Johannes Wallmann: Precarious Towers
Shifting Paradigm Records

There's a great deal to like and much to recommend about Precarious Towers, pianist Johannes Wallmann's tenth album as a leader and his follow-up to 2021's memorable Elegy for an Undiscovered Species. There's, first of all, the terrific players he recruited for the project, secondly, the strong material he's given them to perform, and, thirdly, the inspired performances they've delivered. Particularly impressive is the material Wallmann wrote for the release, much of it blues-driven and all of it his but for a sterling reading of Matt Dennis and Earl Brent's enduring classic “Angel Eyes.”

At five members, the group's a lean unit but in no way suffers for being so. In the front-line, the excellent alto saxophonist Sharel Cassity partners splendidly with vibraphonist Mitch Shiner, the timbral contrast between the instruments one of the recording's most appealing aspects, and the rhythm section—the Germany-born and Vancouver Island-raised leader augmented by bassist John Christensen and drummer Devin Drobka—drives the performances with thrust and imagination. The tracks were laid down over two days in February 2021 at Audio for the Arts in Madison, Wisconsin, and it's certainly tempting to attribute some of the fire in the performances to pent-up energy the five were able to release when recording.

Titled after his preschool-aged daughter's oft-collapsing Lego structures, the title track inaugurates the set with a funky groove and a bluesy vibe. Appropriate to the music, the musicians enliven the piece with a loose swing that bodes well for what's to come. With solos passed like a relay baton, individual players get a chance to strut their stuff early and stamp their personalities on the leader's writing. Up next, “McCoy” was written in honour of Wallmann's biggest influence, and consistent with the Coltrane legacy of which Tyner was such a key part the piece exudes a bluesy modal character. While Wallmann doesn't ape Tyner's playing style, it's nevertheless easy to detect that influence in the block chords that help ground the track and in the sweeping solo exploration that lifts the performance. Cassity follows his lead with a rousing turn of her own, and Christensen steps out nicely too. Shiner, well, shines throughout the album and does his part to elevate a performance, whether supporting or soloing. Drobka's a powerhouse of invention (hear how deftly he switches between patterns during the ensemble's haunting riff on “Angel Eyes”), but he's also circumspect about ensuring he doesn't overpower the others.

Like so many, Wallmann's life was affected profoundly by the pandemic, and consistent with that the multi-part work “Pandemica” addresses it from three vantage points: whereas “Quiet Out There” alludes to the stillness engendered by isolation and lockdown, the suggestively titled “Defeat and Imprison the Conman Strongman” hints at the pianist's political leanings. While the latter's distinguished by dynamic solos from Wallmann, Cassity, and Shiner, it's the central part that could be regarded as representative of the album when “Unreliable Narrator” swings so deliciously. Before the album exits with the breezy “Saturday Night Meat Raffle” (apparently something of a Frank Zappa homage), “Try To Remember” features the group in tender ballad mode, and the move flatters Wallmann as a composer and the group for its sensitive treatment. Christensen's solo might have you thinking a little bit about Charlie Haden (never a bad thing), and the material gives Cassity a wonderful opportunity to show her lyrical side.

June 2022