Continuous Beat - CD

ENGLISH

Rez Abbasi belongs to an emerging group of second-generation Indian musicians, together with Vijay Iyer and Rudresh Mahanthappa. Won second place in the 2011 Down Beat Critics Poll, category Rising Star Guitarist. This prepossessing guitarist has made a string of worthy albums in recent years, and on Continuous Beat he connects with an especially responsive rhythm team of 15 years: bassist John Hébert and drummer Satoshi Takeishi. Their rapport, and the choice of repertoire, nods to the memory of Paul Motian, a master drummer and composer/bandleader with whom Abbasi had plans to collaborate before Motian s death in 2011.<br /> <br /> Rez Abbasi has been forging new musical territory for over a decade. Continuous Beat (Enja) is his most daring recording as it captures him playing in an interactive setting throughout. In addition, Abbasi recontextualizes his Indian/Pakistani musical influences, as well as covers from Keith Jarrett and Thelonious Monk, by employing various electronics. With this multi-textural approach, there is a subtle coexistence between a warm jazz guitar trio and one that pushes perceptual bounds.<br /> <br /> The jazz guitarist Rez Abbasi has had a recent run of strong and thoughtful albums, inspired by one or another form of cultural crosstalk. (Born in Pakistan and raised in Southern California, he has built his career in New York.) Continuous Beat is his sparsest effort yet, an absorbing trio excursion with the drummer Satoshi Takeishi and the bassist John Hébert, sensitive accompanists capable of dancing in and out of step. Mr. Abbasi s compositions for the group are slippery but engaging, and he s judicious with his impressively fluent technique: on Gary Peacock s Major Major, he and his partners evoke Pat Metheny s influential mid-70s trio with enough self-possession to avoid direct comparison. Later they bring sinuous poise to The Cure, by Keith Jarrett, and Off Minor, by Thelonious Monk. And Mr. Abbasi closes with a solo acoustic version of The Star-Spangled Banner, voicing the chords as if to suggest unanswered questions. By NATE CHINEN --New York Times October 26, 2012<br />