Ches Smith/We All Break's "Path of Seven Colors"

I first encountered the drummer-composer Ches Smith via a CD he recorded with his band These Arches back in 2010. Since then I've enjoyed his musical intelligence in a variety of contexts, most notably in groups led by guitarist Mary Halvorson (who played on the aforementioned date). Nothing, however, prepared me for this.

The Vodou music of Haiti is arguably closer to the source than any other music in the Afro-Caribbean diaspora, and it retains ritual and ceremonial functions that go beyond mere entertainment. When Smith began studying it 20 years ago, he found many elements in common with modern jazz: "polyrhythm, polytonality, improvisation, extended timbral awareness, (massive) tension and (occasional) release, channeled aggression and power, and most vitally, surprise." When he had the idea of a project that deliberately incorporated Vodou influences into his music, he wanted to do so in a way that was respectful and authentic. To that end, he recruited his mentors, percussionist-singers Daniel Brevil and Markus Schwartz, to join him in playing the traditional, three-drum "Port-au-Prince style," along with pianist Matt Mitchell in a quartet dubbed We All Break (perhaps a reference to the kase or "breaks" that are characteristic of Vodou music). Their 2015 album is included here as a bonus disc.

Besides performing with the group, Smith continued his intensive study of rhythms, songs, and Haitian Creole language -- and began to envision an expanded group, incorporating more elements. Meeting NYC-based Vodou musician and community activist Jean-Guy "Fanfan" Rene made Smith aware of the Afwo-Gwinen (south Haitian) style, centered on the bas -- a four-drum setup where one drum plays melodic ostinatos like a funk bassist, forming the basis of the drum conversation that follows each kase. Although there's no string bass in Haitian music, Smith added the young bassist-composer Nick Dunston to bring a fifth "drum" to the ensemble, as well as performing the bass' traditional harmonic-rhythmic function. For melodic reinforcement, Smith added saxophonist Miguel Zenon and a female voice, supplied by Sirene Dantor Rene, Fanfan's wife and his co-leader of the cultural organization Fanmi Asoto.

The octet sessions that produced Path of Seven Colors took place in February 2020, on the eve of the Covid-19 lockdown. In Mimi Chakarova's documentary film of the sessions, viewable on Smith's website (link above), you can see what looks like a model of the virus in the studio. Because everyone involved is thoughtful and attentive, We All Break's meeting of jazz's invention and Vodou's spirituality feels seamless and organic, not jarring or artificial. Smith composed the instrumental sections, while Brevil supplied the call-and-response vocal material, which he drew from the Vodou tradition or composed himself. (In the documentary, Daniel speaks movingly of the way the music connects him with his father.)

The lilting massed voices contrast agreeably with the piano's occasional dissonance. Zenon's recent output has included tributes to the romance of Cuban bolero and the swinging abstraction of Ornette Coleman. Here, the saxophonist's angular melodies are juxtaposed with the syncopated voices and drums. In the documentary, he speaks of wanting to "understand what was going on, not just playing my thing on top of it." The tonal instruments occasionally take up a repeating part and join the rhythmic exchange. The mutual respect and focus on a common aim between folks from different cultures is a dynamic that resonates beyond the creative sphere.

It didn't surprise me to see David Breskin's name in the credits. The prolific producer has had his hand in dozens of creative music recordings I've loved for four decades -- most recently two of my favorite sides of the last decade, Mary Halvorson's Artlessly Falling and Kris Davis' Diatom Ribbons. No coincidence, then, that Path of Seven Colors was released on the Canadian pianist Davis' label, Pyroclastic Records, which since its inception in 2018 has had an impressive array of releases.