Ray Suhy/Lewis Porter Quartet

What Happens Next

Sunnyside

Guitarist Ray Suhy and pianist Lewis Porter lead a quartet buttressed by the bass-drum tandem of Joris Teepe and Rudy Royston, respectively. Suhy is perhaps best known as the lead guitarist in the death metal band Six Feet Under, but like so many guitarists, also gravitates toward jazz as a means of free expression and improvisation. The two principals were introduced by mutual friend and collaborator, saxophonist-composer Allen Lowe through their shared appreciation of the music of John Coltrane and other pioneering artists. Since their meeting, Suhy and Porter have issued three albums of original music. Here on What Happens Next they present eight originals, five from Suhy, two from Porter, and one collaborative piece as well as a cover of Thelonious Monk’s “Brake’s Sake.” As the conceived the album it was not only Monk but Wayne Shorter’s work with Miles’ Second Great Quintet that served as inspiration.

Suhy’s “Four Worlds” opens. The guitarist utilizes a pentatonic scale over four different chords in this modal piece where the guitar is very much in the lead. Teepe steps in with a bass solo while Royston keeps the fire smoldering as the baton is passed to Lewis, who takes a scalar, percussive approach in his turn with a rumbling undercurrent until Suhy returns to state the theme, bringing it to an emphatic close. Suhy’s “Ralos” was written to feature his partner as it’s a contrafact of the jazz standard “Solar.” Yet, there’s plenty of Suhy here as the quartet leans into Indian classical music in a droning way before kicking into zesty conventional swing, led mostly by Lewis’s buoyant runs. “The Path to You” sounds nothing like the first two. Born out of a triadic exercise, it took shape as a meditative piece that first features the guitarist but later blossoms into a showcase for Lewis’ happy-go-lucky swinging piano solo. Suhy’s “Saturn” features riveting interplay between the guitarist and pianist, complete with a feisty statement from Royston on the kit. The piece is aptly named as Suhy soars into the outer realms. Suhy keeps it intense as the quartet goes at breakneck speed, spitting fire on “Volition” in the spirit of Coltrane’s “Transition.”

Porter’s “Mournful Interlude” is one of the few fully composed pieces, a mood setter for a joyful, off kilter romp through Monk’s “Brake’s Sake” with Suhy, Porter and Teepe making declarations.  Although Porter takes credit for “All the Things and Then Some,” you’ll certainly recognize portions of Jerome Kern’s “All the Things You Are.” The quartet delivers a lengthy exploration of these chord changes, embellishing, deconstructing, and building them back beginning with Teepe’s robust pizzicato intro and then through a series of solos and trades. Porter’s piano is effervescent as they wind through it. The closer is Porter’s “Hopeful Song,” as you’d expect, highly melodic and bright set to a dancing rhythm with Suhy’s combustible lines spraying sparks.

Porter and Suhy make an interesting pairing, continually reaching to exhilarating peaks while their more placid passages often turn up surprises too.

– Jim Hynes

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