Tim Stine Trio – Self-titled (Astral Spirits, 2016) ****

By Chris Haines

Featuring Frank Rosaly (drums), Anton Hatwich (bass) and Tim Stine (acoustic guitar) this trio play a music that includes angular melodies, varying time signatures and phrases, dissonant chords, and complex textures which are delivered in a musically creative and integrated way within the natural flow and ebb of the music that at times has a real groove to it.

The individual playing is excellent and the trio as a unit has good cohesion, with Frank Rosaly’s percussive work often a highlight with it’s skittering rhythms, bombshell punctuations, delicate nuances and overall rhythmic drive which teams up well with the loping bass lines. Stine’s guitar is right up front on the recording delivering a good balance between the musical themes and his ‘out-there’ licks which are executed with great sincerity and expression. The chromatic melodies that he comes up with are both inventive and exciting to listen to. As with all good music this album seems to get better the more you listen to it, but more so, this one’s a little gem!