SLAMCD526 Outward Bound – The Path

The Outward Bound trio brings together three Crete-based musicians of diverse musical backgrounds but with common interests in exploring, through improvisation, the tonal palette offered by the piano, electric guitar and drums combination.

This, the trio’s second album, presents a series of short improvisations in three parts which, despite the continual alternations, retain a homogeneous sound landscape.

Free forms, open in terms of time and density of musical events, come upon fragments of chord progressions, floating themes contrasted with unstructured sounds, whispers, screams, pauses. Without following rules of any compositional idiom, the music is developed in real time, sometimes haphazardly, other times in a succession of spontaneous interventions, orientating itself to the pursuit of artistry.

The music laid down in this studio recording has been developed by the trio through performances at the International Jazz Festival in Athens, the European Jazz Festival Kostas Kouvidis, the Zante Jazz Festival, as well as numerous jazz clubs and theatres around Greece.

Tsikandilakis Antonis: piano
Neonakis Dimitris: electric guitar
Iliakis Yiannis: drums

“Dimitris gets a variety of different sounds from his guitar and seems well in control over what he wants in the various moments where he is working on a phrase or sound envelop to compliment Antonis’s impressionistic twinkles. Yiannis has a discerning Connie-Kay-on-Pluto sort of sensitivity to touch that goes with the proceedings well. They do in time get more dense in their improvs and there are pulse points that the drums instigate that work in a kind of raga-like way…you come to an explosion of acid shred guitar and busy drums on “Triple Path.” But then it settles back again for reflective meanders. Say what you might, these three do their own sort of expansive ambient trio work. They are recognisably lyrical and spaced out in a personal sort of way and that’s not very common…Let it go its way and you might find yourself pleased and occupied with its stories in sound.” – Grego Applegate Edwards, Cadence

“Outward Bound further explore their unique chemistry on The Path, their second disc as a trio. The three-part suite of short extemporaneous pieces evinces an ultra-minimalist aesthetic, favouring modal canvases of subdued chord colours (often shifting minor triads), meditative drones and restrained, back-of-the-mix percussive shadings. Even the pauses between tracks make a statement: ranging from direct segues to 20-second drop-outs, they forefront silence and space as expressive gestures. When – as on “Triple Path” or “Deceptive Signs” – Dimitris kicks on his overdrive pedal for some ‘post-blues’ riffing, the music sounds like a new wrinkle on classic Pink Floyd. Interest is sustained via constant variation of instrumental combinations, timbres and textures.” – Tom Greenland, The New York City Jazz Record

All compositions by Antonis, Dimitris and Yiannis
Recorded in April 2009 by Vangelis Katsoulis at Spectrum studio, Athens

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