DAVE BLACKBURN: Air

Air is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist and composer Dave Blackburn, offering up nine instrumental tracks of original compositions, playing drums, guitar, piano, and Mellotron. It was engineered and produced by Blackburn at Beat ‘n’ Track Recording in Fallbrook, California.

Blackburn recruited a prominent list of musicians as an addendum to tracks Blackburn had laid down in free time on drums and layered acoustic guitar melodies.

The opening track, “Hillage,” strikes a meditative mood, layered on top of Blackburn’s driving drum rhythm with layers of polytonality entries, particularly from the Mellotron and Erica Erenyl’s cello, followed by “Corridors,” where Rick Schmidt enters with an auspicious Gypsy-tinged pedal steel solo, followed by Tom Keenlyside taking advantage of the free time and modal chordal backdrop, with a sax solo taking us back in time to the innovative sax stylings of John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme.”

“Blast,” co-written with Schmidt and bassist Kevin Hennessy, shines the spotlight on Blackburn on drums, soloing and riffing on the skins, channeling legendary drummer Billy Cobham’s innovative drum chops, followed by “Iceland,” a lilting melody supported by weeping cello motifs from Erenyl leading the way.

The free-time tracks “Robin” and “Joni” are highlighted by the silky smooth fretless bass figures from Kevin Hennessy in tandem with Keenlyside on sax, reminding one of the instrumental compositional interchange from the group Weather Report.

Blackburn’s ominous piano melody sets the stage for “Pangea,” floating against a full orchestral meditative backdrop, not to be outdone by “Ullswater,” with an onslaught of various electronic tonal clusters and tintinnabulations ringing randomly against a steady free-time monotonal melodic backdrop.

The album concludes with the track “Promise,” where Blackburn’s mellifluous nylon-string guitar melody duets with musical guest Tripp Sprague’s soulful chromatic harmonica phrases à la Toots Thielemans, offering a more traditional compositional contrast as a finale.

Blackburn and company should be congratulated in their improvisational conversations that never get in each other’s way, complemented by the unique diversity of instruments improvising freely in creating a harmonious compositional gem.