Rob Wagner Trio

I was not familiar with Rob Wagner's playing before hearing this album, his third release on Valid Records, which was recorded in 2005 in New Orleans, months after Hurricane Katrina devastated the region. According to the liner notes the album was originally scheduled to be recorded in September of that year, which did not happen for obvious reasons. It has been in my listening rotation since the end of the summer, but I'm just getting around to writing about it now for a variety of reasons. Sometimes words don't present themselves readily or eloquently when writing about a recording, but my repeated listens alone are an endorsement of the quality of playing that exists here.

Featuring Rob Wagner on clarinet, tenor and soprano saxophones, NObu Ozaki on bass, and Hamid Drake on drum kit and frame drum and eponymously titled, Rob Wagner Trio is filled with provocative titles such as "Deoparia (They handed out $12 billion cash in Iraq and couldn't even give New Orleans drinking water)" and "Freedumb (Aren't you glad to vote in America?)". I'm an unabashed fan of Hamid Drake's drumming which is in typically ebullient form here, and Nobu Ozaki's bass seems right at home in Drake's ample rhythmic pocket. Wagner is a revelation on his various reed instruments, with a unique voice that is amplified by his strong writing that showcases his playing well. His past in groups like the New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars is apparent in his melodic sense, and his New Orleans rhythmic sense is always present in his playing. Together they create some great trio interplay

The mournful Plutino is a highlight to my ears, capturing the mood of a city destroyed and a return to the scene of the ongoing crime perpetrated on its residents by the federal and local governments. Where Is Home finds Hamid Drake on his frame drum, and Rob Wagner picking up the New Orleans signifying clarinet. The low points of the recording are when Wagner plays tenor, where he doesn't seem to have as strong a voice as on the soprano and clarinet. It is undoubtedly an unfair comparison, but when I hear a tenor player in trio with Hamid Drake on drums, images of Fred Anderson and Kidd Jordan come to mind, and to my ears Wagner doesn't take advantage of the range of expression that the tenor could afford him in this context. His playing is fine, but if I hear someone pick up a different instrument on different songs, I want to believe that it's for a reason.

There's an introspective mood that pervades the recording, with a tendency to move within a certain dynamic range and tempo rather than burn at an incendiary pace. It's a quality that I value in music when done well and this recording certainly fits that bill. When I listen, I hear a sense of sensitivity within a well conceived structure that lends plenty of opportunity for improvisation as well as composition. Hamid Drake is open-eared and rhythmically embracing as ever, and the connection between his playing and Wagner's is particularly strong.

You can buy it here.