Mario Pavone/Michael Musillami: Op Ed

The music on Op-Ed is filled with abrupt starts and stops. A lot of this is caused by the quartet’s emphasis on rhythmic displacement and shifting accents. Collectively bassist Mario Pavone, guitarist Michael Musillami, pianist Peter Madsen and drummer Michael Sarin produce a lively, ricocheting swing and it keeps listeners on their toes. There’s some experimentation with rubato playing, as on “Today the Angels,” and time signature trickery, as on the title track.

The members of the group, collectively known as Motion Poetry after their titular 2000 CD for Playscape, have worked together often and are sensitive to each other’s cues and direction changes. The band’s style is rooted in Lennie Tristano 1940s and ’50s experimentation and the 1956 to 1958 approach that Bill Evans displayed on George Russell’s “Concerto for Billy the Kid.”

The intensity of the individual players, who produce pleasingly bright timbres, also adds to the value of Op-Ed.

Originally Published April 1, 2002