Review by Des Cowley.
Bektet – Kinship (Independent, CD & digital release)
Kinship represents the first outing by Melbourne-based band Bektet, the brainchild of up-and-coming saxophonist Jared Becker. It speaks volumes that he has chosen to surround himself with a top-notch team of exciting young players: guitarist Harry Tinney, pianist Matt Steele, bassist Angus Radley, and drummer Lewis Pierre-Humbert. Together, they serve up a roster of seven original compositions, all penned by Becker. With an average run-time of five-to-ten-minutes, these tracks allow plenty of room for the band to stretch out.
Throughout, Becker shows a disposition towards modal jazz, evidenced on opener ‘Arc Up’, which kicks off with Steele’s resounding piano chords, played over Pierre-Humbert’s skittering percussion, creating a seamless blend that summons up the sound of Coltrane’s classic quartet. At the mid-way point, Becker weighs in with a blistering solo, unleashing torrents of notes, before easing back into an exploratory, spiritual-sounding groove. ‘Pursuit’ opens with a solid bass vamp, teasing out the tune’s angular melody, a scene-setter for Becker’s probing solo, lean and stripped-back. As he baton-passes to Tinney, the guitarist shifts gear, curbing the pace, generating a wide-open, western-tinged flavour, spacious and minimalist.
Tinney has characterised the album as an ode to the emotive state musicians expose themselves to when playing or improvising together. Certainly, there is a nakedness and vulnerability heard on ‘Longing’, a dirge-like piece that rises ever-so-gently, via Becket’s sax and Steele’s piano, as it steers a path toward peaceful resolution. ‘Taki’ taps into a Steve-Reich-like minimalism, its pulse-driven preamble gradually morphing into a light and airy sax refrain, kicked along by Pierre-Humbert’s scampering percussion, and Radley’s resonant bass. ‘Overdrive’ provides a strong vehicle for Tinney, who takes the opportunity to cut loose, his guitar mutating from dense textures to rapid-fire runs. The album ends on ‘Pisces’, a ten-minute slow burner, built on haunting sax, underpinned by Steele’s delicate piano. Tinney injects sheer beauty into the mix via his sparse notes, pointillist in manner, before ceding ground to Becker, whose tenor sax strains against the tide, riven with emotion.
While each musician on the album thoroughly delivers (Steele in particular stands out), kudos goes to Becker, who has taken the reins, fashioning a mature and thoughtful album that fluently melds composition, music-making, and improvisation. If there is a guiding spirit behind this music, I would point to the late (and great) Wayne Shorter, whose compositions – especially his classic Blue Note albums – fused post-bop with modal, all-the-while emphasising angular, off-kilter melodies, and rich harmonic voicings. Jared Becker, to my ears, has absorbed these lessons, updating, and adapting them for his own purposes. I will be keeping a close eye on his next moves.