Gravity Without Airs

名門SteepleChaseからも充実のリーダー作を発表するコルネット奏者カーク・クヌフクの2022年リリース作品。マシュー・シップとマイケル・ビシオという名手を迎えたトリオ編成で録音されたLP2枚に渡る大作。カーク・クヌフク自身も「全体を通して聴いてもらうことで、アルバムの形や流れだけでなく、繊細な部分も聴いてもらえたらと思う。」と語っており、コンポジションとフリーフォームな2面を楽しめる重厚な音世界を聴くことができます。タイトルはレコーディング中に読んでいたという第16代ローマ皇帝マルクス・アウレリウス「瞑想録」に使われていた言葉からきているとのこと。

■Kirk Knuffke: cornet, compositions
Michael Bisio: bass
Matthew Shipp: piano

An adventurous improviser with a fat, warm tone, cornetist Kirk Knuffke takes his bold jazz style to another level on 2022s Gravity Without Airs. The Colorado-born/New York-based Knuffke has carved out a distinctive niche in the modern jazz landscape with his artful duo and trio albums. He has also been a vital member of creative ensembles like drummer Matt Wilsons Big Happy Family and drummer Allison Millers Boom Tic Boom. Here, he is joined by two stellar veteran performers in pianist Matthew Shipp and bassist Michael Bisio, essentially two-thirds of Shipps trio as of 2009 (minus drummer Newman Taylor-Baker). Knuffkes pairing here with Shipp feels intrinsic and spiritually connected to the pianists early work as a member of saxophonist David S. Wares ensembles. Whats particularly engaging about the groups work is just how organically balanced it is. While Knuffke certainly grabs the lions share of the spotlight, many of his compositions hinge upon the trios dynamic interplay and the raw, textural landscapes they carve out together. In fact, the first sound you hear on the opening title track is a scratchy, strummed chord from Bisio that Shipp quickly augments with an airy, off-kilter harmony. All of this leads to Knuffkes mournful, breathy entrance, his minor-key melody a streak of golden light in the trios swirling storm clouds. They sustain an equally imagistic vibe throughout the rest of the album, straddling the line between free-jazz tone poems and moody, architectural chamber jazz. Knuffke is a dynamic soloist with a style that can be bluesy and linear one minute and fractured and full of spatter-paint squelch the next. Its a sound that brings to mind the work of legendary Italian free jazz trumpeter Enrico Rava, especially recalling his classic 1975 ECM date The Pilgrim and The Stars. On Gravity Without Airs, Knuffke and his trio grab your ears with a tactile beauty. ~ Matt Collar