Horizontal Depths
Dan Pitt Quintet
Independent DP005 (danpitt.bandcamp.com)
This album’s oxymoronic name, Horizontal Depths, exemplifies the quirky and playful nature of the Dan Pitt Quintet. This band plays hard, as in the opener 27 Hours which spends a couple of minutes getting its funk on with a solid ensemble riff before a ripping tenor sax solo from Patrick Smith brings us to a sputtering and rockingly distorted guitar solo from Pitt himself. Eventually everyone returns to the opening riff and slams it home. Naomi McCarroll-Butler’s bass clarinet provides some excellent background texture and Nick Fraser’s drums are, as always, solid, intelligent and innovative. Let’s not forget the great bass work from Alex Fournier which is a solid, and often contrapuntal underpinning for the rest of the hijinks.
On This is Fine, Fournier shows off some nice bowing work. Horizontal Depths - Part One is a shorter and more delicate piece displaying nice jazzy minor scale runs from Pitt’s guitar. The Sorrow shows off the cleaner, more traditional jazz side of Pitt’s guitar chops before a languorous bass clarinet solo. All the tunes on Horizontal Depths were composed by Pitt and display his combination of inventiveness and effortless groove and the players excel in their interpretations.
