Charles Rumback - Seven Bridges (2021) [Hi-Res]

It’s the drummer’s job to make everyone else in the band sound good, and Charles Rumback does it very well. Whether he’s playing folk rock with the Horse’s Ha, baroque pop with Steve Dawson, or postbop jazz with Dustin Laurenzi or Paul Bedal, his understated propulsion keeps the focus on whoever’s at the front of the bandstand. He’s similarly versatile in the combos that he leads or coleads, but these projects tend to focus on one facet of his talents. The electronic duo Colorlist foregrounds pastel electronics; Stirrup, with cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and bassist Nick Macri, revels in rawer, more distorted textures; and his acoustic trio with pianist Jim Baker and bassist John Tate explores swinging introspection. Rumback’s latest album, Seven Bridges (Astral Spirits), draws together all of these elements. He worked on it over a span of five years with electronic musician and engineer Jon Hughes and nine singers and instrumentalists whose backgrounds run the gamut from singer-songwriter pop to free improvisation, but the album doesn’t sound fussed over. Rather, Rumback and his cohorts seem to have dedicated that time to fashioning performances that feel spacious and unforced. Trumpeter Ron Miles, violinist Macie Stewart, alto saxophonist Greg Ward, and bass clarinetist Jason Stein don’t so much trade solos as braid lines while suspended over the effortless flow created by Rumback and bassists Tate and Macri, while electronic tones from Hughes and Baker flicker on the music’s periphery like heat lightning.

Jim Baker - Analogue Synthesizer
Sima Cunningham - Voice
John Hughes - Electronics
Nick Macri - Bass
Ron Miles - Cornet
Charlie Rumback - Drums, Guitar
Jason Stein - Bass Clarinet
Macie Stewart - Violin, Voice
John Tate - Bass
Greg Ward - Alto Saxophone
Krystle Warren - Voice

Tracklist:
1.01 - Charles Rumback - Whatever It Takes (1:17)
1.02 - Charles Rumback - Fall Dog Bombs The Moon (4:06)
1.03 - Charles Rumback - Hometown Heroes (2:58)
1.04 - Charles Rumback - K10 (7:14)
1.05 - Charles Rumback - Fast Shadows (8:19)
1.06 - Charles Rumback - Three Ruminations (5:40)
1.07 - Charles Rumback - Harlequin Blues (4:23)
1.08 - Charles Rumback - Reno County (7:27)
1.09 - Charles Rumback - Regina (3:12)
1.10 - Charles Rumback - K61 (3:26)