Tee-Tot Quartet: Always Outnumbered

I came in contact with Steuart Liebig's work through Bill Barrett since Bill collaborated to the two Mentones CD and I tend to follow most of Bill's output. The Tee-Tot Quartet is Stuart's latest formation (sans Bill), an unusual blend of instruments for a progressive type of jazz-rock that really is outside the realm of what I commonly listen to.

Always Outnumbered is the Tee-Tot quartet's first release. I don't know if the term jam-jazz-rock has been coined, but to me it's an apt description of what this surprising band does. The line up is Joseph Berardi on drums, Steuart Liebig on bass, Scot Ray on dobro and Dan Clucas on cornet. The latter two bring different sonorities and related influences to the overall sound of the band. Clucas' spans the period between 30s early jazz and blue note era trumpet while Ray brings in a rootsy blues sound as well as the more oriental material he's known for in his solo work (on his stunning album Rumi).

Since the material written is in neither of these genres, what you get is an avant-garde blend of these that's hard to define stylistically. It's very listenable however, which is the first quality I tend to look for in a jazz record. That's not to say that the avant-garde nob is not cranked up quite high, but there's always in anchor in the music, whether it's a background groove by Liebig and Berardi (as in 07-04-00, the opening number) or a melody by Clucas, Ray and/or Liebig himself (as in Mercy Kitchen).

The sonar landscape ranges from quiet, sparse moments (Serenade) to pretty brutally intense parts (as in Chucktown) where the improvs range pretty far out. I'm sometimes surprised myself that these sections don't actually lose me. I suspect it's partly due to my own ears (and brain) having adapted to a higher degree of harmonic exploration than what I used to be able to take (listening these last couple of years to a lot of MMW, Bad Plus and Ray and Barrett's own Gutpuppet must have helped...) I also think that there's an element of familiarity in the sounds, and despite being stylistically nowhere near the 30s jazz, blues or indian music that form of the sonic influences, these constitute a grounding that I relate to to take in the wilder things happening.

Altogether a very cool record, that I will be listening to again and again, probably discovering a lot of new stuff to it over time. Much recommended!