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TRANSITION SONIC
SUMMIT
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Vibist Matthias Lupri has a knack for gathering great soloists, but Transition Sonic wouldn’t be half so interesting if it weren’t for his writing. Lupri likes to organize his music in long narrative arcs, in this case a well-paced suite. So it moves from spacy prelude to uptempo chase to free passages, straight swing, odd meters, complex chord changes, and the free modal scales of the Miles Davis/Wayne Shorter quintet. All of which gives those soloists something better than average to chew on. And Lupri sets up his arrangements with plenty of opportunity for collective improv. So it hardly matters whether tenor-sax Mark Turner’s shadowing of guitarist Nate Radley was written into "Sonic" or improvised on the spot — it’s a thrilling ride either way. The free tempos of "Chime Trance" coalesce around the stately ostinato laid down by bassist Thomas Kneeland. And trumpeter Cuong Vu provides yet another compelling voice in the front line. As for Lupri himself, he provides piano-like comping and a full range of timbres, from a rich, vibrato-laden bell tone in his middle and upper registers to an occasional dry, marimba-like percussiveness. And his solos unfold with the mix of logic and surprise that characterizes the entire album. MATTHIAS LUPRI | Regattabar, Charles Hotel, 1 Bennett St, Cambridge | Nov 16 | 617.395.7757
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