Guitarist Joe Morris knows something about packing loads of information into his music, too, but as frenetic and wiry as his playing gets at times, it’s never as extroverted as DKV’s. It follows, then, that on Deep Telling the two parties try to bridge that gap. The blend works best on more contemplative, bluesy numbers like “Narrative” and “Telling,” where musical delicacy guides them toward conciliation. On the more abrasive “Standing Here,” Morris and Vandermark clash, but their clenched-teeth soloing agrees to disagree for a wonderful tension. The album also features a variety of different groupings of the personnel; on “Bit Tenet” Morris and Kessler engage in a spiky weave of brittle strings-particularly the guitarist, whose spool of damped-string notes is wound extremely tight-while on “Hollow Curve,” on which Vandermark sits out, Morris sounds more liquid. I don’t think Morris and DKV make the best match, but the interest level never falters. At certain times they sound natural, yet even when they don’t, they make the struggle utterly compelling.
Joe Morris with DKV Trio: Deep Telling
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