Todd Sickafoose: Bear Proof
Secret Hatch Records

Prior to the release of Bear Proof, you might have more associated the name Todd Sickafoose with the hit Broadway musical Hadestown (for which he won Grammy and Tony awards, 'Best Musical Theatre Album' and 'Best Orchestration,' respectively), as a producer of other artists' music (Anaïs Mitchell, Kneebody, Blue Cranes, and more), or as a multi-decade veteran of Ani DiFranco's bands—not releasing an album of original material for fifteen years will do that. Those familiar with the Brooklyn acoustic bassist's 2008 release Tiny Resistors, on the other hand, have long been awaiting its follow-up, now finally here.

It almost didn't happen: the music on Bear Proof was originally composed and recorded ten years ago, but its release was sidetracked by the success of Hadestown and time given to a growing family. Yet as Bear Proof plays, you could easily form the impression that it's merely the latest in a yearly stream of recordings when it unspools with such ease and assurance. That its sixty-two minutes were captured live in the studio in one continuous take further testifies to the calibre of the players involved, Sickafoose with Jenny Scheinman (violin), Adam Levy (guitar), Erik Deutsch (piano), Ben Goldberg (clarinet), Kirk Knuffke (cornet), Rob Reich (accordion), and Allison Miller (drums).

There are many interesting contradictions at work. The music is free of extravagant gestures yet is forceful nevertheless. While the playing also exudes calm (see the second half of “Magnetic North,” for instance), propulsion animates the performances. There's a chamber-like formality in play yet the work's execution feels casual, a quality that belies the care with which Sickafoose methodically crafted the piece. One senses that the placement of each solo was decided in advance; at the same time, the performance never feels wanting for spontaneity. A seamless balance is achieved between individual and group expression in a piece that could be described as “a chamber jazz composition for eight players in nine movements,” if doing so didn't risk suggesting stuffiness when the music's anything but. The impression forms of a governing intelligence directing the proceedings but with a light touch.

The players? Levy and Miller were on Tiny Resistors so have a longstanding relationship with the bassist. The drummer co-leads Parlour Game with Scheinman, and the violinist has included Sickafoose in her own quintet. Knuffke and Goldberg hadn't met prior to the Bear Proof session but quickly developed a rapport that engendered a 2018 duo album. Fleshing out the band are Reich and Deutsch, both key contributors to the makeshift octet's sound.

According to the bassist, structural seeds for the work were planted in the dramatic overture “The Gold Gate,” with fragments of melody stated there re-emerging in subsequent parts. With the bassist and drummer locking in smoothly (in 13/8, it seems), the others assemble into sub-groups and step forth for brief individual statements, Deutsch delivering a refined expression and Scheinman a scalding one. In “Bent Into Shape,” Goldberg glides breezily across flurries of ride cymbals that withdraw to make room for Reich and Knuffke. A tight, funky groove takes over for “Switched On,” the leader and Miler powering the ensemble confidently until they drop out to cede the floor to a voluble cornet solo until the motorik pulse reinstates itself for Scheinman's swirling turn. The music's transition from near-ecstasy to cool control is characteristic of the rapid shifts that punctuate the work throughout. “Flush” tickles the ear with irreverent, circus music-like material that suggests what might have come from a Carla Bley and Nina Rota collaboration. Levy's twang warms the laid-back and bluesy “Magnetic North,” a move Reich perpetuates in his own solo. Highlights thereafter include the intricate chamber-styled polyphony the octet gets up to in “Boom Bust Startup Ruin” (not to mention its deft integration of African, blues, and rock inflections), and the rousing piano solo by Deutsch that elevates “Turns Luck” and the soaring one by Knuffke that does the same for “Prospects.”

October 2023