Russ Lossing – Proximity Alert

Russ Lossing’s music reflects a complex personality with contrasting characteristics.

On this new trio recording, with two partners with whom he had already collaborated separately, he offers us eleven personal compositions in which we find again the qualities we had noticed on his previous opuses, including a solo reviewed here a few months ago: a touch of great precision, sometimes refined, sometimes more abrupt, a fluid, elegant phrasing that doesn’t shy away from rhythmic breaks that maintain a climate of suspense, a taste for rich harmonies that don’t prevent the use of crystal-clear melodic lines.

Supported by two partners who, like him, take great care with sound, and whose compatibility with the leader is obvious, Lossing deploys here a playing of great variety and a lyricism that is at times rough but without excess.

Mark Helias, with his pizzicato and bowing, reminds us what a first-rate bassist he is, and his fleshy tone and dynamic pulsation are particularly well suited to Lossing‘s playing.

As for Eric McPherson, his drumming alternates extreme finesse and musicality with a polyrhythmic tone that make him one of the most prominent percussionists on the New York scene. So, it’s a delight to follow track after track the sonic journey offered by these three virtuosos, whose imagination seems inexhaustible. In a context where piano trios abound, these musicians effortlessly manage to assert their own identity, making this opus a total success.