Tom Teasley

Painting Time (2007)

Widely acknowledged by critics and concert programmers alike as a musical trailblazer, Tom Teasley's adeptness at world rhythms and command of several different ethnic instruments has fueled his ongoing search for an amalgam of pan-global beats wedded to jazz improvisation. On Painting Time, his fifth outing as a leader, the versatile Washington D.C.-based drummer-percussionist-educator explores a wide range of styles in the company of longtime colleagues Chris Battistone on trumpet, John Jensen on trombone and Bruce Swaim on saxophones. Special guest drummer-percussionist Nasar Abadey also appears on three tracks, enhancing the proceedings on the provocative modal excursion "Amber Water," the funky James Brown-in-Istanbul groover "Good Foot Dervish" and the South Indian flavored "Snake Charmer."

"My concept is that I take an instrument from one part of the world and apply playing techniques from another part of the world," says the teacher of percussion and artist-in-residence at the Levine School of Music. "It's kind of a cross-pollination of instruments and techniques. My attempt is to tap into the power of the world's rhythms, both secular and sacred, and try to integrate them in an intuitive way, filtering it all through my own musical and life experiences as an American."

Captivating rhythms and sounds from Africa, Brazil, India, Bali and the Middle East abound on Painting Time. They meld seamlessly with sophisticated jazz harmonies and extended improvisations by the principal soloists on this potent collection of infectious grooves and unabashed blowing. It's a United Nations of sound, with Teasley at the helm, steering this sonic ark through some uncharted waters from his drum set while overdubbing layers of percussion instruments, from caj¢n, riq and surdo to dumbek, tabla, gamelan and caxixi.

"The reality is this stuff has been going on forever," says Teasley. "If you were to track what was happening during the Silk Road era hundreds of years ago, musicians were traveling and coming across other musicians that had similar instruments like frame drums or tambourines but were incorporating different techniques on them. So cultural exchange has been an important part of musical development forever. Currently what is happening is that everything is moving at warp speed since the Internet. You can type in "Arabic rhythm" into your search engine and get a plethora of information about that. People are beginning to create this kind of hybrid music because the information is so accessible to people everywhere. So I guess we're all creating our own world music."

Painting Time opens on a highly charged note with "The Awakening," an African flavored number in 6/8 which is adorned by Teasley's trance-like marimba pattern and punctuated by tight unison lines between the three horns. Battistone comes out of the gate with a bristling high register trumpet solo while Jensen adds to the majesty of the piece with a stirring solo on double bell euphonium. Swaim follows with a searing bop-informed flute solo while Teasley takes the piece out by traversing the kit with crisp polyrhythmic aplomb.

Bassist James King supplies an insinuating low-end pulse on "Amber Water," a kind of "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down" bolero colored by sly, shifting horn voicings and underscored by the two-drum tandem of Teasley and Abadey. Teasley's use of udu drum and HandSonic (a touch sensitive hand drum synthesizer) adds substantial depth to the groove factor here.

The haunting "Sheba's Dream," again underscored by Teasley's mesmerizing marimba ostinato, is a feature for trombonist Jensen, who reveals a warm, beautiful tone and penchant for both lyricism and multiphonics in his dramatic solo. Teasley explains the title of this evocative piece. "This is for my pet bulldog named Sheba and if you've ever witnessed a bulldog sleep, they snore a lot! About halfway through the tune John Jensen is playing some low harmonics on the trombone that reminds me of Sheba in a deep sleep."

Jensen's facile trombone chops are again showcased on the infectious "Good Foot Dervish," which sounds like longtime James Brown trombonist Fred Wesley jamming in Turkey with the whirling dervishes supplying the choreography. Bassist King once again anchors this funky number with resounding upright bass lines while Swaim adds smoking, Pee Wee Ellis-inspired tenor sax work, eventually engaging in some heated call-and-response with Jensen. Teasley lends a distinctly Middle Eastern feel with doumbek, gonkogi bells and riq while Abadey colors the insistent groove with congas.

Teasley's exotic gamelan (a kind of Indonesian xylophone) and dumbek help shape the dreamy proceedings on "White Orchid," a meditative number that also features some adventurous flute work by Swaim. Brazil meets India on the ominous groover "Snake Charmer," which has Abadey on berimbau engaging in a lively dialogue with Teasley?s caxixi against the backdrop of electric tabla. Battistone turns in an arresting flugelhorn solo here while Swaim wails with bop-fueled intensity on his slinky soprano sax solo. Jensen adds another expressive and remarkably facile trombone solo on this dark-hued multi-culti anthem, which is again anchored by King's hypnotic, deep-toned bass groove.

"Know Diddley" is a reference to rock 'n' roll pioneer Bo Diddley, whose '50s hits were all fueled by the rhythm of the Cuban clave. Teasley provides that signature beat on synth bass and rhythm sticks while simultaneously churning underneath with a shuffling drum pattern and augmenting the groove with caj¢n and surdo, the deep-toned Brazilian field drum heard in batacuda ensembles. Jensen's trombone and Swaim's tenor sax swirl around the steady clave pattern, engaging in a kind of freewheeling call-and-response that animates the track with the spirit of jazz.

The collection closes on a calming note with the gentle, hymn-like "Hope Flows...Like Water." Beginning in silence, it unfolds gradually with Teasley applying a Zen-like touch on cymbals and a subtle use of mallets on the tom toms. Jensen states the simple melody on trombone before Battistone enters on trumpet, blowing lightly and politely around the motif. Swaim then joins in on soprano sax, adding to the conversational nature of this lilting, uplifting lullaby. "That was a completely improvised piece at the end of a long session," explains Teasley. "It's an interesting contrast to the rest of the recording in that there were no overdubs, no editing. It was just the four of us playing live in the studio together.

"I was trying to channel Elvin Jones's feel on the tom toms and Tony Williams' ride cymbal sound on that tune," he adds. "The tom toms and the bass drum sort of create a bass line. When John comes in with that theme on trombone, it reminds me a little bit of an Aaron Copland kind of vibe. Towards the end of the piece, Chris and Bruce really give the illusion of rain falling on a lake. I responded to that by trying to create the impression of rain falling on a tin roof with the ride cymbal."

All the brilliant tones, textures and colors of Teasley's percussive rainbow ring out with clarity and vibrancy on Painting Time. And his sidemen, first-rate improvisers all, provide further depth to this bold experiment in cross-pollination, helping to create a wonderful tapestry of sound.

- Bill Milkowski