Simitu

Cold Bleak Heat is the dream team, east coast avant jazz line up of alto/tenor saxophonist Paul Flaherty (Dream/Aktion Unit), drummer Chris Corsano (Sunburned Hand of the Man, Vampire Belt), trumpeter Greg Kelley (nmperign, Heathen Shame), and acoustic bassist Matt Heyner (No Neck Blues Band, Test). While explosive as their 2005 debut, Simitu brings a melancholic, even sensitive feel to these improvisations. Yet, no need to worry about these four wipin' tears on their sleeves. CBH wages between the melodic centers/ghostly solos of Flaherty/Kelley and loose, downhill, free blow outs you'd expect, all while mainting the grand swell of a hardcore jazz symphony. Even as complex and multi-paced beats sink into bowed-drones and vocal hollers, focused lyricism remains the returning leader. Features liner notes and drawings by Christina Carter (Charalambides).

"Free jazz's jagged tonalities, explosiveness and collective ecstasy while making that idiom a natural extension of the free and noise idioms of today. On the six pieces here they manifest subjective rhythm in a group setting, echoing not only the freely accented flow of Albert Ayler's Spiritual Unity trio, but also the rollicking shape-shifting of Charles Mingus' quartet on Candid." -- Matthew Wuethrich, Dusted