See Through 4: Permanent Moving Parts
All-Set! Editions

As with every jazz recording, three factors are crucial: the compositions performed, the musicians executing them, and the synergy between them. However many piano trio recordings there are, for example, no one will ever sound quite the same as another when such factors come into play. All of which is a long-winded way of saying that Pete Johnston's latest See Through 4 outing distinguishes itself from any other quartet release for the personnel involved, its interplay, and the Toronto-based bassist's writing. On line-up grounds alone, Permanent Moving Parts separates itself from the competition in pairing Johnston and drummer Jake Oelrichs with trumpeter Lina Allemano and vibraphonist Michael Davidson. When was the last time you heard an album with that front-line?

See Through 4 is but one iteration of Johnston's See Through groupings, all of them gathered under the See Through Music umbrella. Releases by See Through Two and See Through 5 also have appeared, the changing line-ups indicative of the bassist's restless sensibility. No outfit, including See Through 4, is immune to change when the bassist regards each one as a malleable entity. To illustrate, the previous quartet release under the name, 2020's False Ghosts, Minor Fears, partnered Johnston with saxophonist Karen Ng, pianist Marilyn Lerner, and drummer Nick Fraser. In each See Through 4 case, the music is literally seen through the refracting prisms of the four sensibilities involved.

In info accompanying the release, Carla Bley and Ornette Coleman are cited as reference points, and it's possible to locate echoes of both in the album's writing. But the post-bop music on Permanent Moving Parts, in keeping with its somewhat oxymoronic title, is characterized more by the tension between containment and mobility, the guiding sensibility of its leader, and his affinity for contrapuntal design. Recorded in February 2020 at Union Sound Company, its eight compact pieces see the group both hewing to his compositional structures and using them as springboards for personal expression. The pronounced timbral contrast between trumpet and vibes makes for effective unison statements by the front-liners, but they're as effective when playing off against one another too. Of the four, it's Johnston who's the primary anchor, his solid pulse the foundation that frees the others to explore liberally.

The rapport between the players is evident early on when Oelrichs supports Allemano through an initial duet in “Underground Over Night” and when Johnston and Davidson do the same thereafter. Pairing up into different configurations is a regular move on the recording, with all four demonstrating a deft ability to ease into quartet, solo, and duo roles when the material calls for it. Whereas Allemano digs into her solo like a toreador in “Everything Happens Once,” she's pensive during the ballad-styled intro to “Weathering Teenage Hopes” and blustery during its energized second half. Emblematic of Johnston's writing, “Quietly Fading Fast” is cubistic swing-bop that works all manner of free-wheeling rambunction into its taut four-minute frame, an acrobatic turn by Davidson particularly memorable.

Charlie Parker could be added to the list of possible influences when the sleek bop of “Possible Daylight Dreams” rolls in, with the rhythm section at its most elastic for the three-minute run-through. On a more impressionistic tip is "Imperfect Sunlit Room,” its longer length allowing the musicians greater opportunity to explore, and the set-closing “Familiar Second Thoughts,” which underlays muted trumpet with vibes sprinkles, tom-tom accents, and the leader's grounding bass.

March 2021