Jesse Stacken - bagatelles for trio

2012 CD release.

"On the third album by his excellent trio with bassist Eivind Opsvik and drummer Jeff Davis, Stacken puts his own compelling spin on the idea of bagatelles, creating 13 compositions that each explore a specific idea or approach. Bagatelle No. 1, for example, is built around overtones, with the leader letting his notes ring out and directing his partners to scrabble around the decaying sounds, while the next piece finds the trio cycling through written and improvised material pushed against a simple ostinato figure played by Stacken through the entire piece.

Other pieces explore serial techniques, rondo form and pitch sets articulated in minimal long tones. The trio brings an oblique but real heat and emotion to the performances, and as a whole the album coheres brilliantly. Certain pieces mirror othersthe opening phrase from the first bagatelle resurfaces in Number 9, for examplewhile others return to the pure sound of struck piano keys naturally disintegrating, and in the end the album adds up to a unified, gripping suite."

-Peter Margasak -Down Beat (August, 2012)