Trio of Uncertainty - Unlocked

Emanem 4141

Piano, cello and violin constitute the building blocks of countless chamber music ensembles through the ages. Within that tall shadow of history, the chosen name of the trio of Satoko Fukuda, Hannah Marshall and Veryan Weston stands in wry contrast. Weston’s been limning the borderlands between classical and free improv piano for decades with an approach that draws liberally on the customs of both zones. Fukuda and Marshall are far younger in years but more than able to meet him on even ground as conservatory-trained musicians versed in various improv friendly settings. Visited in fragments, much of their interplay here appears to carry the structure and symmetry of carefully considered composition. Fukuda’s violin, in particular, exemplifies a command of pitch and placement that suggest innate talent coupled to countless hours of practice. Marshall’s cello is just a horsehair’s breadth behind, her bow work matching that of her pizzicato for humming bird speed. Weston explicitly avoids tampering with his instrument’s innards, working his keys and pedals in a surprisingly straightforward fashion while still accessing liberal caches of dissonance when called for.

The disc’s ten tracks all come from the same Pinewood Studio session with dry detailed acoustics that enhance the natural resonance of the scraped, plucked and pounded strings without distorting them. Sequenced as they are, the pieces almost sound like sheaf book of variations on a single hive-like theme, feeding one into the next while retaining individual identity. Passages of choppy incremental activity alternate with sections devoted to more conventional compass points of melody, harmony and rhythm. The communication is close and constant, sometimes leading to claustrophobic overlaps, but more often yielding a marvelous telegraphing of ideas with spatial considerations preserved intact. It makes picking out and speaking to minute specifics both challenging and ultimately counterproductive. What’s most pleasingly confounding though is how often the three musicians precipitate each other’s intentions under split second conditions. Even within the top echelon ranks of improv where this sort of thing is old hat, it’s still a thrilling experience to encounter. With this stimulating body of music, Weston, Marshall and Fukuda bring ample truth to the adage that a given instrumentation is only as outmoded as the players who opt to ply it.

~ Derek Taylor