Out Where the Trains Don't Run

Album Review

Unlike Tanya Kalmanovitch's debut album, Hut Five, recorded by the same quartet (which she calls Hut Five), this one is entirely improvised, and it documents another engaging station stop in the career of a talented improviser and leader whose technical virtuosity and creative vision are on full display. While the three strings and drums are often calming, they trumpet the proverbial calm before the storm, especially when they rev up their engines, recalling the post-fusion revelations of Ornette Coleman, who helped to open the door to the sort of post-genre, barrier-transcending thrusts in which Kalmanovitch luxuriates. Not that the results here are derivative: While the violinist/ leader performs with the clarity of experimental string downtowner Mark Feldman, her group strikes a singular sound both profound and unique, not unlike that, for instance, of some of the output from the String Trio of New York, but drenched in the experiences of Kalmanovitch's youthful members. There are bits of rock, country, and more in evidence (and is that a touch of Django on "Soft T"?), which keep it interesting. At heart, Kalmanovitch is a melodicist, so that the group, even at its most abstract, is largely accessible. Besides the leader, guitarist Rick Peckham is the strongest soloist, and he and Kalmanovitch improvise together impressively. Most of the tracks, which Kalmanovitch describes as vignettes, are in the three-to-four minute range, which is enough time to develop each piece, particularly since there are no heads. Although this recording provides many interesting moments, its impromptu nature makes it unlikely to represent the violinist's full potential as either a writer or soloist.