Stars, Engines
Valley Voice
Elastic Recordings (harrisonargatoff.bandcamp.com/album/stars-engines)
I first came across the beautifully creative noodlings of native Torontonian Harrison Argatoff somewhere around 2020 while walking through a local ravine underpass, where I came upon the saxophonist using the cement structure as a resonance box, creating long tonal phrases and rhythmic rounds which became the Toronto Streets Tour album. I’ve been hooked on Argatoff’s warm, thoughtful playing ever since.
His newest project is the group Valley Voice and their debut album is called Stars, Engines. It features a quartet of some of the city’s finest cohorts: Michael Davidson on vibraphone, Dan Fortin on bass, and Ian Wright on drums; the album refers back to Argatoff’s earliest relationships to the natural world. Despite the contrary themes, this collection of compositions has the feel of emerging from his Streets Tour album in melodic structure and tone, now paying homage to his rural British Columbian Doukhobor roots and his relationship to his grandmother. Continuing his formal training as a composer, add Argatoff’s experience as a contact dancer, and you get the lyrical, flowing lines and phrases of an authentic artist not afraid to de-couple his instrument from the standard jazz repertoire. Even with the addition of the vibraphone the group still manages to avoid the typical/traditional jazz memes.
Outstanding tracks for me were Analemma, a spacious and luminous tune with a wishful quality, and the titular Stars Engines, a sweet, gentle accompaniment to a memory his grandmother shared years ago relating to seeing the stars at night. Deftly supported by his award-winning bandmates, this new quartet promises to be a Canadian group to watch.
