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MUSIC<br />
The rhythm players may<br />
gang up on <strong>the</strong> beat—<strong>the</strong><br />
blues-march bit on “One<br />
Wish”—or approach <strong>the</strong><br />
pulse from three directions.<br />
In <strong>the</strong> latter mode,<br />
bassist Yasushi Nakamura<br />
is <strong>the</strong> essential player, calling<br />
everyone home before<br />
<strong>the</strong>y wander. He anchors<br />
<strong>the</strong> prowler “Obelisk,” one<br />
of three numbers where <strong>the</strong><br />
quartet is joined by brass elder<br />
Tom Harrell on flugelhorn<br />
or trumpet.<br />
Harrell has his own<br />
warm, quavering sound,<br />
twining around Irabagon’s<br />
tenor in spontaneous counterpoint<br />
or harmonizing on<br />
<strong>the</strong> melodies. The horns<br />
state <strong>the</strong> first part of “Obelisk”<br />
a dissonant half-step<br />
apart, 1961 Oliver Nelson<br />
style, but before long <strong>the</strong>y<br />
head for a country church,<br />
<strong>the</strong> playing rough but quietly<br />
reverent. Harrell’s mulled<br />
trumpet brings a fresh color<br />
to <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>rwise familiar Coltrane-spiritual<br />
turf of “Eternal<br />
Springs” with Irabagon on<br />
soprano.<br />
<strong>Behind</strong> <strong>the</strong> Sky isn’t all<br />
gold. A soprano and piano<br />
ballad fizzles. Strong and<br />
serious as <strong>the</strong> best of it is,<br />
I miss <strong>the</strong> leavening humor<br />
Irabagon flashes elsewhere.<br />
By now he could squeeze<br />
all his considerable strengths<br />
into a single setting. But <strong>the</strong>n<br />
he might miss reveling in<br />
all that variety.<br />
—Kevin Whitehead<br />
112 TONE AUDIO NO.75<br />
November 2015 113
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