Myra Melford - Splash (Intakt, 2025)

By Don Phipps

Pianist and composer Myra Melford’s Splash might be better titled Super-trio. What else can you call it when you’ve lined up a rhythm section of Michael Formanek on bass and Ches Smith on drums and vibraphone? Melford, whose extensive catalog includes collaborations with such free jazz luminaries as Henry Threadgill, the late (and wonderful) Leroy Jenkins, Dave Douglas, and Han Bennink, and more recently, with Mary Halvorson, Tomeka Reid, and Ingrid Laubrock, has been an established figure on the free jazz scene since the 80s.

Melford composed all the numbers on Splash, and the compositions highlight her ability to use funk, blues, impressionism, and abstract idioms to create music that is both free-wheeling and controlled. The opening number, “Drift,” has a restless feel to it, with her bouncy, rolling fingerings and dramatic blues chords propelling the piece forward. Then there’s the ethereal “The Wayward Line,” where one can hear Melford’s right- and left-hand play in unison and extend to the highest and lowest keys of the piano register. Or take the circular rotation action she employs on “Freewheeler.” Or her precise attacks on “A Line With A Mind Of Its Own.” Perhaps the most mesmerizing piece is “Chalk,” which offers up an Asian soundscape, reminiscent of a Chinese Shan Shui painting – a horse galloping through a field, along an ever-enveloping landscape. And “Interlude II” displays Melford’s ability to finger-dance on the high keys of the piano with trills and pirouettes that would make a Russian ballet dancer blush.

Formanek and Smith find plenty of ways to contribute their own energetic spontaneity to the numbers. Listen to the funky rhythm they establish on “Drift” or their scorching duet on “The Wayward Line.” Or the way Formanek takes over with a fiery exposition on “Dryprint” above Smith’s Mad Hatter complex all over drumming.

Smith is always a threat to stand out in any proceedings, and one can marvel at the explosive work he does on “Drift,” “Streaming,” “A Line With A Mind Of Its Own,” and “Dryprint.” Just where does he come up with these impulses? But Smith is a double threat to go long, as he brings his vibraphone to the foray on “Drift” and “Freewheeler.” Switching back and forth between drums and vibraphone must be at least somewhat taxing, but doing so in such masterful fashion reaches another level, and each time Smith transitions, the music flows around the mallet strokes – sometimes ethereal, sometimes abstract, and sometimes eerie. Smith’s vibraphone work is most noticeable on the three Interludes and “Chalk,” where his strokes fit seamlessly with Melford and Formanek’s fascinating voicings.

Formanek is not to be outdone. Take his solos on “Drift,” “A Line With A Mind Of Its Own,” and “Streaming,” where he simply develops mind-blowing sequences of up and down neck action and rapid-fire plucks. There’s almost a madness to his lines as they whip and saw like a roller coaster leaving its tracks momentarily only to find the groove in the next instance. And check out his use of the bow on “Interlude I” and “Interlude II” to create unusual moods and colors.

Will this collaboration continue? One certainly hopes so. Until then though, there is this wonderful document, Myra Melford’s Splash, which consists of three amazing musicians giving the world intense, rambunctious, ethereal and at times effervescent soundscapes.