Elliott Sharp's Aggregat

Elliot Sharp's Aggregat
Aggregat (Clean Feed; 2012)
Quintet (Clean Feed; 2013)
Elliott Sharp (sax, guitar)
Brad Jones (bass)
Ches Smith (drums)
Nate Wooley (trumpet)
Terry Green (trombone)

So I really don't own much Elliot Sharp as leader. I have a number of albums featuring him as a member. So when I spent the last few weeks listening to two albums from one of his most recent groups, Aggregat, I was completely blown away. A really well focused, well imaginative ensemble that is more than the sum of its parts.

Complicated and sometimes groovy arrangements sift through the group's debut, simply titled, Aggregat, "The Grip" and "Allelia." Both pieces featuring abstract constructions from Sharp on sax augmented by more soothing and sparse paths laid out by Jones and Smith. Sharp's horn sounding like barge horn alerting the other ships in its path.

Sharp is primarily on sax with this trio but also blends end his brilliant guitar work as well. This is featured on "Positronics," a lovely rolling number that at times reminded me of contemporaries Thurston Moore or Marc Ribot. While the piece may sound free floating, it slow builds into a nice groove that even feels track from Bitches Brew era Miles Davis.

On the Aggregat's follow up, Quintet, the group has expanded in size to its simply stated title. The addition of Nate Wooley and Terry Green provides new variety and depth to the overall sound and vision for Sharps group. "Katabatics" is a collision of horns, Smith's poly-rhythms and the steady nature of Jones, all boiling over into a boisterous but lovely celebration of creativity.

"Blues For Butch" while using the blues as its blueprint, is more than that. It is highly elevated piece with great sections of improvised and explosive work from the horn section. "Lacus Temporis" and "Cherenkov Light" are both more experimental in nature and give a nice glimpse into the individual talents of each musicians.

Both Aggregat and Quintet are solidly composed by the multi-instrumentalist Elliott Sharp and beautiful performed by his bandmates. This was a great starting point for me and hopefully a good moment for you the listener to become fully invested in Elliott Sharp's expanded vision.