Things To Come

We Say...

Review by Britt Robson

Pakistani-American guitarist Rez Abassi keeps unearthing ingenious ways to slant his music. He hasn't recorded with an acoustic pianist since his 1991 debut, but this time around he enlists Vijay Iyer, whose imaginative polymath precision meshes especially well with Abassi compositions, songs that feint and prance more than they groove. And the other Indian-American heavyweight in the Things To Come band is alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa, a likewise exacting but energetic catalyst who puts the spurs to "Dream State," "Why Me Why Them" and "Realities of Chromaticism."

Abassi isn't an easy guitarist to peg. His style can be fluid, with slowly accreting riffs, like Carlos Santana teased out in his ruminative spiritual period, or striated with squirrelly, serpentine phrases a la Pat Metheny. His solos here are less frequent and not as memorable as Iyer's and Mahanthappa's — the title track, his signature ballad spotlight, is by far the shortest tune among these eight originals — but there is a terse, distinctively melodic dispatch to his songs, and both his guitar work and the personnel he assembles bring an enjoyable cohesion to disparate elements. His frequent cohort, Indian vocalist Kiran Ahluwalia, provides a dolorous shade during her portions of "Air Traffic," then adds to the magisterial grandeur of "Within Sanity." Cellist Mike Block is tapped for crucial dabs of rich orchestration on "Air Traffic" and "Realities of Chromaticism." Only the closer, the seemingly pro-forma fusion tune, "Insulin," feels ordinary, and vibrant solos from Abassi and Mahanthappa over a fusillade from drummer Dan Weiss rapidly shoots down that quibble.