Peter Epstein: Two Legs Bad
Shifting Paradigm

Nine years on from Polarities, his last release as a leader, Peter Epstein returns with a scalding set of new material. His story begins far earlier, though, with the saxophonist moving to Brooklyn in 1992 after graduating from California Institute of the Arts and over the next decade making a name for himself alongside other NYC luminaries such as Bobby Previte and Brad Shepik. Another key life change occurred in 2002 when he relocated to Reno and began teaching at the University of Nevada, a gig that continues to this day. Over the years, he's appeared on more than sixty recordings and issued nine of his own, including Two Legs Bad.

Despite that nearly decade-long absence, the release is no tentative return to the fray. Instead, it's an oft-blistering statement featuring eight Epstein-penned pieces performed by the leader, trumpeter Julien Knowles, guitarist Dave Strawn, electric bassist Zack Teran, drummer Miguel Jimenez-Cruz, and Kneebody's Adam Benjamin on piano and Rhodes. The music often breathes fire in a way that recalls the volcanic sound of Miles Davis's mid-‘70s outfits, though Epstein's performances don't dive completely into the vortex as do those on Dark Magus and the like. I hear occasional echoes of Ornette Coleman (“Bass Case”), early Weather Report (“Prescience”), and Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society (“Tepper”) in this music too. It's certainly one of the more visceral sets Shifting Paradigm's released.

Perhaps some of its power can be traced to the stifling containment imposed by pandemic lockdowns and the consequent unleashing of energy that happened when the music was recorded in a Denver studio in summer 2002. Regardless, Epstein and company roar through much of the album, with only one track finding the ensemble cooling its jets for a murky exploration (“Prescience”). In classic form, his pieces mix formal writing and improvisation, with enough structure in place to establish compositional identity but enough freedom built in to allow the players ample opportunity for personal expression. All but one push past the seven-minute mark and ensure the band has lots of room to stretch out.

Benjamin's Rhodes gives the opening moments of “Conjunction” a spacey vibe before Knowles and Teran, augmented by a heavy bass-and-drum attack, enters to chart its course. Interestingly, Epstein doesn't enter until the tune's half over, the leader perhaps wanting to let the others introduce themselves and emphasize that the album's a full-band expression. As he wails during his extended solo, the music takes on the kind of free-floating quality heard on Weather Report's first albums. Epstein's days at Cal Arts are long behind him, but, with the punchy “B320” titled after the school's "jazz room,” they're obviously remembered fondly. The track's a good example of the ensemble's incendiary drive, propensity for ecstatic expression, and the soloing talents of its individual members. In the latter regard, Epstein impresses throughout the disc, but Knowles does also (see his florid turn on “Never Odd or Even,” for instance). It's certainly easy enough to hear the two channeling Ornette and Don Cherry as they blow through the Charlie Haden-dedicated “Bass Case.” Teran and Jimenez-Cruz merit mention too for running commentary that's always responsive and sometimes, as shown by the pile-driving funk groove powering the title track (whose title derives, of course, from Orwell's Animal Farm and its "Four legs good, two legs bad" chant), explosive.

The album's another strong addition to the Shifting Paradigm catalogue, a Minneapolis-based label that continues to make a strong case for itself and the Minnesota region as terrific outlets for contemporary jazz.

September 2023