Alex LoRe and Weirdear - Evening Will Find Itself (2023)

At the heart of Alex Lore’s music making is a fearless approach to exploring the fault lines and contradictions within his art: reconciling the timeless post-bop verities explored by his friends and mentors Greg Osby and Bunky Green with his own awareness of the possibilities of the seemingly opposite extremes of through-composition and freedom.

His Whirlwind Recordings debut Evening Will Find Itself marks a powerful step forward in his journey to reconcile these tensions to create a music that isn’t limited by expectations, always centered around the unapologetic warmth and humanity of his own playing, and carried forward by his band of long-term musical partners: Glenn Zaleski on piano, Desmond White on bass and (relative) newcomer Allan Mednard on drums. ‘This album is me trying to find some different sound worlds to exist in, striking a new balance between notated music and improvisation, giving the musicians freedom to explore those worlds’

The ten tracks on the record explore themes of concord and dissent, technology and the power of nature, chance and control, darkness and light. ‘Stripes’ has a tumbling, dancing rhythm which subtly shifts around the pulse, and ’Face Unseen’ builds from an enigmatic, introspective melody that highlights Lore’s preternaturally liquid, velvety tone, closer to Johnny Hodges than Charlie Parker. The title of ‘Fauxlosophy’ was conjured during a conversation with pianist Matt Mitchell, its melody slipping across Mednard’s mutated backbeat to express the the lengths people will go to to defend a view that even they may no longer believe in. ‘Silent Ship’ combines out-of- sync unisons with quietly grooving solo sections that create a compelling evocation of the ever-changing forces of the sea. ‘Radiance I’ is the first of a set of three tunes exploring ideas of light and darkness. Drums and bass set up a cats cradle of accents for Lore and Glenn Zaleski to weave their melodic threads into – ‘Glenn is such a deep musician – the history of piano he has at his fingertips is incredible’.

‘Green’ is a tribute to Lore’s mentor Bunky, and an expression of his charge to ‘find beauty in everything you do’ through a track full of twists and turns, moving from intricate writing to freedom and back again in a moment. After the powerfully abstract chordal vamp of ‘Radiance II’ provides a framework for feature the Allan Mednard’s flexible, textural approach to the drumkit – ‘Allan has such a commitment to the music – when I played with him and Des and Glenn it was instant chemistry’.

There’s a personal message threaded through ‘Underground And Back’ as Lore draws on his own father’s life-threatening brush with COVID to create a chorale-type melody, while ‘At Shore’ seems to sum up a sense of arrival from its insistent abstractions, powered by Desmond’s expressive arco playing – ‘Desmond is such a special musician – he will never let any musical situation fall flat’. Finally, ‘Radiance III’ is the longest and most intricate of the three pieces; the ensemble finds an escape hatch within the puzzle-like form to reach the ending. Finally, ‘Bye-Ya’ is an idiosyncratic exploration of a piece by Monk – one of the most idiosyncratic composers in the canon.

The ease with which the band navigate the often challenging writing to burst into improvisation and back again shows their collective dedication to this music – unique and challenging in ways, but possessing a deep desire to communicate that makes it always accessible to the committed listener. Lore is, after all, a believer in the power of art to bring us together and heal the fractured discourses that characterize our divided times.