By Troy Dostert, All About Jazz
Gabriel Zucker
Weighting
ESP-Disk
With Rachel Kushner’s whirlwind novel Flamethrowers for inspiration, pianist Zucker creates a compelling, mysterious world that is as beautiful as it is elusive. Moments of bracing intensity emerge, fueled by Tyshawn Sorey‘s percussive flurries and Zucker’s powerful flourishes; but it’s the two-horn team of trumpeter Adam O’Farrill and saxophonist Eric Trudel that gives the album its lyrical power, with the suite’s dominant motifs leavening the music’s brooding resonances. A captivating album that reveals more of its charms with each encounter.