Though no stranger to exploratory free improvisation, saxophonist Dave Liebman is primarily known for his adept post-bop work. However, on 2022's New Now, he dives headlong into a free trio setting, joined by longtime associate percussionist Adam Rudolph and rising percussionist/piano maverick Tyshawn Sorey. Recorded live at New York City's the Jazz Gallery in September 2021 by engineers Kengchakaj Kengkarnka and Zacchae'us Paul, much of the album has the sound of an otherworldly field recording, as if captured on an alien planet. Cuts like "Part 1" and Part 2" find Liebman sliding through squawks, bent notes, and bug-like, multi-note runs as Rudolph and Sorey frame him in cascading cymbal shimmers, fractured drum patterns, and a mix of broken-glass-sounding percussion instruments. One of the more beguiling aspects of the trio's work is Rudolph's live electronic sound processing, which sounds like the group is being sucked into a time vortex -- their sound stretched, delayed, and skewed into an ever more exotic space language. Particularly unexpected is Sorey's meditative and angular piano playing, as on "Part 5" and "Part 7," which are full of off-kilter chords and plucked piano strings that speak to his own far-reaching classical work. While certainly theatrical, and often bringing to mind the magical free jazz of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, there's also a spiritual quality that shines through. This is especially redolent on "Part 4," where Liebman builds to a furious cascade of post-bop lines against Rudolph and Sorey's roiling, tribal rhythms, all of it evoking the transcendent late-'60s work of John Coltrane. ~ Matt Collar, Rovi

1		New Now, Pt. 1
2		New Now, Pt. 2
3		New Now, Pt. 3
4		New Now, Pt. 4
5		New Now, Pt. 5
6		New Now, Pt. 6
7		New Now, Pt. 7

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