3 out of 5

Label: Astral Spirits, Monofonus

Produced by: Aggie Tai (recorded by, mixed by)

Opener Inevitable Units shows off drummer William Hooker’s strengths as a trio headliner: he sits back, and lets his co-players (Ava Mendoza on guitar; Damon Smith on bass) take the lead. Inevitable is all tension: it’s a build-up, with Hooker occasionally tapping cymbals fiercely, but otherwise mostly just keeping pace while, over six minutes, the burbling interplay sets us up for… something. The song kind of cuts right into this perpetual build, and cuts out of it too. Then, followup Never in Doubt starts by skipping right past whatever this was building towards, and just dropping us in free jazz frenzy; it cuts out at the end as well – no denouement.

That’s ‘Remembering’: a lot of skill and craft applied to an improv set, meaning that songs remain focused on what they’re doing, but the set is also spliced together in a way that often undermines the natural ebbs and flows of improv. The back half of this set gives us songs that feel like more complete compositions, but even then we’re generally missing either a beginning, middle, or end; still, Hooker’s instinct to sit back makes for the most impactful tunes, and we might note Weasel Walter’s appearance here (for mastering), with some Luttenbacher-esque moments of horn abuse on tracks like Grand – I Will.