Third Reel - Many More Days (2015) [HDTracks]

The second ECM album from Swiss/Italian trio Third Reel takes its open-plan music to another level. Emanuele Maniscalco, Nicolas Masson and Roberto Pianca all bring music into Third Reel, and each of them has his own distinct compositional signature, but from the outset their pieces are “always conceived as material for multiple, unpredictable developments,” as Maniscalco says. Compositional guidelines are like gateways into fields to explore. Masson’s elegant clarinet and lean-toned tenor are emphasized on this recording, Maniscalco floats between drums and piano, quietly lyrical on both instruments, and Pianca is most often a kind of real-time orchestrator, subtly enfolding the interaction with swelling sustained chords, or underlining it with thick drones