Music We Are

We Say...

Review by Britt Robson

One of the most musical drummers in jazz asks two mainstays from Wayne Shorter's masterfully cerebral quartet to join him to incredibly profound results. The least you will enjoy Music We Are is on first listen; each time you hear it, new facets of tone, harmony, melody and inventive ensemble interaction are revealed. Some of the songs, such as DeJohnette's "Tango African" and Perez's "White," feature creative overdubs of electric and acoustic instrumentation (including DeJohnette's mellotron on "Tango"). Others are extraordinary group improvisations, like the alert, attenuated ballad, "Earth Prayer," which has added resonance when you learn the trio recorded much of this album while snowbound at DeJohnette's abode in the Catskills. "Earth Speaks" is stunning in its telepathic spontaneity, which shifts not only in tempo but mood, sheathed in Patitucci's gorgeous arco bass.

The straight-ahead, composed pieces are likewise treasure troves of musical engagement. The two movements of DeJohnette's "Seventh D" contain joyous, energetic gamboling best defined by Perez's comment that the session produced "grownup children's stuff" among the trio. Perez's "Cobilla" is warm, funky and full of surprisingly rhythmic accents. And Patitucci's "Michael" is a worthy, if somberly muted, paean to the late saxophonist Michael Brecker. DeJohnette has long been renowned for his trio work with Keith Jarrett and Gary Peacock. This first collaboration with Perez and Patitucci has a similar personality, and would rank near the top of the voluminous DeJohnette-Jarrett-Peacock catalogue by comparison.