Although saxophonist JOE SANTA MARIA and bassist DAVID TRANCHINA are the prime movers behind OBLIQUE RHYME, the album is a collective endeavor that includes pianist GARY FUKUSHIMA and drummer COLIN WOODFORD. Each musician contributed compositions to this compelling new project of all original music.
The band is a powerhouse team of top Los Angeles-based musicians. They are in-demand sidemen, band leaders, and recording artists in their own right. Santa Maria has performed with top names like Vinny Golia, Kim Richmond, Roy McCurdy, Joe La Barbera, and Bill Holman. Tranchina has written music for animation and feature films and has performed with Bennie Maupin, Bobby Bradford, Dwight Trible, Larry Carlton, Louis Cole, Genevieve Artadi, and Jeff Parker. Fukushima is not only an in-demand keyboard player who has performed with many of the top names in jazz, like Mike Stern, Ndugu Chancler, Walter Smith III, Anthony Wilson, and Jeff Clayton, he is also a highly regarded jazz journalist and a professor at several So Cal universities. Woodford was the recipient of the Downbeat Magazine Outstanding Performance Award and has written for a wide array of ensembles from string quartet to big band to solo saxophone.
The bandmates are old friends who have been playing together for many years in different configurations. After many discussions about their philosophies and approach to music, they finally decided to make an album together. Tranchina says, “We set out to make something beautiful and unique for OBLIQUE RHYME. We’re all multifaceted musicians who have played in a wide variety of styles and have different perspectives on music, but it all blends beautifully when we play together.” Santa Maria adds, “We’re not interested in just showing off our chops. When you listen to the great jazz artists, although they’re technically brilliant, it’s their musicality and soulfulness that express something deeper and more personal. That’s what we wanted for this album.”
Although OBLIQUE RHYME touches on a variety of styles, like funk and blues, the album has a very contemporary edge. It opens with the Santa Maria composition “War Crimes.” Santa Maria says, “I like to capture my favorite elements of Ornette Coleman’s music, and I wanted to bring an angular, modern funk to this piece. I think it has a lot of color, although it’s a bit ambiguous harmonically. I shifted around minor scale fragments to create an agitated texture.” He decided on the name of the composition because he felt the emotional tone of the music reflects the state of the world today.
The music changes pace with “Hidden Lake.” Composed by Tranchina, he named it for the street where he grew up in Forestville, Sonoma County. The tune has a gentle, idyllic quality that captures how Tranchina remembers the hippie enclave. He says, “When I was in high school, there wasn’t a lot to do there, so we often just sat on the banks of the Russian River. I wanted to strip away all the over-complicated stuff and get to the core of what I loved about the place.”
Santa Maria wrote “Mood of Mind” as part of a series of compositions he calls ‘camp songs,’ a group of fairly short pieces written to reflect his love of the natural world. The tune has a spacious, philosophical vibe that reflects the calm, meditative state of mind he experiences while walking out in nature.
Fukushima wrote “Sum Thymes” specifically for this album. The piece is very abstract and avant-garde, giving the musicians space to freely improvise. But it all hangs together with the piano and drums creating complex textures while the sax and bass weave around each other, carrying the melodic line.
“Prism” is another of Santa Maria’s camp songs. He creates a mysterious sound using layered polyrhythms and triplets that move around in various groupings.
Tranchina wrote “Ambient Ambiance” as part of a challenge a friend posted online. The exercise was to write a song every day for a month. Written in 5/4, the piece has a surrealistic feel that is enhanced by the almost eerie sounds Fukushima creates on the synthesizer and Fender Rhodes. The simple melody gives ample space for Santa Maria to improvise.
“This Must Be for You” was written by Woodford. The solos by Santa Maria and Fukushima have a noirish ambience. Woodford dedicated the tune to Herbie Hancock.
Santa Maria plays alto sax on his “Caricature.” He wrote the tune without harmony, only melody. He explains, “The composition is about going to a carnival and having somebody draw a picture of you that looks nothing like you, or it's exposing features of you that you don't even notice yourself. It's supposed to entertain other people and maybe embarrass you a little bit. I wanted to capture that feeling.”
The album closes with Tranchina’s “Picking Up the Pieces.” It features Santa Maria’s warm, bluesy tenor. Santa Maria says, “For me, the song has many classic elements. It reminds me of a Wayne Shorter composition. It’s a great song for the tenor because it allows me to try and capture the classic tenor sound.”
Tranchina and Santa Maria set out to create music that stirs a listener’s imagination through the beauty of free improvisation. Although the band members are all technical masters, they didn’t want to just rely on their superb chops to draw in listeners. Instead, they created music that’s highly emotional and imagistic, creating a soundscape that’s also visually stimulating.