Thank You for Coming to Life [CD]

Hailing from Denver, Colorado and now an integral part of the New York improvised music scene, Warren's multifarious collaborations include Ben Stapp's Zozimos, Andy Biskin's 16 Tons, Slavic Soul Party; and in addition to two album releases with his folk-jazz songwriting project Laila and Smitty, he has duetted with guitarist Jeremiah Lockwood, fellow Whirlwind artist and pianist Bobby Avey and tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby. This confluence of artists - whose disciplines and considerable track records lie in both the traditional and more experimental strands - inspires freedom in improvisation aligned to an exciting rhythmic symbiosis, all fronted by Warren's lucid and engaging trumpet. A perfect example of the quartet's connection is opener "Stones Change", which Warren says creates its own little world through contrapuntal trumpet and piano lines: "Over a few years of playing inside this composition, the band has become more and more free to stretch and superimpose ideas over it." Other tracks include episodic "Huge Knees" (arising from Warren's compositional piano imaginings) is linked thematically - and this broad, shifting, twelve-minute leviathan contrastingly pulsates and shimmers with impressive continuity, the trumpeter blasting rapidly and chromatically, ever higher. Snappy "Hala Hala" (named after a favorite Brooklyn Bodega) is full of agitated, free energy and swing as breathless, combined riffs exemplify this personnel's meticulous synergy.