By Don Phipps
While not free jazz or sonically adventuresome per se, the music on Vio 3iO’s Viology possesses a modern character that delivers intriguing and intense head-nodding vibes. A trio, ViO 3iO features Anthony Davis on drums, Andor Horvath on bass, and Viktor Haraszti on saxophone and electronics. Haraszti also composed the six tunes found on the album.
The album kicks off with “Bird of Passage.” Its driving beat provides Haraszti the foundation for his Coltrane-ish sax explorations. Davis’s soul searching on drums are also of note here – his precise taps on the snare and his drum rolls keeps the tune sliding rambunctiously along. On “Digital Samsara,” Davis keeps a steady but wildly syncopated beat behind Haraszti’s stark yet beautiful full-throated lines. Listen to how the ghostly apparitions created by the electronics weave in and out of the funky undertow, and how the electronics evolve into an almost Bach-like fugue.
Then there’s the title cut, “Viology,” which evokes a dark blue night. Haraszti’s bugle sax line buzzes atop the funk – a hard bop sax line skipping along a funky maelstrom like a stone skimming the surface of water. On “The Disappearing Real,” the musicians create a foggy ambiance that develops into a cool blues walk. On “Echoes of Now,” Horvath uses the bow to create a sense of foreboding beneath the electronics and Haraszti offers up a soliloquy of legato full-bodied notes that become more active as the piece progresses and the intensity grows. Finally, on “Analog Prayers,” the trio create a landscape that evokes a desert passage through undulating dunes that stretch off to the horizon.
The tunes found on Viology offer a refreshing take on using music to create modern and transcendent atmospheres. The trio’s tasteful articulation of evocative themes demonstrates an ability to create an alignment of unsettling tension and beguiling beauty.
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