Open Web Player
Sometimes everything aligns. So it was with Unseen Rain, an album to be treasured. And perhaps appreciated sparingly, lest the magic wear off.
Unseen Rain is, in many ways, a surprising album. Not surprising for being good, but surprising for its particular aesthetic, and it is an aesthetic that works, and somehow produces what may be the best of the three principles. By this point in Ginger Baker's career, he was well established as a true master of jazz percussion, yet his collaborations with the Laswell contingent may have given one a mistaken impression of what he was doing. Baker, of course, was at his sparing best when given the room to let everything breathe. A sparse trio was really ideal for him. More than any other drummer of his generation, he understood the basic value of the less-is-more approach to jazz drumming. Jonas Hellborg, of course, is all over the place. He can go over the top in McLaughlin-inspired fusion, and his albums with Shawn Lane are scorchers, yet Zenhouse stands out as the exception, showing just what magic he can make letting the music breathe. The most puzzling thing is Johansson, who shows that by dialing it back to piano rather than any of his more familiar keys, he can be the perfect foil to a sparse Baker/Hellborg pairing.
The trio is as good as it gets. The sound of Hellborg and Baker, without any of Laswell's grand experimentation, is something that is unfortunately lacking in the history of their discography. As great as their Laswell work was, this is necessary. This is them at their best. And Johansson is the perfect glue, which was the surprise, since he doesn't just pull Hellborg over toward fusion. There's nothing wrong with Hellborg and Johansson doing fusion, but this is something unique, and all the more special for it.
There is something of an insistent quality to the music, despite its sparseness. Moving, and driving. A jazz piano trio album conventionally has a sound. The Evans sound. Subsequently updated by players like Brad Mehldau, and great as they are, Unseen Rain just sounds like it comes from a different planet. Baker and Hellborg would ensure that in any context, but credit due to Johansson for ensuring that his work on the piano owes to no major piano trio work out there.
To the point that listening, one must remind one's self that, yes, this is a piano, bass, drums trio. Because it doesn't sound like any other album in that arrangement. That alone would make it stand out. Yet it is so moving. It wouldn't matter. Hellborg's best. Baker's best. Johansson's best.
Treasure this one.
