Dave Bryant

The Eternal Hang (AC-5035)

The great Ornette Coleman never employed a keyboard player in his band until he hired Dave Bryant for Prime Time, over ten years ago. "The Eternal Hang" is Bryant's debut as a leader, and shows a unique vision of jazz, somewhere between the sprawling polyglot orchestra of Coleman's Prime Time and a more compact modern free jazz unit. Byant utilizes crystalline synthesizer sounds and textures in a context where they are rarely heard. The contrast between the natural sounding tenor sax, acoustic bass, drums and percussion is striking, and creates a unique three-dimensionality to the sound. "The Eternal Hang" unites Bryant with two pairs of longtime collaborators tenor saxophonist George Garzone and drummer Bob Gullotti, of Boston's most venerable jazz group, the Fringe, and bassist John Turner and drummer Chris Bowman, who joined Bryant in the innovative 80's trio The Shock Exchange. Bryant enlisted the services of the legendary Roger "The Immortal" Nichols, who engineered the Steely Dan albums of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, and recorded at Coleman's Harmolodic Studios in Harlem. The recorded sound yields a level of detail and clarity seldom heard in avant-garde jazz, and gives the ear many ways into this dense soundscape. "The Eternal Hang" brings together two truly eccentric streams of American music, Coleman's Harmolodics and Becker and Fagan's studio perfectionism. This music is demanding, intense, unique and rewarding.