Cellist Erik Friedlander's most jazz-oriented disc to date is named after the broken arm that bassist Oscar Pettiford suffered in 1949, compelling Pettiford to try the cello while using unique tuning just an octave higher than his primary instrument. It's not that jazz is alien to Friedlander — he's recorded with Dave Douglas and John Zorn among many others — but this outing features him playing almost strictly pizzicato on 13 originals with a bass-drums rhythm section that rarely ventures into the chamber-jazz or the Downtown NY "new music" territory of his previous work. Some of the shorter songs are the most impressive, including the wonderfully staccato "Knife Points" (with drummer Mike Sarin clattering kinetically like the Tiny Bell Trio's Jim Black), the good, clean fun of "Jim Zipper" and the luscious, 89-second cello solo Friedlander delivers on "Buffalo." By contrast, "Pretty Penny" is the disc's magnum opus, featuring thrilling interplay and subtle mood shifts. Friedlander and bassist Trevor Dunn deftly swap lead and rhythm roles on "Spinning Plates," "Ink" is a graceful tone poem (and one of the tracks where Friedlander bows) and "Big Shoes" is most similar to the playful, small-ensemble sophistication of Herbie… read more »