Motian In Motion

The album I Have The Room Above Her by Paul Motian is a typical ECM jazz production. It is a trio outing for Joe Lovano on tenor saxophone, Bill Frisell on guitar and drummer Motian. All compositions are by Motian apart from the title track which is a Jerome Kern / Oscar Hammerstein standard and the Thelonius Monk number Dreamland. It is the type of chamber jazz that is beginning to get quite divorced from the original Afro-American roots of the music. The improvisatory feel is there with the band members sparking off each other in the generally slow moving, drifting type of compositions but Motian's drumming doesn't have the drive or swing or rhythmic momentum of roots music but is instead more of a tuned percussion soloist throughout. Lovano and Frisell add subtle colours and shading without ever really cutting loose into any virtuoso displays. There aren't any of the folk elements that sometimes influence the European jazzers on ECM, this is altogether more cerebral. It could serve as background dinner party jazz but also repays more considered listening.