Chant is a relaxed yet inspired trio date featuring pianist Frank Kimbrough with two of his closest associates from the Jazz Composers Collective: bassist Ben Allison and drummer Jeff Ballard. Along with brief, delightfully understated readings of Ornette Coleman’s “Feet Music” and Jimmy Giuffre’s “Phoenix,” the trio wades through three collaborative improvisations. “Chant,” a loosely structured piece, begins with a riff that vaguely recalls McCoy Tyner’s “Effendi”; “Broadside” is propelled by a funky, unchanging swing motif that sets up clearly demarcated solos by Kimbrough and Allison; and “Motility” brings the trio to a rolling boil, with Kimbrough soloing over a swinging medium tempo, framed by bass and drum solos at the start and finish, respectively. Rounding out the program are three Kimbrough originals: the touching waltz “Clara’s Room,” the free jazz ditty “Quickening,” and the dark, turbulent “Ancestors,” which features rubato piano ruminations over a frantic swing tempo. Despite moments of fairly high abstraction, Chant is consistently accessible, and it represents Kimbrough’s approach to composition and improvisation particularly well. – David R. Adler
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