Thomas Chapin: Travelin' Man

Saxophonist Thomas Chapin adds a string section to his working trio for his latest, Haywire (Knitting Factory Works), but don't expect candlelight and soft music. Chapin brings a keen sense of humor to his hard-hitting brand of free bop, and this album plays an affectionate practical joke on jazz convention.

Unlike most jazz-soloist-plus-strings albums, Haywire is more about purging demons than making love. Even when the music takes a menacing turn, Chapin tempers things with a lyrical warmth and irony that prevents the music from getting too self-serious. But if he's at home among the creatures of the night, he's closer to Gomez Addams than Freddy Krueger. Besides, he commands too wide an emotional range, and his band swing too hard, ever to let pessimism get the upper hand. His thick, lustrous tone and angular phrasing can blow away just about any kind of blues.

On "The Devil's Hopyard," a five-part suite that takes up half the album, Chapin plunges into dark corners of the soul as well as deep wellsprings of joy. "Eidolon" begins with eerie nocturnal moans and chirps from the strings, to which Chapin adds nightingale flute and hulking baritone. "Bump in the Night" consists of abrupt fragments that gradually coalesce into wounded-animal cries. The atmosphere lightens on a dancing "Hoofin' " during which cellist Boris Rayskin quotes (perhaps ironically) from the typical jazz-with-strings ballads "Embraceable You" and "Star Eyes." Chapin's flute solo works into ecstatic fits of vocalizing and humming into his instrument like Rahsaan Roland Kirk -- another reed player who balanced experimentation, humor, and tradition. "Bugbears" provides the cathartic climax of the suite, with a surging baritone solo of harsh-angled lines, roars, and percussive riffs. By the final movement, "At Peace with My Demons," Chapin has earned his moment of serenity.

Chapin builds the music around his trio, an exciting band with bassist Mario Pavone and drummer Michael Sarin. Pavone is the group's heartbeat, with his full, blunt tone and rifle-shot percussive. With Pavone outlining the structures so forcefully, Chapin and Sarin are free to venture as far as they'd like without fear of the music's losing shape.

In fact, the trio are so tight that the strings occasionally sound like mere add-ons. But for the most part, Chapin interweaves violinist Mark Feldman, bassist Kiyoto Fujiwara, and cellist Rayskin into the ensemble to good effect. They blend with his hearty tone to flesh out the melodies, and their bowing and plucking adds variety and texture. The string soloists make their best contributions on "Geek Gawkin'," where Feldman plays a Satanic hoedown that gives way to Hot Club of Hades swing, and Fujiwara's duet with Pavone provides a quiet but no less intense interlude.

The trio's opening set at Scullers last month featured the new CD's title track but gave a better indication of their full range. Thelonious Monk's "Raise Four" sounded perfectly at home in a performance that included Chapin quoting Albert Ayler on the final number and Sarin pushing the band into heated fusion on Chapin's "Bypass." The new CD and that club date prove that Chapin's potent blend of blues, bop, and free jazz can travel far without leaving the audience behind.

-- Ed Hazell