Forward Energy Trio – “FE3 Oakland ” – [Edgetone Records]

This is the followup to their Where Are They? CD, except ‘they’ don’t include the guests from the earlier effort, and this is an all-instrumental all-improvized affair. Stephen Flinn on drums, Scott Looney inside and outside the piano, and Jim Ryan on winds. Most of this album has a pretty fantastic manic energy to it. Imagine it being the soundtrack to the ever-bustling basement Acme mailroom, with those cool pneumatic tubes and whatnot. The resulting music approaches mechanical motion – Looney’s tinkering and Flinn’s drums combined approach a fascinating Nancarrow-ian effect. I know it’s difficult to play that way on the piano, much less improvise it (much less on the drums or sax). The prime example is on track 9 of 10, Meatloaf. Unfortunately, Ryan’s flute that appears on a few tracks is really flat and energy-draining and retracts from my fullest endorsement of the album. Nevertheless – you try and keep up this energy and precision for 60 minutes.

Mush Mush! Forward Energy!

-Cujo, KFJC, March 2007