*** PENDULABELLUM

(Legpress)

This young Boston jazz trio bring together the considerable talents of pianist Tyson Rogers, guitarist Eric Hofbauer, and wind player Jared Sims. Eleven originals mark this, their first recording, and there's a curious division among the tunes. The opener suggests roots in early Ornette Coleman, with its nervous, twittering energy and the quirky notion of the blues that percolates through the three improvisers' neo-bop runs. Lots of single-string guitar figures and chordal shards offer evidence of a running deconstructionist fever. Then there's the rhapsodically romantic strain (Paul Bley's influence on Rogers?) realized on the disc's masterpiece, "Hymn." The tension between these two schools of jazz remains gloriously unresolved throughout the disc. Pendulabellum are a free jazz trio in love with sentimental melodies. Which means that they're smart players with ample chops, and new voices in Boston jazz very worthy of attention.

-- Norman Weinstein