Phil Haynes

Return to Electric and Transition(s)

 Corner Store Jazz

One never knows what to expect from drummer and composer Phil Haynes. Certainly few have a scope as wide. In the past few years we’ve heard his avant saxophone trio with Dave Liebman, No Fast Food; his romantic “jazz-grass”string band, Free Country; his classic standards-based piano trio Day Dream, featuring Steve Rudolph, and his solo project Sanctuary.Now Haynes moves, or perhaps retreats to another position, working with electric guitarists, a throwback to his youthful days in New York. So, both of these records are being issued simultaneously – Return to Electric with guitarist Steve Salerno and bassist Drew Gress; and the guitar-drum duo with Ben Monder entitled Transition(s). To many of us this may be surprising but then again, only Haynes knows where he’s headed next.

In this case it is both a look backward and forward. At this stage in his career, and after conquering career-threatening health issues, it appears that Haynes is trying to document all his many fascinations. Like so many of us that grew up to the sounds of Hendrix, B.B. King, the British Invasion and later gravitating to the likes of John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola, and John Abercrombie, Haynes had a period where he was obsessed with the electric guitar. This led to a number of collaborations and jams with like-minded guitarists during Haynes’ early period in New York in the ‘80s. Yet none of these have been captured on record until now.

In the spirit of his splendid book, 2023’s Chasing the Masters, Haynes revisits the formative years of jazz-rock fusion on Return to Electric, notably covering fusion classics by composers Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, and George Russell along side repurposed Haynes originals and a trio of improvised solo “Cadenzas” by each of the trio members. The forward aspect of this is the notion of how this trio has developed the music since. Yes, this is power trio stuff of the first order, with Gress playing the double bass, not the electric bass that characterizes most power trios. Haynes says this when describing the music, “…sensitive through roaring dynamic ranges; a blues to Bartok hipness; naughty experimental rock + jazz lineages; all presented via both a beautiful and abstract modernism.”

 Well, we’re not going to try to improve on that description but offer a few observations. The album begins calmly with Corea’s now classic “Crystal Silence’ quickly segueing to the fire of John McLaughlin’s “Spectum” which has some riveting, spacey, abstract changes. Later the trio renders McLaughlin’s “Lotus on Irish Springs,” focusing on the guitarist’s ruminative side. Haynes’ compositions  range from the percussion heavy, start-stop rhythms of “Spell” to the elegiac “Paul/Christian” with softer tones and both outstanding arco and pizzicato work from Gress. Haynes’ “Cycle” is largely meditative while the power chord-driven “Eclipse” is outright bold with stirring interplay among the trio and Salerno taking the incendiary route. Without belaboring the point, Haynes’ prototypical titled “Some Sick Slick” is a mind-bending journey into improvisation.  The trio closes with an inspired take on Shorter’s oft-covered “Paraphernalia,” another excellent rendering by Salerno, who captures the alternating tension of the tune’s stormy and calm moments, punctuated by Haynes’ creative use of  his percussive arsenal. These three are in the fireworks zone!

The duo recording with Monder, Transition(s) is naturally quite different. The guitarist found a couple of days away from his busy touring schedule with the Bad Plus and other endeavors to reunite with Haynes after a more than twenty-five year absence. Their collaborations also date to Haynes’ early days in New York, as the two kindred spirits would have semi-regular meetings to improvise together. A thread that run through those meetings was John Coltrane’s “Transition.” Hence the album title and also a short rendering of that same piece in the program. This is a set of airy, spacious pieces, much like Monder’s recent extraordinary solo project, the three-LP effort Planetarium. Unlike the preceding album, Haynes is predominantly on cymbals and brushes as opposed to sticks on these atmospheric pieces which also have much in common with ‘out there’ guitarists such as Brandon Ross. Nonetheless there’s a hefty amount of tension and release, and surprising percussion choices such as gongs to accompany Monder’s ever-searching guitar journeys. “Transition” does stand out. Haynes goes into his thunderous Elvin Jones mode while Monder issues a series of wall shattering sonic waves (‘sheets of sound’) from his axe.

Four of the tracks are brief solo pieces while “Openings,” “Beyond,” and “Epilogue” fall mostly into the atmospheric category, the latter two marked by agitated percussion from Haynes to heighten the level of mystery. The most surprising track though is the tender standard “I Fall in Love Too Easily”Switch to block editor which happened spontaneously as the two switched positions, Monder taking a seat while Haynes stood, circling his kit. Contrasting the beauty of this piece with the fury of the title track leaves little doubt that these two maintained their chemistry despite the long hiatus. Clearly they can go in any direction the muse takes them.

Where does Haynes go next? Your guess is as good as any.

– Jim Hynes

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