bassist known for his tenure with the Branford Marsalis Quartet and the drummer for his work with Robert Glasper, Steve Lehman, and others.

Such musicians testify to the vitality of an LA scene that the UK-born Escreet joined after moving to the West coast from Brooklyn before the pandemic's 2020 arrival. His bandmates are Los Angeles natives who made names for themselves in New York before migrating westward to bolster the fertility of the LA scene. Advanced and versatile players all, the four are as comfortable waxing poetically as burning fiercely and equally amenable to following charts as embracing free play. The adventurous set-list, which augments Escreet originals with pieces by two of his piano heroes, Andrew Hill and Stanley Cowell, allows the quartet ample room to maneuver.

Escreet opens the album with a prototypically labyrinthine composition, “call it what it is” a serpentine vehicle for abrupt change-ups in rhythm and melody. With the others relentlessly shape-shifting, Turner acts as the stabilizing centre before the leader takes over with a freewheeling statement that draws from jazz tradition while simultaneously pushing beyond it. Tamer by comparison, the pensive title track wends its way through a thicket of off-kilter ballad gestures, with Escreet and Turner both delivering explorative solos and the hushed outro beautifully handled. “trouble and activity,”“lifeline,” and “other side” present the four re-engaging with Escreet's challengingly complex structures but navigating paths through them with aplomb. Reminiscent of “call it what it is,” the cyclonic activity at the centre of “trouble and activity” is grounded by Turner's presence.

That covers of Cowell compositions appear on both Seismic Shift and the new album reflect the esteem with which he's held by Escreet. Following on from the earlier cover of “Equipoise” is Cowell's “departure no.1,” which shows Escreet's unit is as adept at high-flying post-bop as something more experimental (e.g., the knotty free improv “meltdown”). Hear, for example, how confidently the leader and Turner soar across the furious base generated by Revis and Reid. Escreet can be a one-man vortex (see his tumultuous solo in “trouble and activity”) but can also play with lyrical elegance, as shown by the treatment he and his bandmates give Hill's “Erato.” Nominally a mid-'60s ballad, the tune morphs into a relaxed swing-styled performance that seems especially well-suited to Turner.

July 2024