[...] it’s that the former disc is on this side of frantic, completing trumpet Cuong Vu’s trilogy of almost punk-rock fuelled releases – albeit this time in quartet, rather than trio formation. When the pace slows down the unforced, polyphonic tones resemble some of the hipper lines written by guitarist Pat Metheny, in whose group, the Seattle-raised Vu has been featured the past few years.
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Vu himself admits that IT’S MOSTLY RESIDUAL is the “last part of a period for me, where [bassist] Stomu [Takeishi] and I stumbled onto an approach and developed it and now we’re pretty much ready to move on to something else.” Not a minute too soon either can be added.
As good as some of the material on the CD is – and some of it is quite exceptional – the freshness behind the concept is beginning to fade. Vu’s idea of recreating power trio energy with his trumpet in the lead guitar role has worked well in the past. But the presence of Frisell’s real guitar unbalances the equation. More than that, as much as the guitarist’s heated flanges, rapid arpeggios and echoing riffs try to approximate energetic soloing, Frisell’s Eddie Van Halen-style licks often muddy the songs. Besides, today it seems, the fretman would much rather be Chet Atkins.
For instance, “Blur” features the guitarist’s chromatic frills that quickly turn to New Country licks, leaving the toughening of the beat to drummer Ted Poor – who also plays with guitarist Ben Monder – as well as dominant organ-like chords modulating from Takeishi’s electric fretless bass. Initially freeing enough space so that Vu can vibrate wall-of-sound radung-like tones from his horn, Frisell’s use of pulsing delays to distort and expand his string palate, makes the backing so dense and crowded that the trumpeting is almost lost.
On the preceding piece, Vu cuts his way through this rococo layering with a set of heraldic rubato notes. There are a few too many spacey Matheny-style echoes throughout, however. In truth, the individuality and palpable excitement of the Vu trio should arise from the trumpeter’s braying timbres extending an improvisation as if he’s scraping the internal metallic finish from his axe. Vu shouldn’t have to, as he does on “Blur” and “Brittle, Like Twigs”, make own his way as the guitarist tries out desultory guitar hero histrionics, and the bassist and drummer chug along like Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker backing Eric Clapton.
More notable, “Patchwork”, an almost 13-minute, long-lined impressionistic piece aims to be a Roots-Americana-style ballad. The guitarist finger-picks a rapid series of reverberating arpeggios as steady beats ease from hand drumming to martial. Finally Frisell and Vu connect in such a way that the Vu’s electronically triggered oscillations nearly replicate a second guitar line. As the two pan across the composition with alternating ratcheting and rippling hard pulses, it’s as if they’re two parts of the same instrument.
Frisell’s dual musical personality flashing between psychedelica and folksy at times undermines what Vu and Takeishi worked so hard to attain. This CD doesn’t impress as much as earlier trio discs.
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