Ankle to Nose (AMF Music)

It's pretty absurd I didn't come across this 1994 release until recently, because it's nearly as great as the best works of Doctor Nerve and possibly one of the three or four best albums in Nick Didkovsky's oeuvre. A trio with avant-garde superhero Kevin Norton and saxophonist Gitta Schäfer, this lean, stripped-down format brings Didkovsky's electric guitar genius into the foreground where it can be savored with less distractions. Didkovsky's singular talent and concept for the instrument is something like a mix of Jimi Hendrix, Milton Babbitt, Fred Frith, metal, and fusion. Compared to his disappointing (but still wonderful) power trio guitar feast from 2003 under the Bone moniker with Hugh Hopper and John Roulat, this sole release by the Ankle to Nose trio captures Didkovsky as a player in a real-time ensemble more than a multi-track-happy studio craftsperson and composer, with corresponding rewards in space, clarity, and rhythmic breathing. Particularly on "Laubgesänge", the open bass-less trio sound occasionally hits the magical post-jazz territory of Dave Douglas' Tiny Bell Trio, A.D.D. [Arguelles/Dick/Doran] Trio, A.B.D [Anderson/Bennink/Doran] Trio, Lucas Niggli's Zoom, etc.

Curiously, the compositional work is assumed by Schäfer more than the other two, yet Didkovsky's characteristic aesthetic of jagged and interlocking parts permeates the entire disc. The opening cut, Schäfer's "Belated Woman", has the herkyjerky feeling of vintage Doctor Nerve, Kombinat M, Chainsaw Jazz, Blast, and Il Berlione. Didkovsky's sole extended composition on the disc, "Eyes Bigger Than Her Forehead", is unsurprisingly even closer the Nerve template, with a bit of the metal riffing he brought to the forefront in the Doctor Nerve album recorded around the same time as this, Skin. As much as I have heartily enjoyed Skin from the day it was released, in my view it was the beginning of a mild downward trend for the band in which their pioneering rhythmic concepts lost their frenzied vigor and visceral punch, perhaps something of a post-punk edge in the early Nerve albums that makes me want to flail my limbs with spastic abandon. Ankle to Nose definitely doesn't have this edge either, but I like this disc more than Skin because it has more detail and nuance in the timbres and rhythms, especially on the eight great free improv miniatures (12 to 80 seconds) sprinkled throughout.

Kevin Norton's playing is what really pushes this one to the level of a high-rotation album for me. Even in his jazz and post-jazz projects he's fond of angular and precise rhythms, so he's absolutely perfect for this batch of compositions, where his advanced control of timbral and dynamic details can elevate the simple jagged groove passages. The disc has one nugget of blissful aggression, the 99-second "The Ballad of Dean Melberg", with ripping avant-shred from Didkovsky and a rare example of Norton playing something like blastbeats! Norton contributes a single composition to the program, the 7-minute "Uncommon Sense", in which he foregoes his drumkit to focus on tuned percussion. The piece splits its rhythmic backbone between Norton and Didkovsky and slowly evolves through loop structures, reaching only a few brief, sublime moments of intensity. Highlighted by Didkovsky's intricate riff patterns and understated distorted tone, this fabulous piece would sound perfect on a Bang on a Can album.

Schäfer writes some clever and exciting pieces and kills on alto sax in the vein of Urs Leimgruber. Who is this person? And why hasn't this perfectly matched and deeply inspired trio made another album in the 11.5 years since this self-titled debut was recorded?

~Michael Anton Parker