Chan Smith Walter

There's an extraordinary degree of honesty in Improvised Music and Tentacles. This set does indeed contain a healthy dose of free improvised music, as well as tentacles. Tentacles wrapped around the strings inside the piano, tentacles ripping and shredding the strings off a double bass and a churning ocean of tentacles slashing at the membranes and cymbals of the drum kit. Even a casual familiarity with the pianism of Charity Chan, the bass work of Damon Smith and the take-no-prisoners approach to drumming of Weasel Walter would lead one to expect exactly what this disc delivers. And this is a good thing. The extended piano machinations of Charity Chan are a near-perfect fit for the wide timbral palette of Damon Smith's bass work. While one can expect a certain degree of explosive propulsion from Walter, the reality is that his persona as a destructive force behind the kit doesn't nearly describe the deep level of commitment he brings to the music at hand. The end result is an excellent balance of visceral energy and heady improvisation.