Caleb Wheeler Curtis

The True Story of Bears and the Invention of the Battery/Raise Four: Monk the Minimalist (2 CDs)

 Imani Records

Once known simply as a fierce alto saxophonist, Caleb Wheeler Curtis is now a fully fledged multi-instrumentalist and you’ve seen some of that unfold in the reviews on these pages. 2022’s Heatmap with Orrin Evans, Eric Revis, and Gerald Cleaver appeared at the top of many year end best lists that year. You’ll note that Curtis most often appears as he does here on the Orrin Evans owned Imani Records, including the new Captain Black Big Band effort, Walk a Mile in My Shoe. Go to his website and you’ll find 17 albums, including a few with his fiery label mate, trumpeter Josh Evans, as well. Curtis’ trio album with the group Ember (with Noah Garabedian and Vinnie Sperrazza), August in March introduced us to Curtis’ trumpet playing and the straight alto saxophone called the stritch, popularized by Rahsaan Roland Kirk.  Now on his most ambitious work to date, the oddly titled  The True Story of Bears and the Invention of the Battery, Curtis adds the sopranino and tenor saxophone to his arsenal, often layering more than one instrument as he leads the trio of bassist Sean Conly and drummer Michael Sarin. Curtis delivers nine originals and a cover of the underappreciated Arthur Blythe’s “Odessa.”  Additonally, he provides a second album devoted to the music of Thelonious Monk, Raise Four: Monk The Minimalist, with a different bass-drum tandem, tapping bassist Eric Revis and drummer Justin Faulkner, longtime members of the Branford Marsalis Quartet.

We’re not at all sure on how to relate the title to the music although the first album does have a track of that name. Let’s just chalk it up to Curtis’ penchant to be both abstract and playful.  The album begins with the voice of his grandfather who comments on tapes he has sent to Curtis…”when you hear the saxophone, you’ll know it’s me.” The album bookends with another short clip. The first full track, like most features Curtis layering some combination of his four instruments; in “The First Question” we’re clearing hearing trumpet, stritch, and sopranino in this angular post bop piece with some intriguing call and response passaged between the trumpet and sopranino.  Naturally the second piece, “This Cult Does Not Need Help” features the tenor along the trumpet and stritch. There’s quite a bit of angularity in Curtis’ compositions, not unlike Ornette Coleman. Whereas Coleman often had Dewey Redman on tenor, Don Cherry on the pocket trumpet, and himself on alto, Curtis is playing all those roles himself.  The call and response technique initially features the tenor and stritch in the highly conversant, melodic “A Feather Is Not a Bird” with stellar work from his trio mates. As the piece evolves Curtis layers in both the trumpet and sopranino, such that all four are heard by the end. This approach carries through the remainder of the album, even on the Arthur Blythe cover. It’s a remarkable display of musicianship, deriving the harmonies between the instruments – the high end of the stritch versus the low end of the tenor exemplifies this on “Odessa” while the title track layers in all four over percolating engine sroom staffed by Conly and Sarin.

On Raise Four: Monk The Minimalist, the ever-explorative Curtis does not opt for the usual Monk covers such as “Epistrophy,” “We See,” “Blue Monk” and the like, instead opting for the icon’s lesser known material. (I confess though to recognizing “Reflections,” “Boo Boo’s Birthday,” “Jackie-ing” and “Ugly Beauty.”  Curtis plays three of the four instuments, leaving the tenor behind. He features the stritch and trumpet in alternating patterns on “Oska T.” with Revis and Faulkner keeping a sturdy rhythm, allowing Curtis to improvise freely and daringly around the theme. His tone on the stritch is especially rich on “Introspection” with Faulkner at his kinetic best here and of course on Monk’s nod to Art Blakey, “Boo Boo’s Birthday” where Curtis sticks to the stritch, giving his bandmates room for a vigorous dialogue after the half way point. “Raise Four” features trumpet and stritch in an intense conversation, a clear standout, worthy enough for a “Take 2” as the closer, which takes down the intensity a bit.  One of the few ballads in “Reflections” and it provides a nice, flowing contrast to the other sharp edged, jagged material that you’ll hear through the remainder.

One could argue that Curtis may be trying too hard to differentiate himself by playing so many instruments but this is far more than experimentation. He is full command throughout, bursting with ideas, and most purposeful in his approach. Now, if we could only figure out his mindset behind the title.

Jim Hynes

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