Sun of Goldfinger by David Torn, Tim Berne, and Ches Smith.
Bandcamp Link: Sun of Goldfinger
3 extended pieces of Jazz adjacent music from this amazing Guitar, Sax, and Percussion trio.
It has, unfortunately, been 12 years since Berne and Torn recorded together on Torn’s Prezens.
However, time has not dulled their chemistry, if anything, it has sharpened it.
Sun of Goldfinger is at turns as beautiful as a sunset and as ugly as a car crash.
Often I’ll hear a sound and wonder if it is Berne shattering the altissimo register of his horn or Torn feeding back a screeching shard of tortured strings.
The trio is augmented slightly by strings, keyboard, and an additional guitar for “Spartan, Before It Hit”, (not that you’d particularly notice at first listen given the eclectic sonic alchemy Torn deploys with his guitar,) but the true white knuckle piece is the trio’s “Soften The Blow”, in which Smith’s drums builds tension on top of relentless tension as Berne and Torn squeal and shriek above, peals of thunder and slashes of lightning rolling into the aether.
For me, the first Must Listen album of the year.
Catch them touring this spring, including a date at the Freight and Salvage tomorrow night, 3/12.
