Chris Corsano, Bill Nace, Steve Baczkowski – Mystic Beings (Open Mouth, 2018) *****

By Fotis Nikolakopoulos 

It’s a shame that just for a few days this album didn’t make it on my top ten list. In fact, this trio of Chris Corsano on drums, Bill Nace on electric guitar and Steve Baczkowski on saxophones was, along with Kuzu’s debut, the most powerful album of the drums-guitar-sax statement in 2018. Unfortunately the vinyl is already sold out.

Writing a review about a recording that moved you cannot be another day at the office. And Mystic Beings really shook me. This line up can always live up to its noisy promises, but it can also drown itself into purposeless sheer volume. This, seems to me, is much more common lately when the boundaries between noise, free jazz and metal are non-existent any more. The results are sometimes beautiful but many times just noisy boring.

Not this time, and not from Open Mouth’s catalogue. Bill Naces’ eclectic label doesn’t put out a lot of recordings, but when something new comes out you better listen. In addition, what we have here is an egalitarian collaboration of three artists at the peak of their creativity. A free jazz blow out that delivers energy and pathos before volume. Being a fan of Chris Corsano’s multiple ways of presenting himself, I must sing praise of Nace’s guitar and the way he presents a sound almost new. He delves deep into psychedelia but not from a rock perspective and not, even, from a jazz one. His guitar sound is unique, conveying feedback into melody, while he teams up with a sax player well known for his volume of sound. In the same egalitarian way, Steve Baczkowski makes room for the guitar to breath, follow and lead. The polyrhythmic barrage of Corsano, joins them but also goes it’s on way.

Tension builds up right from the start of Mystic Beings. Except for the last track, Excuse Me, where they try to loosen up their tight knit collaboration, all the other three tracks present an almost new way to listen to a free jazz record. I do not know how they do it, but each artist is presented in two ways: as a soloist and as a member of the trio. I could easily isolate its instrument, follow its path and make something out of it. Really. That good dear reader.

@koultouranafigo