Gerald Cleaver: The Process (577 Records/digital outlets)

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The Process (preview)
Gerald Cleaver: The Process (577 Records/digital outlets)

Drummer/techno artist Cleaver is an unusual figure on the 577 jazz label out of New York. Most of the label's catalogue is free flowing and often challenging jazz but, as we found with Cleaver's previous release 22/23, his electronica and avant-soul is quite engaging.

This time out the title here is the clue: it is an album – just two tracks, one five minutes, the other 37 – which is about the getting there less than the result.

So this is Cleaver improvising on electronica and feeling his way through a gentle soundscape inspired by one of his previous pieces El Permanente (which we admit we haven't heard).

Taken just as we find it, this is like a more present ambient music for the first third before it finds a rhythmic pulse and the whole thing expands and embraces more melodic sounds and repeated phrases.

As with the previous album under his own name (he's appeared in the more familiar role of jazz drummer) this is not for everyone but the curious.

Quietly hypnotic. 

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You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here


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