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JP Schlegelmilch / Jonathan Goldberger / Jim Black, Visitors
When great musicians put genre concerns aside and just play, good things tend to happen. That’s that the case on this new collaborative album from guitarist Jonathan Goldberger, synth player JP Schlegelmilch and drummer Jim Black, all best known as members of New York’s jazz vanguard. The trio’s fuzzed-out, groove-driven, often brightly melodic sound might bring to mind various touchstones — Tortoise, early-Seventies King Crimson, Black’s own (and excellent) Alasnoaxis — but this band is playing songs (two by Goldberger, six by Schlegelmilch) rather than any predetermined style. The trio’s chemistry is apparent whether they’re digging into a proggy fusion groove, nursing a chaotic noise-jazz swell or simply letting a tender theme breathe. Are they playing gritty post-jazz? Emotive, wordless rock? Regardless, it just works. Hank Shteamer