Canada Day III (Unmastered Edition)

Harris Eisenstadt's Canada Day quintet is evidence that an ensemble can be both disciplined and chaotic. With Canada Day III, the drummer/composer presents eight original pieces that, but for his talented sidemen, probably could not exist elsewhere. (...)
The composed music is executed here with a non sequitur freedom that defies logic, but it continues to work just fine.

Even with when restricted to a quintet, Eisenstadt deploys an orchestral conception. Indeed, several of the cuts include material originally intended for a through-composed orchestral work premiered at Columbia University in June 2011. An African influence can be detected in the hocketing lines which distribute the melody line rhythmically around the ensemble. Each piece has multiple sections and tempos, but they don't manifest as a series of nervy jump cuts. Instead an inner logic and flow holds sway which makes them seem deceptively straightforward.

Not based in melody yet melodious, not based in strict forms but smartly structured, the compositions on drummer/leader Harris Eisenstadt's Canada Day III take surprising arcs. Eisenstadt's playing - orchestrated, colorful, airy yet propelling - flows from a composer's mind. The richly timbred quintet Canada Day includes vibes, trumpet, tenor sax, and bass, and each instrumentalist solos judiciously, serving the ensemble momentum. Vibraphonist Chris Dingman is particularly crafty shading harmonic tension and release. An engaging left-of-center pleasure from an artist to watch.

Needless to say all the artists here improvise with their own originality and feeling. Harris on drums is somebody to listen to productively just in himself. Dingman's vibes give the ensemble its special sound quality and he can weave lines, but then Garth is strong as well. The Wooley-Bauder team is excellent of course, here as elsewhere. Composer Eisenstadt comes through with more of his sophisticated yet fired-up subtlety. Don't miss this one! Really

Far more than other instrumentalists, drummer/leaders tend to feel the need to qualify their compositional efforts as being “not a drummer’s record,” as if sitting behind the kit limits one’s imagination to explosive percussive outbursts. With two new releases for his Canada Day ensemble, one the third release by the core quintet and the other with an augmented octet, Harris Eisenstadt obviously doesn’t feel the need for such declarations. Not that either album finds Eisenstadt hogging the spotlight for extended solo turns; both, however, showcase the inventive ways in which he can translate his identity as a drummer into a striking compositional voice. That inspiration comes in part through the intricate use of rhythm. The presence of vibraphonist Chris Dingman in place of a pianist or guitarist serves to offer the possibility of a rhythmic or melodic voice, and Eisenstadt takes full advantage. Contrast the way that each of Dingman’s volleys seems to ripple through the leader’s playing on “A Whole New Amount of Interactivity” with the way that the chiming vibes combine with Garth Stevenson’s husky bass to conjure the sly melody of “The Magician of Lublin.” But it’s also expressed via the combination of textures, especially in the interaction of Nate Wooley and Matt Bauder, both of whom have expansive inside/outside approaches. So Wooley’s trumpet can sputter and squeal on the jittery “Nosey Parker” and dig into a deep muted swing on “Magician.” Bauder is tenderly lyrical on “Song for Sara” (penned for Eisenstadt’s wife, bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck), breathy and crepuscular on “King of the Kutiriba.” Even when he cedes control, the entire band understands the way in which their voices meld, as in the clutter of isolated sounds that concludes “Interactivity.” With each new release, Canada Day is developing into a more intriguing ensemble as well as an ideal, malleable outlet for Eisenstadt’s distinctive concepts.