BILL MORING

"SPACES IN TIME"

by: Nick Mondello

"Spaces in Time," offered up by bassist Bill Moring and "Way Out East" completely fulfills. There are no spaces, shortfalls or vacuums in this very robust effort. It fills all the musical spaces compositionally and creatively with an energy, intelligence and humor that is very admirable - and inspiring. Nine interesting, energetic, sophisticated and compositionally refined nuggets are on display.

     With one tune's exception - and, with one band member abstaining - every cut is an original composition of a band member. And, each tune shines. There's everything  served up from blues to more adventurous, complex, freer jazz. "Way Out East" individually and collectively involves you in their creative existence.

     Trumpeter Jack Walrath and saxophonist Tim Armacost are stunning together and wherever they venture out without the net. Walrath, long a member of Mingus's groups simply is an engaging, inspired, exciting player. In addition to his wonderful playing, his stimulating, wry compositional chops are on display as he offers up three original cuts. Moring, not to take a composer's back seat, also delivers three originals and Armacost and Johns throw their comp hats in as well, each with a single tune. The fact that there is such an involved compositional investment here lends additional weight to each offering.

     No one, either individually or collectively, ever lets up or down.

     "Sweat," a Walrath original, kicks off the set with some neat Johns street-beat drumming and an incredibly catchy head. It is a perfect lead tune for this CD. It drives. Keyboardist Steve Allee takes flight first before Walrath screams from "uptown." The intensity is white-hot across this cut and the entire disc, helped by Johns' eager push. This is very high-energy material that engages. Hang on to your seat.

     Walrath is incredibly astute and slick at naming his originally-composed tunes. "Balls of Everything" has just that. Straight ahead, the hardest of bop, it seethes with a passion and fierceness of swing that is oh-so reminiscent of Our Father Who Art Blakey's Messengers. Walrath simply owns this tune, "Shawing" us what he can indeed do. Funky, bluesy ideas germinate from heart to horn to ear. Armacost blows heatedly over the rhythm section's never-say-lie pace. Dig Moring's wonderfully aggressive bass drive. Allee's solo sparkles.

     "Deep Blue," drummer Steve Johns' compositional offering, slinks down, down to the soul's dark, murky and restless basement. Slow and sultry and later-that-late-at-night is the feeling here. The long, lonely walk home perhaps? Moring maneuvers low, Walrath wails, before Armacost's solo comes to deliver the early morning goods with Allee right behind. Excellent, brooding, funky stuff.

     Moring's beautiful bossa original, "Mary Lynn," is named for his wife. The unison melody is sent up flavored "a la Mangione" and then split nicely before Armacost grabs the spotlight, rolling across changes deftly. Drummer Johns keeps the pace energized. Walrath's Harmon mute solo spot is clean and the lyrically played solo is created with taste.

     "Hop Blues," is a slick Walrath cut with a Middle Eastern flavored head dervishly swirling over a 1-3-5 retro-rock go-go bass line. Armacost expands creatively, as do Walrath, Allee and Moring. The ensemble keeps it going with-out getting the least bit boring.

     "Snakes!" displays Walrath's humorous and stylistic compositional skill. Sibilant dissonance swirls and coils. Allee's raindrops pop and Moring razors. Unleashed, "Snakes!" slides, building in energy, before rearing to strike out again. This is seductive stuff. Freer than other selections on the session, it is not as complex as to not keep you firmly "constricted" in its emotional magnet. "Snakes!" bit me. I loved it.

     Neo-Bird-bop in style and pace, Ornette Coleman's "The Disguise." The head sends off Walrath with a very well constructed solo with shades of Miles and Marsalis poking through here over Moring's laying changes and Jahns' brushing. Armacost turns the bird over with a very lively and involved solo. Dig Moring's stabbing and prodding. Ensemble shouts interlude and intro Allee's baba-bopping before all's completed.

     Triple-metered, "A Space in Time" launches over Moring's droning double-stops and Allee's keyboard and showcases Walrath's very nice, full sound. Moring's solo here is a standout, full-sounding and creative. This selection is definitely a "Favorite Thing" on the session.

     "iHop," a Moring composition, rocks and drives forward. The funky melody and changes provide a nice framework for each the solos. The "leave you hanging" abrupt ending is a nice satiric touch.

     There are all sorts of hidden treasures in "Spaces in Time," and, you certainly won't need a Hubble to explore and enjoy them. Each cut acts independently and interacts enjoyably with the next and all the others. Kudos to leader Moring and all "Way Out East." This is a galaxy of pure, enduring musical delight.